Project manager and superintendent: the split of duties agreed in week one
A trade asks the superintendent for a sequence change and receives an answer. Later that day, the project manager gives a different answer while discussing the client’s priorities. Both intended to help; the trade now has two instructions.
Agree the project manager and superintendent’s split of duties in writing during the first week. Identify who directs trades, communicates with the owner, records and approves tickets, updates the schedule, prices changes and runs each meeting. Add a rule for work neither list names: identify one lead, consult the other person where the decision affects their responsibilities, and communicate one coordinated answer. Check formal authority against the contract and company controls.
Set a practical boundary between the two roles
- Start with recurring decisions. Walk through a normal work week together. List the decisions that reach both people and the information each needs. Use actual job interfaces rather than a generic job description.
- Name the lead and required consultation. Give each duty one coordinating owner. Show where that owner must consult the other person before answering, such as a site sequence change affecting cost or a commercial decision changing crew access.
- Separate recording from approval. Define what a signature on a delivery or T&M ticket means and who may authorize commercial commitments. A person who records attendance or observed work does not automatically hold every approval power.
- Agree the communication route. Tell trades and the owner’s representatives where questions go. Decide how an urgent site issue reaches the project manager and how an owner’s request reaches the superintendent before the field hears a new direction.
- Test a grey item together. Try a scenario such as a late delivery requiring resequencing. Decide who gathers the facts, who checks the commercial effect and who returns the coordinated answer. Record any missing boundary.
- Revisit the arrangement when staffing changes. Brief a replacement or cover person with the current split and open decisions. Keep the site from relying on assumptions about how the previous team worked.
A useful grey-area handoff
Action list
Agree before the first conflicting instruction
- One lead for each recurring duty.
- Consultation triggers across cost, time and site work.
- Recording and approval limits stated separately.
- One response route for trades.
- An escalation rule for unassigned matters.
Check your understanding
A duty is absent from the sheet and both people think it belongs to the other. What should happen next?
