5.55 AM
After waking up to my alarm I head to the closet to decide what to wear for the day. Once decided, I head to the bathroom to shower, get dressed, wash my face, and prepare for the day. It’s normally 6:30, so I grab my workbag and head to the kitchen. My kitten, OJ, normally chases after me and hangs around my feet wanting attention and food. After dishing up her food I proceed to make myself lunch and pack my bag. I try to be ready 10 minutes before having to leave so I can play with OJ.
6.50 AM
Time for the bus! I normally take the bus to work as I live 40 minutes out of town and the bus is only $2 each way. I leave the house at 6:50 am, making sure I’ve got my air pods, and walk the 5 minutes to the bus stop. Since I’m so far out of town my bus stop is the first, so I can always count on the bus being there a little early and leaving at 7 am. Once on the bus, I pop in my headphones and normally do some paint by numbers, sudoku, minesweeper or scrolling social media to keep me entertained for an hour and 20 minutes.
8.20 AM
As I’m on the New Dunedin Hospital (NDH) Project I have two offices, the Project Management Office for the NDH project and the RCP office. These are only a 5-10 minute walk from each other so if I need a change of scenery during the day it’s easy to switch. The majority of the time I use the PMO office as it has my coworkers who are also on the NDH project. Depending on how busy the bus was I normally walk into the office around 8:20 am. I walk in, say hi to my colleagues and proceed to the kitchen to pop my lunch in the fridge and make myself a cup of tea. I head to my desk, set up my laptop and check my emails. I use the first half hour of my day to sort through the ‘easy’ emails that require me to update an Excel sheet tracker or send an email to an engineer requesting an urgent response to an RFI. I also check if I have any meetings that day. Meetings involve me taking meeting minutes and listening in to develop my knowledge.
9.00 AM
Coffee time! The team and I will usually head out for a coffee in the morning at one of the local coffee shops nearby whether this is for a quick takeaway cup or to sit down for 20 minutes, depending on when the first meeting is. We use this time to catch up, chat about the project and prepare for the day ahead.
9.30 AM
I get back to my desk and finish off the emails I didn’t get to before. These are usually emails that require RFI’s needing to be assigned or submittal workflows needing to be made or finalized/distributed. Once these are done and the trackers are updated, I check how many RFI’s and Submittals are overdue. If I haven’t sent an update request to the consultants within the last 3-5 days I will follow up on these. I make sure all my meeting minutes have been prepped and sent to my coworker for proofreading. I draft any contract instructions (CI) for new drawing sets etc, and send them off to get instructed by the Engineers Representative.
1.00 PM
I like to have a late lunch if I’m not too hungry as I try not to snack and I won’t eat dinner till at least 8 pm. The lunch space at the PMO is great as there is always someone to talk to, I normally have some leftovers from the night before, otherwise, I will head to New World to grab something and maybe a sweet treat. As we are close to the main street of Dunedin I sometimes go try out new places too.
1.30 PM
Back at my desk. I finish up what I was doing before lunch recheck my emails and action anything that has come through, before putting on my PPE gear in preparation for the site.
2.00 PM
Time for the fortnightly H&S site walk! My favourite part of working on a project has to be attending site walks. It’s amazing to see the building come together and the changes that can happen in a short period. I make sure to take lots of photos so I can make an observation when I’m back at my desk and I listen in to what is being said.
3.00 PM
When we return to the office, I quickly write up an observation for the site and send that off. If I have any questions I need to ask, or anything I need clarified from anything I’ve done today I talk to my team. Coming into the industry right out of study can be quite tricky as there seems to be an ever-lasting list of things I don’t know. I am quite lucky though as I have a great team who will always happily answer the millions of questions I bombard them with. Following my Q&A, if I’m out of tasks for the day I check with the team what else they need me to do. What they get me to do can range from learning new tasks (which I love) to finding and putting together documents/drawings that are needed.
4.30 PM
RCP and my team are considerate with flexible hours. As my bus doesn’t leave till 6 pm I will finish work at 6 pm some days and 4:30 pm others. Since I’m finishing at 4:30 today I quickly get changed for the gym, pack up my desk and head out. After a quick gym workout, I head to the bus hub ready to go home.
7.20 PM
I’m home! As soon as I’m through the door puss is at my feet wanting attention. After a quick cuddle, scratch and play I have a quick shower before getting dinner ready for my partner and me. Depending on how long it took to cook, I relax on the couch and watch some TV before getting ready for bed. I try to be in bed by 9:30 so I can scroll aimlessly through social media and unwind before I go to sleep at 10 pm to get a good night's rest before work tomorrow.
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