I spent a lot of time working in construction as the Engineer-In-Charge, Office Engineer and Inspector. My State Agency that approved applicants to practice engineering is pretty fussy about what is "qualifying" experience. I know several engineers - myself included - who had to re-write the experience a few times to get it to "count." In a general sense, project administration and management does not count to them. People serving as technical folks in construction outfits (Office Person) or project Superintendents can find their experience - while critical to getting the job done timely and in budget - really needs a bit of finesse to get people who are academia / design minded to accept that what they do really hits the vein of what professional engineers really do. My opinion is that if you boil down all of what PEs really do - all your left with is their certification that the Standards (whatever they are) are being met. As a Construction Super who's responsibility is Quality Control (the customer is usually responsible for Quality Assurance) a big part of your job is proving to the customer that the product is being built in accordance with the Contract Documents.
With that being said I was fortunate in that I could supplement my construction time with 6 month stints in Highway Design, Structural Design, Bridge Inspection, Software Design, Training, QA/QC Support Roles and Planning. I finally got accepted to take my PE after I completed my first job as a lead designer for a major bridge rehabilitation which included the Proposal, Estimate, Design Calculations and ADP Drawings. SOME direct design experience is necessary. Personally, I think every engineer should spend time on both sides of the house: "Designin' Stuff" and "Buildin' Stuff" if they want to make the claim they truly know their business.
To your specific question on how to write up experience - I don't know about VAs forms but in NY you can include as many pages as you want. MS Word and Acrobat are your friends. I think my 8 year submission was over 30 pages - not counting signature, address and summary sheets. I had to modify the forms slightly to get it easy to follow and it was accepted. The board people I spoke to said they want lengthy and verbose. Don't embellish or lie obviously, but really map out all your duties. There is A LOT that goes into what a Resident Engineer or Superintendent does that is qualifying experience.
PM me if you want a sample write-up for us construction folks. I'll ask that you don't out-and-out plagiarize, but instead use it as a model or template for your own experiences. But in summary:
1) Say what "you" did, what "you" were responsible for
2) Even if you worked on a team, don't say "I assisted with"
3) Quote all Standards and References Used
4) Start with each project with a quick summary
4b) Break down each project to element specific operations you did - be detailed - saying "I Designed Bearings" isn't enough, every thing you needed to calculate from the AASHTO LRFD book - say it. Demonstrate you knew WHY you were calculating it, not just because you boss told you to do it.
5) Explain the challenges of your project - all of us have constraints placed on us - budget, keep existing elements, environmental, local, political, unforeseen field conditions
5b) How "you" approached the challenge and how you solved the problem / made it better
6) People often leave out testing - if you (or your sub) tested concrete, took cores, chained a deck, torqued bolts, took geotech fabric samples - say so. Say how the results impacted your design or actions in the field. Reference the Standards for the testing (ACI, ANSI, ASME, etc.)
7) Analysis on Anything - it doesn't have to be an intricate look at beam chamber - if you did a cost analysis on a Change Order for pay items and had to read some specs to see if there was a different / cheaper / better way to do it then say so. Interpreting Plans and Specifications is important. Value Engineering Change Proposals are a big part of construction.
Lastly, having the PE certify your work isn't essential but it goes a long way to not having your experience discounted. Also remember that your immediate supervisor signing off on your time sheet doesn't have to be the PE. As long as before the finished product going to the customer that you helped work on is reviewed by a licensed engineer - that is sufficient for that person to certify your competency. So if there is anyone in your firm who is a licensed professional (PE, LS, Landscape Architect, ARE) and they are Professional-of-Record for the project you worked on, it's best to try and talk that person into signing off on your work.
In retrospect, I found writing up my experience was more annoying than actually studying for the PE Exam. YMMV.