Construction Project Manager Job Description Templates
6 templates written around the five systems a PM runs on a single project: the schedule, the subcontractors, the submittals, the RFIs, and the budget. Download as DOCX.
The first construction project manager job description I ever helped a contractor rewrite listed eleven duties, and eight of them were things a superintendent does. The owner had copied a posting off a job board, changed the company name, and wondered why every candidate he liked wanted to be on site all day instead of chasing submittals.
That is the central problem with most postings for this role. They describe a person who is generically responsible for construction, when the actual job is running five specific systems on one specific project: the schedule, the subcontractors, the submittal register, the RFI log, and the budget. Everything else is downstream of those five.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for contractors who write their own postings between a bid deadline and a site visit. The six below cover the general contractor side, residential, the project engineer seat, trade contractors, the owner side, and public works, each with the classification and safety notes generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
A construction project manager owns one project's schedule, subcontractors, submittals, RFIs, and budget. The superintendent owns the site. Construction managers earned a national median of $114,990 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Most PM roles are exempt under the administrative test, but a working PM on the tools usually is not. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What a Construction Project Manager Actually Runs
A construction project manager runs the contract, the money, and the paperwork on an assigned project. The superintendent runs the site. That single split is the most useful thing you can put in a job description, and it is the thing most postings get wrong.
The distinction matters because the two roles reward opposite instincts. A superintendent solves problems by walking to them. A project manager solves problems by writing them down, dating them, and sending them to the party who owes an answer. Both are valuable. Hiring one when you needed the other costs a season.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts this work under construction managers, an occupation with 550,300 jobs in 2024 and projected growth of 9 percent through 2034, roughly 46,800 openings a year on average. Demand is not your constraint. Definition is.
Write One Role and Name the Other
If your company is small enough that one person carries both seats, say so on the posting in plain words: this role manages the contract and is on site [frequency], and there is no separate superintendent. Candidates will price that honestly. What they will not do is guess. A blended posting that pretends to be a pure PM job attracts office-side candidates who quit when they discover they are also sequencing crews at six in the morning.
The Five Systems on a Single Project
Every construction PM job description should be organized around five systems, because that is how the work actually decomposes. Group the duties under those headings and the posting becomes legible to a candidate in thirty seconds.
The schedule
Critical path, not a wish list
The PM owns the baseline schedule, the weekly look-ahead, and the written record of every delay. A delay documented on the day it happens is a defensible position. The same delay reconstructed four months later is an argument you lose.
The subcontractors
Buyout, coordination, and paper
Scope gaps get bought out, insurance certificates get collected before mobilization, and the weekly trade meeting produces minutes someone actually reads. Most cost overruns on a small job start as a scope gap nobody caught at buyout.
The submittals
Approvals ahead of procurement
The submittal register is a procurement clock. If a long-lead item is approved late, the schedule moves regardless of how well the field performs. This is the single most common failure point on projects run by a stretched team.
The RFIs
Questions with a paper trail
A written, logged, tracked RFI converts a drawing conflict into a dated request with a response deadline. An unlogged phone call converts the same conflict into your problem when the cost shows up three weeks later.
The budget
Commitments, cost to date, projection
The cost report is the PM deliverable that leadership reads. Committed cost, cost to date, and projected final cost, updated monthly, with every change order priced and signed before the work is performed rather than after.
Safety and closeout
Shared with the superintendent
The superintendent runs daily site safety, but the PM owns the safety documentation, the subcontractor safety requirements in the contract, and the closeout package that releases retainage. Neither one is optional.
The systems are not equally weighted. On a fast commercial job, submittals and procurement dominate the first third and change management dominates the last third. On a residential remodel, client communication and selections consume more time than the schedule. Say which one dominates your project, because that is what candidates are trying to work out.
Duties and Responsibilities for the Posting
Write duties as verbs against systems, not as adjectives about the person. Nobody has ever been screened out by the phrase strong communication skills. Everyone is screened by whether they have built a submittal register from a specification book.
