7 Construction Jobs You Should Know About

Discover the value of hiring a full-service construction company to handle your next project.

Key Takeaways:

• Many different professionals could be needed to complete construction work
• Hiring each worker individually is a significant job
• A full-service construction company ensures that every aspect is covered

Brick and mortar. Wires and pipes. These two essential partnerships help make construction possible, but they’re nowhere near as important as the most dynamic duo of all: people and plans! Everything falls apart if the right personnel aren’t part of the project from the very beginning. Here are seven groups essential to construction work and creating safe, efficient, and successful projects.

1. The carpenter

If it’s part of construction work and made of wood, you can thank the carpenters for creating it. That’s a long list encompassing:

• The framework of the building itself, including foundations
• Rafters
• Partitions
• Window and door frames
• Siding
• Stairways

Wood isn’t the sole material carpenters use in construction jobs. Carpenters often work closely with roofers since rafters and roofs are intricately connected, and they also frequently team up with drywallers. They also work with wood substitutes like fiber cement, plastic, or engineered wood (raw wood blended with adhesives and resins).

2. The drywall finisher

Think of drywalling as the icing on the cake in construction work since it’s usually applied near the end of a build. Drywall is a layer of plaster between two thick layers of paper, and the professionals who handle it have a long list of duties, including:

• Reviewing building and project blueprints to ensure accurate drywall positioning
• Cutting and fitting the drywall sheets
• Installing metal studs to fit the drywall onto using screws or nails
• Ensuring existing joints and corners are protected
• Patching up holes
• Sanding joints
• Applying smooth compound coats made of mostly water and gypsum dust to the drywall

Drywalling can also be essential to effective insulation, especially as modern materials become more geared toward energy efficiency. Drywall’s versatility can even help fireproof buildings, creating soundproof barriers and shock absorption.

3. The electrician

The primary role of a construction electrician is to collaborate with electrical engineers who design electrical systems in new buildings. Electricians are the ones who install them while also inspecting and repairing existing electrical systems on other projects.

It’s common for electricians to be involved from the blueprint stage alongside engineers, ensuring all wiring, switches, control devices, and outlets are in optimal positions. Electricians must be familiar with the latest edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC). This keeps them informed about more expansive electrical regulations that dictate their work and are often enforced at the state and local levels, keeping projects safe and legally compliant. 

4. The flooring installer

Not all constructions are new. Some jobs are renovations, while others are extensions of existing structures. You’ll find flooring installers on all of those jobs. They work with a wide range of materials, including wood and vinyl, carpet, stone, and tile. This allows them to create new floors or repair and replace old ones. They’re sanders, stainers, sealers, and cutters who can make floors both functional and beautiful.

5. The foreman

Foremen have one of the most demanding jobs in construction. Foremen are site coordinators, project supervisors, safety managers, and clock watcher’s all in one. They’re instrumental in seeing that work is done to the highest quality, within budget, and completed on time.

Foremen are also vital liaisons between the workers on the ground (or stories in the air) and other stakeholders like the customer or local authorities. This ensures everyone is on the same page at all times. A good foreman can hire the right people for a project and supervise them firmly and fairly to ensure top performance.

In case you’re wondering, ladies can be foremen, too. Only 2.5% of the trade are women as of 2022, but that number is bound to increase.

6. The millwright

“Millwright” may sound like a quaint position in a countryside bread business, but it’s a decidedly mighty and mechanical job! The millwright is responsible for doing precision work on and operating all kinds of construction machinery. This may involve installation and calibration, maintenance and repair, or all of the above, depending on the site’s needs.

It can be a heavily physical and, at times, dangerous construction job. Millwrights must be extremely careful in protecting themselves as they work to keep people and equipment safe from injury and malfunctions.

Millwrights are often skilled in other areas of construction, like electrical, plumbing, and bricklaying, to name just a few. This experience is essential because they couldn’t confidently operate and position heavy machinery without knowledge of broader construction matters. You may even find millwrights performing various construction processes like woodwork or wiring first-hand.

7. The roofer

Roofers are the crowning artists of construction. They select from a wide range of materials to create the right roof for a project, then install it while keeping themselves and everyone underneath them safe. You’ll find roofers setting shingles, metal, tile, or various other options into place in various shapes.

Roofing construction jobs go beyond “simply” capping things off aesthetically. Their work is critical to structural stability while ensuring the building stays shielded from the elements and any little critters looking to enter. Failing to keep Mother Nature outdoors can lead to chewed wiring and mold-causing moisture, both of which can harm buildings and their occupants.

How General Contractors get the team together

The seven construction jobs we spotlighted touch every essential construction base: machinery, health and safety, materials, and highly skilled personnel. The sheer amount of work and stress necessary to research and hire each contractor individually can be overwhelming. It’s a lot to pull together when you want to build something.

RPC General Contractors is a full-service construction company. This means we’re your one-stop shop to easily and confidently assemble all the professionals you need for your construction work.

Whether you’re building new or renovating, you can count on our expert team to be as passionate and committed to your construction as you are. We can help from conceptualization to project planning and execution, and we work only with the most skilled and reliable subcontractors. Just contact us today for a free estimate!