Book On Reading/Understanding Blueprints?

neolitic

I won't apologize, that's how I feel as well.
Nothing personal to the OP.
If you can B/S your way into a job that you
aren't qualified for....good for you!
But it sucks for the guys you are supposed
to "manage." (I assume PM still means project manager)
Seems to me that there haven't been
many occasions where I saw a job suffer
because the supervision was too experienced.

"Oh, isn't that cute?
The "Boss" is willing to learn!"
I don't think so.

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Magnettica

Without a doubt. You don't really realize -- at least I didn't realize it until someone drilled through a hot water base board heating copper pipe and I couldn't stop the water from spilling into a customers finished basement -- that you need to know at least the bare minimum of some of the other trades to make your job easier. After that experience I bought books and learned 'enough to be dangerous' about the other trades.

SethHoldren

Wow, if you put it like that, sure, it sounds completely ridiculous.

Man, I absolutely get your point about inexperience. Even more so if you take it to that extreme.

"People management" and "construction know-how" are totally different skills. Same with client management (aka client relations.)

I've seen jobs lose some money because of technical mistakes due to inexperience. We need to avoid that. Throwing some noob in there is reckless and foolish.

However, I've also seen jobs lose big time money; like more than double the cost of the job, "had-to-buy-the-house-back" kind of money, as a result of "hot-headedness" and poor ability to be professional around clients. Can't bite your tongue? Bitter? Angry? That will get the attorneys involved faster than you can say "GFY." (first word "Go," last word "Yourself")

I've fallen victim on occasion to feeling like my skills are unappreciated. In construction, that's a daily battle. It's almost like the older and more experienced you get, the less respect you get sometimes.

I can see both sides, when I think about it.

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nap

they should have a legend for the symbology used. Every architect I have dealt with has their own symbols for various items. There are a lot of statndards but there is no requirement for them to be so a legend is a must have.

Honestly, unless this job is building a doghouse, you really should be working under a skilled person until you have some experience in the field.

the other thing about inexperience is; boy are the trades going to walk all over you. If you don;t know what you are doing with this, they are going to tell you how things are supposed to be and without experience to back you up, what are you going to do?

JPlous

Thanks for the help everyone.

I'm a hard worker, and I'm not looking for these books because I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm reading up because I don't want to mess up. Sure there are things I can do blind folded, but I'm still going to read and re-read because thats what works for me.

The last time I worked onsite was 4 years ago for a builder who built homes from 4-8mil and I def did the trial by fire deal. In this new job I refuse to have to make any significant mistakes. Thus reading helps.

I didnt BS my way into this job. I was completely honest and its not my first real estate job, nor my first construction job.

I have worked with subs before so I'm honestly not too worried about them walking over me. I'm doing some spanish classes to help that out as well - which is another case of trying to over learn since I'm already conversational in Spanish.

Its been my dream to be a developer my entire life. I'm finally in a position Ill be happy with for a long time. It was my second major in college (first being finance), and since then I've worked for builders, appraisers, and realtors - My theory is theres nothing wrong with being over qualified!

Thanks to all!

nap

best of luck to ya. It sounds like there is more to you than you have presented (hope so). Your first post did come across as somebody without a clue. Maybe you could work on those first impressions

Bodger

The SINGLE largest complaint I have with my "high dollar" men, both past and present, is that they do NOT take the time to learn how to read the damn plans! Not take the time to read them, but take the time to learn how to read them correctly and what everything means.

If I get a phone call, or a site visit with the H/O or architect, and I have to walk away for a few minutes, I sometimes come back to a complete pile of crap that has to be re-done. Makes me nuts, but it's hard to find good help that can read plans AND build from them as well.
Seems like I get one or the other.
Best of luck to the OP.
Knowledge is power!