Apprentice site manager Review

To start the day I do the inductions, once this is complete I will go out on site. Any problems the lads have in the morning I will try resolve as soon as possible to allow the works to continue smoothly for the rest of the day. I will then come in and look through my emails that have been sent that morning whilst any problems I couldn’t resolve myself will be raised and I will ask for advice for the best way to deal with them. On Thursdays I do the BIM safety checklists for the forklift, hoarding and cabins to ensure they are all up to/above standard and safe

Before I came on site I was fairly quiet, however once I got to know people and starting doing inductions that all changed. I became much more comfortable speaking to people and dealing with them on a daily basis helped with that too. A skill that has definitely been developed is reading information and developing on it, using drawings from BIM to ensure that works are being completed correctly. I have been dealing with the fire stopping on my site and the drawings are key as there are multiple fire rated walls all with a different fire rating. This also has to be coordinated with the services to ensure that they have been signed off before we fire stop.

The programme is set out really well. The 9 week college block allows complete focus on the college work whilst you are there to ensure the work gets completed in the timeframe and done to a high standard. The rest of the year is then spent on site, this is good because when you are on site you don’t have any outstanding college work apart from the EPA, and this is a meeting once a month which requires evidence that you will gain from working on site, so the majority of the work needed for that you do on site anyways

For BAM CONSTRUCT UK we went on site before we went to college, this gave us an idea of what working on site was actually like before we went to college and allowed us to apply the knowledge and experience gained from the time on site and use that to aid us with the assignment work we were given at college. Once the college block/work is done we are then put back onto our sites for the rest of the year allowing us to focus on our work without worrying about college like you would if you were on day release

The managers I work with are all fantastic, they throw you into it and treat you like their equal to give you the chance to give it a good go yourself, they don’t just throw you at it and leave you tho, any help you might need or any questions you have they are more than happy to help. They won’t just tell you how to do things also, they will point you in the right direction and let you work it out for yourself which in my opinion is the best way to learn. Making mistakes with minimal repercussions

Yes

A good company with friendly colleagues, good benefits and a fantastic wage especially when you are new to the industry. The college and uni fees paid for and plenty of friends to make along your journey

Research to ensure you know what field of construction you want to go into and if you are lucky enough to get it then give it your all