System
Duty to write on the posting
What it tells the candidate
Schedule
Build and maintain the CPM schedule and run a weekly look-ahead with the field
Whether they need scheduling software fluency or a spreadsheet is fine
Schedule
Document every delay in writing on the day it occurs, with cause and impact
That you take claim exposure seriously
Subcontractors
Level bids, award scopes, and write subcontracts with clear inclusions and exclusions
Whether buyout is theirs or the estimator keeps it
Subcontractors
Collect insurance certificates, licenses, and safety acknowledgments before mobilization
That compliance is a duty, not an afterthought
Submittals
Own the submittal register and drive approvals ahead of procurement dates
That procurement risk lands on this seat
RFIs
Write, log, track, and close RFIs, escalating anything open past a set number of days
That you expect a paper trail, not phone calls
Budget
Maintain the cost report: commitments, cost to date, projected final cost
Whether they own the number or report to someone who does
Budget
Price and negotiate change orders and approve subcontractor pay applications
How much commercial authority the role carries
Closeout
Manage punch list, warranties, as-builts, and final retainage release
That the job is not done when the building is
Two duties belong on almost every construction PM posting and are missing from most of them: the delay documentation duty and the no-work-without-a-signed-change-order duty. Both describe behavior you will actually fire someone for skipping, which makes them fair to state up front. Our general guide to writing a job description covers the surrounding structure.
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6 Construction Project Manager Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, duties grouped by system, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Construction Project Manager Job Descriptions
Commercial, residential, project engineer, trade contractor, owner’s representative, and public works. All in one download.
Commercial PM
General contractor side
The core template: buyout, CPM schedule, submittal register, RFI log, change orders, pay applications, and closeout on one assigned project.
Residential PM
Custom homes and remodels
For builders whose client lives in the job. Selections, allowances, permits, draw requests, and the weekly homeowner update as a named duty.
Project Engineer
Submittals and RFIs
The document engine under the PM. Submittal register, RFI log, drawing revisions, and the closeout package, with an honest classification warning.
Trade Contractor PM
Subcontractor side
For mechanical, electrical, concrete, or roofing firms carrying several scopes at once: manpower planning, unit tracking, and change capture.
Owner’s Representative
Client side of the table
For an owner managing a contractor. Schedule review, pay application review, change order challenge, and reporting to non-construction leadership.
Public Works PM
Prevailing wage projects
For publicly funded work, with certified payroll verification, wage determination flow-down, and agency audit documentation written in as duties.
Template 1: Commercial Construction Project Manager
The core general contractor template, with duties grouped under schedule, buyout, submittals and RFIs, budget and change management, and closeout. If you are hiring the firm-level leader instead of a single-project PM, use the construction manager templates.
Commercial Construction Project Manager Job Description
COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Director of Operations / VP of Construction]
FLSA status: Exempt (administrative; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [vehicle allowance / bonus]
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] is a general contractor in [City, State] building [ground-up
retail, tenant improvement, light industrial, medical office] projects with
contract values from $_ to $_. We are hiring a Project Manager to
own one project end to end, from buyout through closeout.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Construction Project Manager owns the schedule, the subcontractors, the
submittal and RFI log, the change order process, and the budget for a single
assigned project. You are the contractual point of contact for the owner, the
architect, and every trade partner on the job.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
SCHEDULE
•Build and maintain the CPM schedule in [scheduling software], including the
critical path, procurement dates, and long-lead items
•Run a weekly look-ahead with the superintendent and the trade foremen
•Document every delay in writing on the day it happens, with cause and impact
SUBCONTRACTORS AND BUYOUT
•Level bids, award scopes, and write subcontracts with clear scope inclusions
and exclusions
•Collect certificates of insurance, W-9s, licenses, and signed safety
acknowledgments before any trade mobilizes
•Chair the weekly trade coordination meeting and publish minutes within [24
hours]
SUBMITTALS AND RFIs
•Maintain the submittal register and drive approvals ahead of procurement dates
•Write, log, track, and close RFIs; escalate any RFI open past [number] days
•Distribute approved submittals and current drawing revisions to every affected
trade
BUDGET AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
•Own the cost report: commitments, cost to date, projected final cost
•Price, submit, and negotiate change orders; never authorize work without a
signed change order or written directive
•Review and approve subcontractor pay applications and prepare the monthly
owner billing with lien waivers
QUALITY, SAFETY, AND CLOSEOUT
•Support the superintendent on site safety and the project safety plan
•Run [pre-installation] meetings for critical scopes
•Manage punch list, O&M manuals, warranties, as-builts, and final retainage
release
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Bachelor's degree in construction management, civil engineering, or building
science, OR equivalent field experience: pick one and mean it]
•[Number] years managing commercial projects of similar value and type
•Working command of [project management platform], [scheduling software], and
[estimating software]
•Ability to read and coordinate full drawing and specification sets
•OSHA 30 card [required / to be completed within 90 days]
•Valid driver's license and reliable transportation to the jobsite
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
A project manager whose primary duty is office or non-manual work directly
related to management or general business operations, who exercises discretion
and independent judgment on matters of significance, and who is paid on a salary
or fee basis at or above the federal threshold generally qualifies for the FLSA
administrative exemption. A "working PM" who spends most of the day performing
manual trade work is a different case, and the title on the offer letter does
not decide it. Confirm your state threshold, which can be higher than the
federal one. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus structure tied to project margin],
[vehicle or allowance], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a list of projects
you personally managed, with value, type, and your role on each.
