A Day in the Life
From Laval to Montreal, renovations to new builds, the construction site to the office – no two of Masa Akil’s days are ever alike. She is a project manager at MONTONI and is the personification of its culture of collaboration and innovation. A civil engineer by training, she has been with the company for three years now. Today, she is on the Ericsson Campus project, which was the first account she worked on as a junior project manager and made her not only passionate about her job but fall in love with it.
ON SITE
It’s 7:30am and Masa is already on the construction site. She is coordinating a meeting with and speaking to the subcontractors about what needs to be done and how – using organization to optimize time and resources. She is responsible for the entire management of the project, ensuring it is delivered perfectly and punctually to the customer, which is no small feat.
Her day continues with visits to the different sections of the site followed by meetings with architects and engineers to both coordinate and adjust the construction plans based on the project’s progress.
After her on-site meetings and a few (read: many) interrupting calls, Masa manages to find a few minutes to answer the newly built skyscraper of e-mails in her inbox. While she is physically here, she is remotely managing her other projects around the city.
Masa often works simultaneously on sites at completely different stages of completion and needs to make decisions requiring a high level of concentration. In one moment, she may be giving her opinion on a concrete slab or a load-bearing wall for a project and in the next breath choosing the colour of the walls and the height of the reception desk in another. "After a day of twists and turns where nothing goes as planned, I always try to meet up with my colleagues in time for a class at the MONTONI gym after work. It's my way of recharging,” Masa says.
IN THE OFFICE
Masa’s days at her desk are not any calmer, but they are very different. She reviews the timelines of her sites and adjusts them as needed. Her hours spent in the office are an opportunity to address the administrative and budgetary parts of her projects. It’s also a chance for her to review her accounts and strategize solutions for potential problems on various sites with colleagues from different departments.
"Daily life at MONTONI is extremely dynamic. We regularly organize activities with the entire team like 5 à 7s, a summer BBQ just before the construction holiday, training sessions, conferences, Tremblant’s 24h and many others. One of the things I really like is there is always food in the office!” Masa says with a laugh. This is courtesy of the management team’s Italian heritage, inspiring a love for sharing good meals with their employees.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Masa’s days at her desk are not any calmer, but they are very different. She reviews the timelines of her sites and adjusts them as needed. Her hours spent in the office are an opportunity to address the administrative and budgetary parts of her projects. It’s also a chance for her to review her accounts and strategize solutions for potential problems on various sites with colleagues from different departments.
"Daily life at MONTONI is extremely dynamic. We regularly organize activities with the entire team like 5 à 7s, a summer BBQ just before the construction holiday, training sessions, conferences, Tremblant’s 24h and many others. One of the things I really like is there is always food in the office!” Masa says with a laugh. This is courtesy of the management team’s Italian heritage, inspiring a love for sharing good meals with their employees.