Construction Management: A Career that Pays

September 20, 2018

Construction management careers are typically leadership positions dealing with large scale construction projects like highways, stadiums, power plants, or hospitals. These projects make up part of every country’s critical infrastructure – the places or structures which affect people’s quality of life.

silhouettes of people with buildings behind

In Capitol’s new Bachelors of Science in Construction Management and Critical Infrastructures program, you’ll learn about the industry and gain leadership skills through hands on experience. We’ll teach you about the many project management skills and software tools used by the professionals and help you understand the importance of not only building critical infrastructures, but securing them in a digital world.

The U.S. construction industry is huge, and it’s currently experiencing a high demand for both management and skilled craft workers. “Now is a great time to get into the profession,” said President of Capitol Technology University, Dr. Brad Sims. “There aren’t enough skilled workers to cover the demand for them, and consequentially salaries tend to be pretty high even at an entry level.”

According to studies done by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting construction staff wages to increase an average of 3.4 % in 2018. Looking at PAS’s chart below of 2017’s actual forecast, you can see that construction staff have historically not only been earning more money than exempt workers in other fields, but that the industry has room to grow back up to 2007 levels. Even during the worst of the 2008-2009 recession, the construction industry wasn’t hit as hard and recovered more quickly than other industries were able to.

PAS chart

 

A sample of average construction industry management staff salaries have entry level, new college graduate Field Engineer I’s at $62,911 and Project Engineer I’s at $68,355. More experienced staff can expect even higher projected salaries, with Project Managers at $112,230, Project Superintendents at $127,543, Construction IT/MIS Directors at $159,950, and Construction Mangers at $164,395 all according to PAS, Inc.

Capitol Technology University’s new Bachelors of Science in Construction Management and Critical Infrastructure starts classes on campus in fall of 2019. The program will build students skills to plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise all phases of construction through to project completion based on infrastructure projects.