Template 2: Residential Construction Project Manager
For custom home builders and remodelers whose client is living in the job. Selections, allowances, permits, draw requests, and the weekly homeowner update are written in as duties rather than assumed.
Residential Construction Project Manager Job Description
RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / General Manager]
Projects: [Custom homes / whole-house remodels / multifamily]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (administrative) unless the role is primarily hands-on
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] builds [custom homes / high-end remodels] in [City, State] with
project values from $_ to $_. Our clients live in the house while
we work in it, or they are moving into it, which means communication is as much
of the job as construction.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Residential Project Manager runs [number] active jobs at a time: the
schedule, the trade partners, the selections, the allowances, the change orders,
and the homeowner relationship from contract signing to final walkthrough.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build and maintain the project schedule and communicate it to the homeowner in
plain language
•Coordinate trade partners, inspections, and material deliveries in sequence
•Track selections and allowances; convert every overage into a written,
signed change order before the work happens
•Pull and close permits and coordinate all required municipal inspections
•Run the weekly homeowner update: what happened, what is next, what we need
from you
•Maintain the job cost budget and flag variances to the owner early
•Review trade invoices and prepare draw requests with backup and lien waivers
•Walk the job for quality and safety and manage the punch list to zero
•Hand over warranties, manuals, and the warranty process at closeout
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years running residential construction projects
•Ability to read residential plans and coordinate trades without a full-time
superintendent on site
•Comfort with a [project management platform] and a shared client portal
•Genuine patience with homeowners under stress; this is a screening criterion,
not a nice-to-have
•[State or local contractor license or registration, if your state requires the
person supervising work to hold one]
•Valid driver's license
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Residential PM roles drift toward hands-on work at small builders. If the person
spends most of the day performing manual construction rather than managing, the
administrative exemption is hard to defend and the role is non-exempt: hourly,
with overtime past forty hours in a workweek. Decide honestly, write it on the
posting, and track hours for anyone non-exempt. Confirm your state contractor
licensing rules for the person supervising residential work. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus per project delivered on budget],
[vehicle allowance], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and three references
The document engine that sits under the PM: submittal register, RFI log, drawing revisions, and closeout assembly. Pair it with the broader assistant project manager templates if you hire outside construction too.
For mechanical, electrical, concrete, or roofing firms whose PM carries several scopes at once. Manpower planning, unit tracking against the estimate, and same-day change capture are the margin levers here.
For an owner managing a general contractor rather than employing trades. Schedule review, pay application review, change order challenge, and reporting risk to leadership who do not read construction schedules.
Owner's Representative Construction Project Manager Job Description
FLSA status: Exempt (administrative; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Organization Name] is building [project description] and needs a project
manager on our side of the table. You do not employ the trades. You protect our
budget, our schedule, and our interests against a contract we signed with a
general contractor.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Owner's Representative manages design and construction on behalf of the
owner: reviewing the general contractor's schedule and pay applications,
evaluating change orders, coordinating consultants, and reporting status and
risk to leadership.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Manage the design team and the general contractor against contract terms
•Review the contractor's schedule for logic, float, and realistic durations
•Review and challenge change order pricing; approve only what the contract
supports
•Review monthly pay applications against actual progress and lien waiver
compliance
•Track the owner budget including soft costs, FF&E, permits, and contingency
•Chair owner, architect, and contractor meetings and issue decisions in writing
•Escalate schedule and cost risk to leadership with options, not just problems
•Coordinate occupancy, commissioning, move-in, and warranty administration
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in construction project management, ideally with time on the
contractor side
•Contract fluency: [AIA or ConsensusDocs] general conditions, allowances,
contingency, and liquidated damages
•Ability to read a schedule critically rather than accept it
•Clear written reporting to a non-construction audience
•[PMP, CCM, or equivalent credential: required or preferred, your call]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Owner's representatives are frequently engaged as independent contractors. That
is legitimate when the person runs their own business, serves multiple clients,
and controls how the work is performed. It is not legitimate when you set the
hours, the location, the methods, and the reporting line. Misclassification
exposure here is real. If the role is a seat at your organization, hire an
employee. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [benefits summary], [project completion bonus]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a summary of the
largest budget you have controlled on the owner side.
Template 6: Public Works Project Manager
For publicly funded work where compliance paperwork is load-bearing. It names certified payroll verification and wage determination flow-down as duties. See our guides to prevailing wage and certified payroll for the mechanics.
