my job

I'm often asked what I do for a living.  When I respond that I'm an estimator and project manager for an electrical contractor, I quite often get that blank stare that tells me that this description isn't computing so I'll enlighten you.  As an estimator, I look at the electrical portion of the blue prints and tell you how much this project is going to cost you electrically.  That includes going out for pricing on the distribution (panel with breakers, etc.), lighting, fire alarm, and any incidentals such as floor boxes, data and telephone.  After that, I need to figure out how much the conduit and wiring, and devices such as plugs and switches are going to cost.  Then I have to assign a labor factor to each of these elements to come up with a total package price, installed.  Sometimes on 'closing day', (the absolute latest time you can submit your pricing or it goes directly in the trash and you have just wasted not only your time, but your employer's money) it gets pretty hairy with distributors sitting on their pricing until the last minute. 
Not long ago we closed a job for the Calgary Police Service that required 9 (!) separate pricies, not to be included in the base bid price.  Usually jobs close at 2pm, sharp, but this one closed at 4.  Ok, no worries.  Ya right.  Looked good on paper!  You would think that with 2 extra hours to put their number together, we'd be ready to go at 2:30-3:00 latest.  NO!  Pricing and a bill of material started coming in at 1 from one of the suppliers and because I was limited to 2 suppliers due to existing equipment, I was starting to get twitchy waiting for something to come from the other one.  The first guy's final pricing came in at 2:30 and the other guy?  Not until 3:20.  NICE..................... now I have to go through the bill of material, do a comparison to ensure that they have everything I need, and that I'm comparing apples to apples, break out my prices for the separate pricing required, complete my tender documents and get my pricing in.  What I do can be extremely stressful at the best of times, but that one was hairier than any I've put together before.

As a project manager it's my job to make sure that materials are delivered to site in the order required to make the project be completed on time.  Little things like making sure that the main distribution is delivered before the basement is closed in, the fixtures are delivered after the drywall is up, sanded and painted, and the ceilings are ready to have them installed.  It's also my job to coordinate man-power so that I have the required forces to complete the job in a timely manner without flooding the man-hours charged to my job.  On top of that add managing change orders (changes to the scope of work that may impact the cost of construction), attending site meetings to discuss the progress of the project ands dealing with the general contractor.  Phewf!  I know, that's a mouthful, but I love it.  Busy, busy, busy is how I like it.  It makes the days go very fast.
When I first came to my current employer, the first job that I estimated was a job called Heritage Park Expansion that incuded some parking lots and lot lighting, 10,000 square foot Haskayne Mercantile Block which is administration on the second floor and retail on the main floor, and the crown jewel of the project, 75,000 square foot Gasoline Alley which is a museum of antique cars, banquet facility and a five star restaurant.  It was estimated at $3.5 million and we ended up landing it.  Somehow it was decided that I was going to be the PM on this one in partnership with the boss and, you've got it, it ended up being just me.  Whoa nelly, this thing was a whole lot bigger than anything else I'd run.  At first it was a huge learning curve and there were a lot of challenges but once things got humming the next 3 years went pretty well and it turned me in to one of the best PMs in the city (so I've been told by some of my crew and co-workers).  By the time the dust settled and all portions of the work were completed, this project ended up coming in at $6.5 million.  On Gasoline Alley alone there were 169 change orders, one of them being a lighting revision of $160,000!  EEK, that's a big change order.  There was so much paperwork involved with this project that I have 8 - 3" binders and 6 - 1" binders on the shelf in my office.  The paperwork alone was a full time job!
The picture above is the 'Block' as we so affectionately called it.  Sorry I couldn't find one of Gasoline Alley, but this is definitely 'the house that Deb built', and my field guys did a bang-up job.
And that, my friends, would be the origin of both of the tag lines with my email autosignature.

vision to see
faith to believe
courage to do
this one's special to me.  vision to see - where we're going, what we're doing, and the end product.  faith to believe - in myself, that I can do what needs to be done.  courage to do - whatever it is that needs to be done for a completed project.

"Courage is being afraid and saddling up anyway." - John Wayne
And this one?  Ya just gotta love John Wayne, and I firmly believe in it.