A DAY IN THE LIFE
Episode #23: Welcome to the She Builds Show and 2022, I’m your host, Stefanie Olson. The title of today’s episode is called A Day in the Life. I’m a general contractor, I’m B licensed. And the definition of a general contractor is a main contractor who is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all parties throughout the course of a building project. So what that means is that we oversee everything and make sure the project runs smoothly. Listen in as I share with you a day in the life of a contractor.
Ready? Let’s go…
SHOW NOTES:
• So when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I want to kind of walk you through what yesterday looked like for me. I just want you to know what it’s like to be in my job, in case you’re possibly considering it. So I wake up early, I write in my journal, I meditate and around 7:00 AM my work day starts. I check my email, I check the schedules, and I communicate with my sub-contractors. I run a business where I manage all of the subcontractors who are performing the work, most general contractors run their construction business that way. And it’s a delicate balance because these trade partners are not my employees, so I have to be super respectful and conscious of their schedules and make sure I’m planning out at least two weeks to a month, so I can manage their schedules as well. (01:44)
• Yesterday I was out looking at jobs around 800 AM, I have visited eight sites, and the first one, we’ve gotten a lot of rain and snow over Christmas and New Years. The house had been dried in, which means it’s protected from the weather on the outside and the dry wall and paint had just gotten completed. So we had a lot of snow melting and a lot of water running near the house, I had to call my crew, because I have people on my team that help manage keeping sites clean and doing small tasks that we need to get done. So I called my crew and had them divert the water to get some temporary gutters installed, we needed to get the water that was melting off the roof, from the snow away from the house. (02:44)
• So this is what I did after knowing that they started framing, I had to let the electrician know that he needed to go cut in his electrical panel in the sheeting before the siding goes up. I like to give everyone more than just a few days notice, so I felt really bad rushing him on this one, but… it Is what it is. So second, I had to call my finished guy to let him know that they of raining, because the next thing that’s going to happen is we’re going to need exterior doors to be able to put the siding up, so I had to let him know. And then after that, I called my window guy because again, before siding can go up, we need exterior doors and windows, so I scheduled windows for the end of the week to make sure we were ready for siding. (7:07)
• But along with scheduling and planning, I also get to design… I have a very creative side to me, and I love that. All the parts of what make up who I am get to be expressed in this career, I get to come up with the entire picture of what a home would look like. And I love Pinterest, and I love pushing the envelope on design. So I build spec homes and most spec homes are generally pretty boring and it kind of drives me crazy. So I try to combine quality construction with trending design elements like beautiful wallpaper, and I just painted all the doors and trim on one of my specs gray… I know. Crazy, right? So I love my job, I love the flexibility, I love that I get to be a mom and a wife and create beautiful homes, and just kind of sit inside my gift. I just want to encourage you, if you’re considering this path as a career choice and you want to know more about it, send me a message. I’m on Instagram, @shebuilds.homes is my Instagram handle. I would just love to encourage you today, I’d love to inform you, I’d love to help you with your path or anything that I can do to just encourage you. (11:42)
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH STEFANIE…
• Website: https://shebuildshomes.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebuildsbetter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebuilds.homes
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shebuildsshow