I highly suggest a superintendent should manage any major project. Once, at a work site, a police officer (on foot patrol) asked for all permits because we were doing a job on a Saturday (requires a special permit in that area). The superintendent did his job very well by always having a fire escape available, strictly enforcing hard hats, parked all workers’ vehicles behind orange barriers, etc. The officers stopped all work until the permit was shown killing a little under 30 minutes of work. While the super was finding the proper documentation, the officers surveyed the area for any OSHA penalties.
Without a superintendent on-site, we’d probably would’ve been sent home for the day.
For a housing community of over 5 houses being built at the same time, there has to be someone on site all the time. Subcontractors have questions need direction, fail less inspections with Super to help, Deliveries are placed in correct location, prospective homeowners can be walked through homes. Both safety and productivity should go up, with a Supervisor on site.
Depending on the size of the project a super can be indispensable. The threshold depends on size as well as detailed nature of project. I have seen 800 sq ft additions in multimillion dollar homes that needed one because of details involved. Normally I’d say such an addition would be fine with the lead carpenter and communicative GC. They are very helpful for sure.
