How to hire construction workers.
What field seats pay, what real searches took, how to approach someone running a competitor's job, and how to test judgment before you make an offer.
A wrong crew hire costs you a week, and a wrong superintendent can cost you the project. Most of this guide is about the four seats you have to find, approach and price against a job they already hold. If you are filling crew, go straight to that section.
What each field seat pays, and the hire that goes wrong
The bar is our mid-experience band, built from our own engagement history. The dark marker is the federal median for the closest title (BLS, May 2025). Every bar uses one scale, $55k to $170k.
Assuming the most productive tradesperson makes the best foreman. The job stops being about personal output on day one.
General foreman, then assistant superintendent and superintendent
The foreman questionHiring a strong foreman into the seat and finding they still run a crew rather than a job. It is the most common failure in this role.
General superintendent
The superintendent questionHiring on project value rather than the number of full cycles. Buyouts and closeouts are where the skill lives, and they are counted per job.
Senior PM, then project executive
The project manager questionScreening on software fluency. Takeoff tools are learnable in weeks, and judgment about scope gaps and subcontractor coverage is not.
Senior estimator, then chief estimator
The estimator questionFederal data files foremen and superintendents under one title, so it cannot price either seat. The bottom of our superintendent band, $85,000, sits above the federal median for that title, $79,920, so use the median only as a low-end check and price the seat against what the person earns now, truck and bonus included. Our bands are mid-experience, so a senior superintendent on large or complex work can run above the top of the range. Experience, region, union status and prevailing-wage work all move these figures, and our salary calculator adjusts for the first two.
Someone already running work compares packages rather than salaries, so write out the whole offer before you make the first call: truck or allowance, bonus, per diem, and how much the job keeps them away from home.
Filling one field seat takes a lot of names
Four real searches rather than a benchmark, but they show why one good lead will not fill the seat.
Have us run the searchHow to reach someone who is not looking
Define the seat by the work
Before anyone gets a call, write down the project type, contract size and delivery method, and whether you need someone to run the job or support the person who does. A written definition keeps out people who only look right on a resume, and it is what lets you tell a source exactly who you are looking for.
Get names from people who have seen them run a job
The people who know which superintendents run a good job are the ones who deal with them on site: your subs, suppliers, project managers and inspectors. Those subs also work for your competitors, so ask who runs a good job and why without saying a seat is open, then ask who they would avoid working for again, because the second answer saves you as much time as the first. Active job signs show you who is building the kind of work you want in your market, and a call to a former colleague will usually tell you who is running it.
Make the first call short and specific
A superintendent in the middle of a job cannot take a recruiting call at ten in the morning, so text first, using the cell number from whoever gave you the name, and call after the site closes. Say who you are, how you got the name, what the project is and what the range is in the first minute, since someone with a stable job has no reason to stay on the phone for less. Then ask what they would need to see before they would consider a move, and when their job reaches a point they could hand it off, because the good ones want to hand a job off cleanly.
Plan for the counteroffer before you make an offer
When a working superintendent gives notice, their employer has a hole on a running job and is likely to counter. Raise that before the offer goes out by asking what they will do if it happens. A counter can fix more than money, because the owner can offer a closer job or a different project manager, so ask whether they have already requested that and what happened. Ask early for a copy of any non-compete or non-solicit they signed and have your counsel read it, since it can change the start date or the work they are allowed to run.
Start before the job needs the person
Our internal data shows most commercial construction leadership hires happen within three weeks of first contact with the candidate, and our Hiring Index has the detail by trade. That clock starts at first contact, so it leaves out the time before a search begins and the candidate's notice period, which is why the search has to start before the job needs the person. If your office would have to make these calls, our cost of vacancy calculator shows what each open week costs, so you can compare the two.
Test judgment with the work, not the resume
Each seat gets one scenario here, and our commercial construction hiring kit has sixteen for each role.
The plan gets made before the crew leaves. A strong foreman walks the work with the leads in the last hour, confirms what is finished and what is blocked, and checks that material, equipment and access are in place for the morning. Someone who plans at seven in the morning is reacting to the day rather than running it.
Follow up: What did you plan last night, and what had already changed by nine this morning?
Look for someone who finds the critical path before adding bodies, because overtime on non-critical work buys nothing. They should sort each delay by who carries it under the contract and tell you when notice went in, since an extension nobody gave notice for is usually gone.
Follow up: On the last job you recovered, who paid for the acceleration?
A strong project manager shows the record instead of complaining: a log of dates asked, dates needed, dates answered and what each open item is holding. They write each RFI with a proposed solution so the answer can be yes, escalate through the owner because that is usually where the contract runs, and price the impact as it accrues rather than presenting a surprise at the end.
Follow up: What does your contract say about response time, and have you ever invoked it?
A strong estimator assumes a scope difference before a price difference: what each quote excludes, which drawing revision it was priced from, and whether it carries the same labor classification, freight, hoisting and protection. They call both subs rather than guessing, because a low number that is silent on scope becomes their problem months later.
Follow up: Tell me about a time you carried the low number and the gap turned out to be scope.
A finalist with a stable job only needs one reason to stay put
Three interviews asking the same project questions, a pay range that moves late, slow feedback, a vehicle policy nobody can explain and an offer that sits in approval for a week can each provide that reason. The range you gave on the first call has to hold, so be specific about travel, on-call, overtime and territory. Introduce the project manager they would work with and the person they would report to, and show the backlog, because upcoming work is what makes a field job look stable.
What to verify before the first day
Crew seats run on your agreement and your foremen
If you are signatory, your agreement's referral rules come first, and they can limit name requests, referral bonuses and tryouts. If you are open shop, the hall is not your source, so the useful question is which of your foremen and subs know who is about to come off a job. A referral bonus works best when it is paid after the new hire has stayed long enough to matter, and a trade school or apprenticeship program only helps if the relationship exists before the job is awarded.
A short working test on real tasks tells you more than an interview, but it has to be paid, on payroll and covered by workers' comp, with site orientation done first. A staffing agency can carry payroll for short-term work, though you still control the site and share responsibility for safety, so check its comp coverage and, on public work, its certified payroll.
Two rules catch contractors here. If you direct someone's hours, tools and methods, the Department of Labor may treat them as an employee whatever the paperwork says. On federally funded or assisted work over $2,000, Davis-Bacon requires at least the local prevailing wage and fringe benefits for laborers and mechanics.
Common questions
How long does it take to hire a construction superintendent or project manager?
In our internal data, most are hired within three weeks of first contact with the candidate. Someone mid-job may then need weeks to hand off, so ask about the start date on the first call.
What should you pay construction workers?
Nationally, the median wage is $47,120 for construction laborers and $60,580 for carpenters (BLS, May 2025). Our mid-experience band for a commercial superintendent is $85,000 to $145,000, and experience, region, union status and prevailing-wage work all move these figures.
Why does nobody apply to my superintendent job post?
Good superintendents are usually running a job and are not reading postings. They hear about a move from people they have worked with, so the search has to go to them through subs, suppliers and direct calls.
Should I use a staffing agency or hire directly?
A staffing agency fits short-term crew work where you want it to carry payroll. Anyone running a crew or a site belongs on your own payroll.
More hiring guides: HVAC technicians and commercial electricians.
Filling a foreman, superintendent, project manager or estimator seat?
Our free hiring kit has all sixteen questions for each seat with what strong answers sound like, plus pay bands and the credentials to verify. If you would rather have a recruiter run the search, we do that too.
