On our £112m two-year project to refurbish the Treasury's Whitehall offices, indecision would have been fatal.
There was no time to waste, as the way the contract was set up, the Treasury didn't start paying for the building until it was occupied, so the risk lay with the project team. And with the interest mounting up at a rate of £22,000 per day, there was some pressure on me to get it finished on time.
The only way to do that was to be decisive, but that is the way I normally work. I'm confident I know what I'm doing and I'm always able to back up my arguments. A lot of people questioned whether we could get this done on time, so I feel vindicated that we finished ahead of programme after all the surprises we found.
It's no good waiting for everything to be perfect because you never know what you'll find until you get on and do a job. Sometimes the wrong decision is better than no decision.
Why construction?
Careers advice when I left school wasn't up to much, and my older brother and father both worked at Wimpey, so I joined them, though now they work for me. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I just wanted to leave school and join the outside world. School didn't motivate me, though since then I've done a degree, an MBA and accountancy exams.
Construction is a way of life for me, and one which I live to the full and enjoy tremendously. We work long hours, which can be hard on the family sometimes (Daniel is married with three children aged seven, 11 and 13) but I love the work we do, even when there's something to moan about. I'm lucky: I get paid to do a job I love.
What are your ambitions?
To get to main board level. Working on a project such as the Treasury refit, you deal with a lot of high-level people, which is good experience for working your way up to the board.
sometimes the wrong decision is better than no decision
Julian Daniel
While doing my MBA I realised that I'd picked up a lot of business skills and was well suited to general business as well as the technical side of construction.
When there's a recession, the accountancy people always take over. It's important that someone with construction experience can compete in that arena too.
What's next?
We've been working for nine months on the next phase of the refit of the Treasury building in 1 Horse Guards Road - the Treasury's only occupying half of the refurbished building. We have planning permission and are working with a prospective tenant, so it's looking very good.
What's your advice to people starting out in construction?
Learn from other people's mistakes and do it quickly. Also spend every living minute working at the coalface - there's no substitute for experience. It's all very well trainees spending some time in each area of the business, but how can you work in business development for construction if you don't know what construction is?
Some young people in the industry feel as though they're getting stuck in a rut working on site, but I'd advise them to stick with it, because you are always progressing if you are getting experience. And even if a project is really tough, see it through because no one likes a deserter.
Source
Construction Manager
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