Construction Foreman
We place this role between $65,000 and $105,000 a year at mid experience, before overtime, bonus and on-call.
What the job actually is.
Runs a crew on site and owns the work in front of them: daily plan, layout, materials, safety and production against the schedule. The foreman is accountable for what gets built today, not for the job as a whole.
What this role pays.
That band is mid experience, built from our own engagement history. Experience and region move it - the salary calculator applies both.
The federal occupation this role reports under is First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (SOC 47-1011), May 2025. Nationally it reports a median of $79,920 , with the middle of the market between $53,280 and $128,260. BLS counts this job inside that occupation rather than publishing it separately, so the figures cover a slightly wider group than this exact title.
Where it pays most.
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers across the metros we cover, May 2025. BLS publishes a median for 100 of them and withholds the rest, where the local sample was too small to be reliable.
| Metro | Median | Employed there |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | $129,700 | 4,770 |
| Seattle | $121,130 | 11,040 |
| San Francisco | $120,810 | 9,810 |
| Portland | $112,480 | 5,880 |
| Chicago | $111,260 | 13,420 |
| New York | $103,990 | 28,220 |
| Minneapolis | $103,290 | 8,310 |
| Boston | $99,890 | 13,110 |
| McAllen | $60,370 | 800 |
| Little Rock | $61,060 | 1,720 |
| Huntsville | $62,650 | 1,330 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The last three rows are the lowest-paying metros in the same set. Headcount is metro-wide across every industry, not this trade alone.
Construction Foreman vs Construction Superintendent.
A foreman runs the crew; a superintendent runs the site. The foreman answers for the work in front of them and usually still has tools in the truck. The superintendent answers for sequence, subcontractors and the schedule across every trade on the job. BLS does not separate them - both are first-line supervisors of construction trades - which is why this page and the superintendent page print the same wage table. Our own closed searches do separate them, and the two lists are different jobs in different cities.
Construction Superintendent: what it pays and what the search takes
Credentials that move an offer.
- OSHA 30
Licensing is a state question, not a national one. The Commercial Construction hiring page carries the state-by-state position, and every market page names the authority for that state.
What separates a strong candidate.
Everyone who applies for this seat will claim the experience. These are the things that distinguish the people who have it, and the questions that find out.
What to look for
- Describes planning the next day's work the afternoon before
- Safety described as something they enforce rather than something that happens to them
- Can talk about a crew member they coached rather than removed
Questions that find out
- How do you plan tomorrow, and when do you do it? A strong answer Plans before the crew leaves, not when they arrive. Walks the work with the leads in the last hour, confirms what is finished, what is blocked and what material, equipment and access tomorrow needs, then writes the assignments down so nobody is standing in the car park waiting to be told. Names the check they do the night before and what it costs them on the mornings they skip it. The wrong answer is planning the day at seven in the morning.
- Material you need on Monday has not arrived. What do you do with the crew? A strong answer Has a second scope ready that is real work rather than make-work, already laid out, with material already on site. Says when they found out: Friday, by checking, not Monday, by discovering. Escalates to the superintendent and the supplier with a needed-by date rather than a complaint, and writes the day up so the delay is documented if it becomes time. The wrong answer is sending people home or having the crew tidy up for eight hours.
- One of your people is skipping a safety step because it is faster. What happens? A strong answer Stops it there, in front of the crew, without making a performance of it, then finds out why: the step is genuinely slower, the equipment is missing, or nobody ever explained the reason. Fixes the cause if there is one and documents the conversation either way. Says what the second time looks like, because a rule everybody knows will not be enforced is not a rule. Looks for whether the schedule they set is what is pushing the shortcut.
- How do you build a three-week look-ahead, and who do you build it with? A strong answer Builds it with the people who have to deliver it - their own leads and the foremen of the trades immediately in front of and behind them - rather than issuing it at them. Works backwards from the milestone, carries material lead times and inspection dates on it, and marks what is at risk rather than showing everything green. Updates it weekly and uses last week's misses as the input. The wrong answer is a document that exists for the superintendent's meeting and changes nothing in the field.
- A delivery lands today and your crane window is tomorrow. What moves? A strong answer Works out what the delivery actually needs: laydown area, protection, double handling, and whether it can be received where it will be picked from. Decides between storing it once and paying to move it twice, and says which costs less on this job. Talks to whoever owns the crane window before assuming it can shift, and checks the delivery can be offloaded with what is on site today. Mentions the traffic and the other trades the laydown will block.
- How do you hand off between trades so nothing gets torn out and rebuilt? A strong answer Walks it with the next trade's foreman before leaving, with a checklist of what was agreed, and gets it signed or at least photographed and emailed. Knows the handful of interfaces on their scope that always cause rework and inspects those specifically rather than inspecting generally. Flags anything they are leaving incomplete rather than letting the next trade find it. The wrong answer treats handoff as the superintendent's problem.
- What does your pre-task plan actually change about how the crew works that day? A strong answer Can name a specific thing it changed: a different lift, a barricade that was not there, a second person on a task, a tool swapped out. Treats it as a two-minute conversation with the crew about today's hazards and today's sequence, not a form signed at the gang box. Says who talks - the crew, not only the foreman - and what happens when somebody raises something. A pre-task plan nobody can point to a change from is paperwork.
