Project Management to Development Transition
Hi everyone,
I’ve been in construction management for a little over three years, after switching in from financial sales/account management. I’ve been eager to pivot into a real estate development role, but am having some difficulty. Would love any opinions anyone can offer.
I’m considering taking some of the online real estate certificate programs (Harvard, MIT, etc.). Do those offer enough credibility to help make that transition? Do I need to go the full MBA/MSRE route? Does anyone know of a company that’s hired people with this kind of background before?
Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
What type of construction (MF, retail, SFH, office, industrial, etc)? What type of company were you working for (General Contractor, design/build company, etc)? What were your roles (project coordinator, project engineer, project manager, etc)? What scale of projects ($1-10M, $50M, $100M+)?
I have seen construction managers switch to development manager roles. One case in particular, a PM at a major GC in a gateway market worked on a mixed-use MF project while at that GC, and then switched to a developer who was building similar product type/scale/quality in that same market. Her experience as a PM at the GC, building that project and being the day-to-day manager and expert of the process, was very valuable to the developer, which I'm sure helped win her the developer gig. I would think you can do something similar, have a similar story to prove the value you can bring to a developer. Essentially, her pitch was: having built a very similar product, she understand the "guts" (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, framing, structural system, enclosure system, etc), she knows the City permitting folks and inspectors, she knows what can be improved about the design next time around, she knows what value engineering could happen (which is VERY valuable), and thus, she could be very valuable in the design, entitlement, permitting of similar mixed-use MF projects in that market. Even the delivery / hand-off to property management.
Worth noting, the developer in this example had a history of hiring arch/eng/const. people who they can then teach the financial concepts. I would target one of these types of developers. Just my $0.02!
Really appreciate that thoughtful response! I’m currently an Owner’s Rep for a mixed-use development, and have experience in retail construction as well. I’ve been a Project Coordinator, Project Planning Supervisor, and now Project Manager overseeing about $60M of capital improvement work across 4 subprojects.
I’d say other than the strict financial modeling, I have a lot of experience in most of the other functions that would go into a Development Manager role, just having trouble conveying that through a resume.
Hoping to find a developer like the one you mentioned though. If you’re able to point me in the right direction, that would be beyond helpful.
Thanks again!
Following.. I’ve seen some previous threads that some development shops do tend to hire folks with construction backgrounds. I’m also in a similar situation, curious to see where things land!
Been a few threads with similar question recently, worth searching, the TL:DR (i'll attempt to summarize).... Yes, people make this switch (my firm is loaded with people who started in CM/eng/arch), not easy but doable (network/learn/etc.), yes things like certs and especially MBA/MSRE can help a lot (a lot of your peers are doing this, i.e. your competition).
The other "big" factor is making true jump to a "real estate" role (i.e. some finance focus and dealmaking type responsibilities) vs. just being an "in-house" project manager at a development company. The latter is much easier than the former, but doing the latter MIGHT form a bridge to full on real estate development role internally or via another jump, still not guaranteed and may not make you happy.
Sorry for the delayed response - have been out of the country with limited access.
That’s great to know, and really appreciate the response. As you’ve touched on, I would ideally like to avoid getting pigeonholed into just another project management role although certainly opened to it if it gets my foot in the door towards the finance side.
Were any of your colleagues able to make the leap with just a real estate certificate (and if so, do you know from where: Harvard, MIT, eCornell, etc.)? It would be great to not avoid the full 2 year tuition of a pure MSRE so I’m hoping this might be a viable option. Any further insight is appreciated!
TBH, not sure about the real estate cert thing. I've this on people's LinkedIn profiles (sometimes seemingly trying to pass as a masters degree...), and I can recall one casual convo with someone who said they hired someone who completed one of these (not from a school you list, but like a place that was totally random, but known).
I think they are probably good for easy/fast and somewhat cheap (not sure what they cost tbh, but id guess a lot less than an MSRE) for skill/knowledge acquisition. I'm sure the credential would help, but I'd guess its more like for your direct benefit of sounding like you know the industry (which is actually HUGE in getting past an initial screen or interview with the team).
redever what do you consider an in house project manager vs a “real estate person with a finance focus”? Curious how you draw the distinction because in a sense, a development manager is a project manager - just overseeing all aspects of development and not just construction (CM work).
So clearly, every firm may do things a bit different (why generalizing is just dangerous in general lol), but when I mean in-house PM, I'm really referring to people/departments that are truly separate and away from the development team. Sometimes this is even a true "in-house GC" but they still hire a real GC most of the time (may do small work in-house). They only manage/oversee the project from the CM side and almost treat the development team like a client. This is sometimes called the "owners rep" (but that term can get abused as well). This setup makes it easier for developers to charge separate CM fees to the project/investors (i.e. a fee to the devco above/beyond the actual fee to the GC and consultants).
If you are on a development team and have project oversight responsibilities as well as other duties of finance, deal making, design mngt (like a "life cycle" team), you are fully in development. In reality, on give days/weeks or even years of a project, may not be much of a practical distinction potentially (if your team is large enough to handle all the other stuff).
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