Public Works / Prevailing Wage Project Manager Job Description
PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION (PREVAILING WAGE)
FLSA status: Exempt (administrative; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] performs [federally funded / state / municipal] construction work
in [City, State]. We are hiring a Project Manager for a project subject to
prevailing wage and certified payroll requirements, where the compliance
paperwork is as load-bearing as the schedule.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Public Works Project Manager runs the schedule, subcontractors, submittals,
RFIs, and budget on a publicly funded project while maintaining full prevailing
wage, certified payroll, and agency reporting compliance.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Confirm the applicable wage determination is in the contract documents and
flowed down to every subcontractor
•Verify weekly certified payrolls from our crews and every subcontractor before
submission to the agency
•Confirm required labor notices are posted at the jobsite
•Maintain classification accuracy: a worker performing a classification must be
paid that classification's rate for those hours
•Track apprentice-to-journeyman ratios where the project requires them
•Manage the schedule, submittal register, and RFI log to agency requirements
•Prepare and negotiate change orders under public contracting rules
•Maintain the documentation package an agency audit will ask for
•Manage closeout, retainage release, and final compliance certifications
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years managing public works or prevailing wage projects
•Working knowledge of certified payroll reporting and wage determinations
•Familiarity with agency submittal and reporting portals
•Ability to read plans and specifications and manage a formal RFI process
•OSHA 30 card [required / to be completed within 90 days]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
The Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts apply to contractors and subcontractors on
federally funded or federally assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the
construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works. Covered
laborers and mechanics must be paid at least the locally prevailing wages and
fringe benefits listed in the applicable wage determination. Many states have
their own prevailing wage statutes with different dollar thresholds, some lower
than the federal figure and many far higher, plus separate reporting systems.
Verify both the federal and the state requirement for every project before
bidding, not after award. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus], [vehicle], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and the public agencies
you have delivered projects for.
Requirements, Software, and Credentials
Name the software stack and mark the degree preferred rather than required. Those two decisions widen the candidate pool more than anything else you can change, and they cost you nothing in quality if the interview is built around real project work.
Software fluency is a genuine filter in this role. A PM who has never run a submittal register inside a project management platform will take a full project to become useful, and on a single-project hire you do not have that runway. Name the specific platform, the scheduling tool, and the estimating tool you use.
Requirement
How to write it
Why
Degree
Preferred, not required, unless an owner or surety demands it
A hard requirement filters out superintendents moving into management
Years of experience
Tie it to project value and type, not to a raw number
Five years on service calls is not five years on ground-up work
Project management platform
Name the actual product you use
Ramp time on an unfamiliar platform costs a full project
Scheduling software
Name it, or say a spreadsheet schedule is acceptable
Sets expectations about how formal your schedule is
Drawing and spec literacy
State it as a duty: build the submittal register from the spec book
This is the single most testable skill in an interview
OSHA 30
Required, or required within 90 days and company-funded
Owners and general contractors gate site access on it
Driver’s license
Required, with your vehicle or allowance policy stated
Avoids a late-stage surprise on an offer
Trade or contractor license
Only if your state requires it for supervision
Verify with your state licensing board before writing it
Everything else belongs in the preferred column. Credentials such as PMP or CCM are useful signals about process discipline, and a candidate who volunteers them is telling you something real, but requiring them on a posting at a small contractor shrinks a pool that is already tight.
What to Pay a Construction Project Manager
National wage data for this role sits under the construction managers occupation, which bundles project managers, superintendents, and contractor management staff together. Treat it as a band, not a benchmark for one seat.
National Wage Data for Construction Management
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), construction managers earned a median annual wage of $114,990 ($55.28 per hour) and a mean annual wage of $124,360. Across all US occupations the median was $50,980 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national employment and wage data, May 2025).
Role
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Note for a small contractor
Construction manager (includes PM)
$114,990 per year
Covers PMs, superintendents, and contractor management together
First-line supervisor of construction trades
$79,920 per year
Top quarter earned at least $101,460
Construction and building inspector
$74,690 per year
Top quarter earned at least $94,710
Architectural and engineering manager
$171,270 per year
The ceiling reference for technical management in the sector
All US occupations
$50,980 per year
Context for how far above the national median this role sits
In practice, pay tracks three variables: project value, project type, and metro market. A residential remodel PM at a small builder lands well below the median, a commercial PM on a large ground-up project lands above it, and public works experience carries a premium because the compliance burden narrows the pool. Bonus structures tied to project margin are common and worth naming on the posting.