- Tell me about a layout error you caught before it got buried. A strong answer A real story with the catch mechanism in it: a dimension that did not close, a check against a second control line, a measurement off a grid rather than off adjacent work. Says what it would have cost if it had been found after the pour or after the drywall, and what they changed in their routine afterwards. The detail to listen for is that they checked something they were not required to check.
- How do you set and verify layout at the start of a floor? A strong answer Works from established control rather than from the edge of the slab or the previous trade's work, checks the control itself before trusting it, and closes the loop by measuring back to where they started. Verifies with a second method or a second person on anything that gets covered. Says what they do when the as-built slab does not match the drawing, which is the normal case, and who they tell before they absorb it in the field.
- What is your approach to protecting finished work from following trades? A strong answer Protects at the point the work is finished rather than after the first damage, and builds the protection into the cost and the schedule rather than treating it as goodwill. Names what they actually use on their scope and who they tell. Documents the condition at handoff with photographs so a later argument about who damaged it is short. Accepts that some damage is unavoidable and says how they price and claim it rather than eating it quietly.
- How do you handle a crew member who will not wear required protection? A strong answer Treats it as a line rather than a negotiation, and says so calmly and once. Checks first whether the gear fits, works, or is available, because most refusals have a practical cause. Documents it, involves their own supervisor and the safety lead rather than handling it privately, and knows what their company's progressive discipline actually says. Does not trade a quiet site for a crew that learns the rules are optional.
- What do you do when the material delivered is not what was ordered? A strong answer Does not install it to keep moving. Stops, photographs it against the packing list and the submittal, and notifies purchasing and the superintendent the same day with the needed-by date. Knows the difference between a substitution they can accept in the field and one that needs engineering or owner approval, and will not make that call themselves. Checks the rest of the delivery, because the wrong item usually travels with others.
- How do you plan a lift or a crane pick that involves other trades? A strong answer Starts with weight, radius and the chart rather than with the schedule, confirms the rigging and who is certified for it, and walks the swing path for people and finished work underneath. Gets the other trades out of the area in advance rather than during, with a time agreed in writing. Has a plan for wind and for the pick that has to stop halfway. Names the one person in charge of the lift and the single communication channel.
- What is your approach to daily reports and why do they matter? A strong answer Writes them the same day with the facts that matter later: headcount by trade, what was worked, weather, deliveries, inspections, who was waiting on whom and why. Treats them as the record that supports or sinks a delay claim rather than as an administrative chore, and says so. Notes impacts in neutral language rather than blaming, because the report will be read by lawyers before it is read by anybody else.
- How do you handle an inspection that is scheduled before you are ready? A strong answer Calls it rather than hoping, as early as possible, and offers the date they can actually be ready for. Asks whether a partial inspection of the complete area is possible, because that is often the answer. Does not present unfinished work and gamble on a sympathetic inspector, since a failed inspection costs a re-inspection fee, a re-inspection date and credibility. Tells the superintendent before the inspector arrives, not after.
- What makes you stop work on a task? A strong answer Has specific triggers rather than a general commitment to safety: a condition that was not in the plan, a protection system that is not what was designed, something unidentified in the ground, a crew member who is clearly not right today, drawings that contradict what is in front of them. Says they have actually done it, and what the conversation with their superintendent was like afterwards. Somebody who has never stopped work either has not been in the field long or does not stop.
The mistake this seat invites
Assuming the most productive tradesperson becomes the best foreman. The job stops being about personal output on day one.
Where the role goes next
Foremen progress to general foreman and superintendent; the step that matters is owning sequence rather than tasks. Candidates ask this in the first conversation, and an employer who cannot answer it loses the people who had other options.
Interview kit for this role
- All interview questions for this role in the question bank.
- Printable interview scorecard built from these questions and signals.
- The Commercial Construction hiring kit - every role in the trade, with credentials and offer risks.
- Offer calculator starting from this role's pay band.
What the search actually takes.
Across 13 closed commercial construction searches in 2026 year to date, our median was 14 days from first contact with the candidate to hire. That is not a time-to-fill benchmark - our clock starts when we reach the candidate, not when the requisition opened. The full distribution is in the Hiring Index.
Searches we have closed in this seat
3 of them were for this exact seat rather than the trade in general. Each is written up in full on our placements page: what the opening was, what made it hard, and what the person we placed brought.
- Commercial Construction Foreman - Livermore, CA - 21 days from first contact to hire.
- Waterproofing Foreman - Livermore, CA - 20 days from first contact to hire.
- Lead Carpenter / Working Foreman - Santa Cruz, CA
What we have open in Commercial Construction right now.
13 live commercial construction searches on our board as of November 12, 2026. These are roles contractors have asked us to fill, not a sample set.
- Architectural Project Manager - Cincinnati, Ohio
- Assistant Project Manager / Project Manager - Clayton, North Carolina
- Construction Project Manager - Des Plaines, Illinois
- Construction Superintendent - Des Plaines, Illinois
- Quality Control Manager / Site Safety and Health Officer - Des Plaines, Illinois
Keep reading.
- 2026 Commercial Construction Salary Guide - the full benchmark by role.
- Commercial Construction recruiting - how we run this trade.
- Salary calculator - the band by experience and region.
- Commercial Construction hiring in Houston - one market in detail.
- Hiring Index - how long our searches actually take.
Other Commercial Construction roles we recruit
All 56 roles we recruit - every trade, every seat.
