25 y/o Construction Management Advice?
I’m in desperate need of advice from some of you guys with a bit more career experience. I’ll try to keep this as short as I can:
Background for starters, I graduated college in 2023 with a B.S. in Business Management. I then worked for a large residential home builder as an assistant superintendent and worked up to a superintendent until March of this year, 2026, serving nearly three years in residential construction.
I moved across my state for non-work related reasons (long distance gf’s career isn’t as easy to relocate, construction industry is) and landed a promising job with a large commercial general contractor as a field engineer. Upon receiving my offer letter, I did not start until 5 weeks later, which I thought was a long time to get started.
My first job site assignment was a 3.5 hour roundtrip commute, and we were working 10-12 hour shifts doing retail renovations. We are not eligible for overtime, and we had been putting in 100-120 hour pay periods while getting paid for 80 hours (bi-weekly pay). I was only on that project for 5 weeks, and then when it started to wrap up, I was reassigned to a job-site that was much closer to home, only 20 minutes one-way.
I was excited for this change at first, until I was told I would be working the night shift. Not only is it a night shift (9p-7a, 10 hour shift x 5 a week) but I am on it completely solo with nobody else from my company on site. It’s just me managing all the trades, and most of the work happens at night on these projects. Because I’m only in my 8th week with the company (2 have been on this new night shift) I do not feel that comfortable being responsible for everything they require being by myself at night. I’m shocked they threw me into this position; especially because I was never asked if I was okay with it. I was just told by management, and being told your days and nights will be upside down when you didn’t necessarily sign up for that during interviews is frustrating. The nightly premium is 20%, but still, the fact I wasn’t given a real choice in the matter, and the fact that they haven’t taught me a lot so far and expect me to tackle it all solo is not ideal. I’m trying my best, but it’s a lot for someone new to a company.
So essentially I’m still working 10-12 hour shifts, just closer to home now but overnight.
Am I crazy for thinking that I am being taken advantage of? I truly feel like I have been set up for failure on the overnight job, due to lack of new hire training and being solo.
I am to the point of switching industries entirely and getting out of construction. I would like to fall back on some of by business skills and find a job that is strictly 40-45 hours/week.
Please give advice on what I should do to handle my current situation, or advice on what positions I could pivot into.