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A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

The day starts like any other day with the alarm chirping at six a.m. I shut the alarm off and begin my daily routine. The first thing is grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen and immediately check my cell phone for any late night messages, calls or e-mails. After unlocking my phone I notice there is one message from late last night. My client is asking me to see him one hour earlier today then originally scheduled for our final walk through. "No problem," I say to myself, for I am a project manager for the Mr. Floor Companies and this is how the day begins.

It’s 7am and I begin driving to the office. The half hour drive consists of organizing my day with new projects, monitoring existing jobs and coordinating final inspections with completed clients. Today consists of starting two new projects and a final walk through for a recently completed job.

I arrive at my office which is located in the same building as our warehouse. All of the other project managers arrive shortly thereafter, along with all our crews and staff. In the warehouse I find the two crews that are assigned to me for the new jobs that will start today. One crew will be installing a new wood floor, and the other sanding an existing floor.

After handing out the work authorizations to each team, we review the scope of work which states which rooms we are doing, what kind of work the client contracted for, and any other information pertinent to this particular project. The sanding crew is the first to gather supplies and is immediately dispatched to the project location. Before they leave the warehouse, they are informed that I will meet with them and the client at 9:30am to answer any of the homeowner’s questions regarding the scope of work and to select a color for their floors. My client is aware of this schedule due to the phone conversation that was conducted the prior evening. 

The installation crew is finishing loading materials and I instruct them that they will be my first stop in the morning at 8:30. I check my watch to see its 8am already. All the crews have left the warehouse and I get into my car to see my first client.

In the car while driving the twenty minutes to location number one, I decide to call the client that left me the message from last night. We agree that we can get together earlier and I adjust my schedule accordingly.

The crew and I arrive ten minutes before schedule and I meet with the homeowner before the guys begin to deliver material inside the house. We agree about the scope of work to be performed as stated on the work authorization. However, the crew and I conduct our mandatory checklist before any work can commence.  This process involves checking the sub flooring to meet the requirements for installation, direction of the new installation, dust protection for non working areas and several other items that pertain to this project.

After all the questions are answered, I instruct my crew to proceed with dust protection and carpet removal. The homeowner begins to leave for work and hands me a key to his house for access for the following days. I inform him that I will be returning to his house later this afternoon to check on the progress and will call him this evening to provide a daily update on his project.

It’s a few minutes after 9am and I have just enough time to get to my second location. At my second stop, the crew is waiting for me by the front door. Once again, I meet with the homeowner while the guys gather their equipment. We also agree upon the scope of work and the crew and I perform our checklist. It doesn’t matter what kind of job has been contracted; our checklist is a requirement before any work can commence.

All questions have been answered and my guys prepare the color selections for this client. After a brief discussion with the customer regarding a general color, we mix several different pigments to achieve the color desired. My client signs the work authorization with the color confirmed and hands me her key before leaving for work. I have informed her that I will be returning also this afternoon to check the progress and will call her this evening to provide a daily update. Now after starting these two new projects, it is time for me see my client for that walk through.

When I arrive at my client’s house, he thanks me once again for coming earlier to meet with him. I tell him that this is better for me anyway and we proceed with the walkthrough. The walkthrough consist of; assessing the final product, providing the client with the proper cleaning supplies and re-ordering procedure, filling out our customer service rating sheet and receiving final payment for the contract.

The client is extremely happy with the final outcome and states how beautiful his home has become because of his new floors.  He says he will refer us to all his friends and family. I thank him for his patronage and tell him that if he has any questions in the future to contact me.

We shake hands and I leave to my first two projects of the day. I return to the two projects from this morning and find that everything is going according to plan with both jobs. I leave the second project and drive toward my office to prepare for the next day.

On my desk in the office I find a work authorization for a new job given to me by the scheduling manager for a project that starts tomorrow. It is another installation and the warehouse manager is already staging my material for the next morning. I confirm with him that it is the proper material, proper footage and add any items that are required for this new project.

The staging area is nearly complete with all materials and now I catch up on some paperwork and begin calling my clients for their daily updates. However, the first phone call is made to my newest client that will start tomorrow. I introduce myself as their project manager and provide them with my contact number, along with the approximate time that the crew and I will be arriving the next morning.

After our conversation, the next phone calls are to the two clients from this morning’s new jobs. They are provided with updates on what was accomplished this day, provided with answers for any questions they have and when we will be arriving the following day.

All my calls have been completed, all the questions have been answered, my desk is clean and prepared for another day of work and I couldn’t be happier because I love my job, for I am a project manager for the Mr. Floor Companies.