Safety, Classification, and Prevailing Wage
Three compliance questions attach to this role specifically: whether your PM is a controlling employer for OSHA purposes, whether the role is genuinely exempt from overtime, and whether the project carries prevailing wage obligations. Get all three wrong and the job description is the least of your problems.
The first is the one contractors underestimate. OSHA applies a multi-employer citation policy on shared worksites, and a general contractor with supervisory authority over the site can be cited for a hazard created by a subcontractor. That authority usually runs through the PM and the superintendent.
Your PM may be the controlling employer
OSHA runs a multi-employer citation policy on jobsites where more than one company works. It sorts employers into creating, exposing, correcting, and controlling categories, and defines a controlling employer as one with general supervisory authority over the worksite, including the power to correct safety and health violations itself or require others to correct them. A general contractor’s project manager and superintendent sit squarely in that description. The controlling employer must exercise reasonable care to prevent and detect violations, judged on things like site inspection frequency, the scale and pace of the work, and whether an effective graduated enforcement system exists for subcontractors who ignore requirements. Practical translation: write subcontractor safety obligations into the subcontract, inspect on a documented cadence, and keep a written record of what you found and what you required. This is general information, not legal advice.
Exempt is a duties test, not a title
The federal administrative exemption at 29 CFR 541.200 has three parts, and all three must be satisfied: compensation on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than $684 per week, a primary duty of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or its customers, and a primary duty that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. The 2024 rule that would have raised the salary level was vacated in federal court and formally rescinded by the Department of Labor on May 15, 2026, which restored the 2019 levels. Two traps for contractors: a working PM who spends most of the day on manual construction fails the non-manual prong regardless of pay, and a junior project engineer following established procedures often fails the discretion prong. Several states set a higher salary threshold than the federal one. This is general information, not legal advice.
Public money changes the paperwork
The Davis-Bacon Act and its Related Acts apply to contractors and subcontractors on federally funded or federally assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works. Covered laborers and mechanics must be paid at least the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits listed in the wage determination applicable to the contract, and payroll records must be certified weekly. Many states run their own prevailing wage statutes with different thresholds, different classification lists, and separate submission portals. If a project manager is going to run public work, the certified payroll verification, the classification accuracy check, and the wage determination flow-down to subcontractors belong in the job description as duties, not as an assumption that the bookkeeper handles it. Verify the federal and state requirement before the bid, not after the award. This is general information, not legal advice.
The credential question is optional, mostly
There is no federal license to be a construction project manager. State and local licensing generally attaches to the contracting entity or to a qualifying individual, not to the PM seat, though some states require the person supervising residential work to hold or be covered by a license. Professional credentials such as PMP, CCM, or a construction management degree are useful signals and are worth naming as preferred rather than required, because a hard degree requirement filters out capable superintendents moving into management. The one requirement worth making non-negotiable is safety training. An OSHA 30 card is commonly required by owners and general contractors as a condition of site access, and it costs you nothing to require it and fund it. Check your state contractor licensing board before you write the requirement into a posting. This is general information, not legal advice.
Classification is the second. The federal administrative exemption is a three-part test, and the duties prongs matter more than the salary prong for this role. If you are unsure which side a seat falls on, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through it, and anyone non-exempt needs hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a workweek. A construction timesheet is the practical starting point.
Prevailing wage is the third. The Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts reach federally funded and federally assisted construction contracts in excess of $2,000, requiring locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits plus weekly certified payrolls. Many states run their own statutes with different thresholds. Our overview of OSHA requirements for employers covers the safety side of the same jobsite.
Safety Duties Belong in the Job Description
Construction and extraction occupations recorded 1,032 fatal work injuries in 2024, about 20 percent of the 5,070 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Of those, 788 were construction trades workers. Writing subcontractor safety requirements, documented site inspections, and graduated enforcement into the PM job description is not paperwork. It is the mechanism by which a controlling employer demonstrates reasonable care, and it is the record an inspector asks for first.
Certifications expire, and on a jobsite an expired card means an escorted exit. FirstHR stores OSHA cards, licenses, and trade certifications against each employee profile with renewal dates tracked, runs safety orientation as a training module before the first site visit, and handles the offer and policy acknowledgments with built-in e-signature. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
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Small contractor hiring for this role fails in three predictable places: the posting describes the wrong job, the interview has nothing to test against, and onboarding is improvised. Each has a fix that costs an hour.
The posting describes a superintendent and calls it a project manager
At a small contractor the two roles blur, and the job description usually inherits the blur. The superintendent runs the site: crews, sequence, daily safety, and what physically happens today. The project manager runs the contract: buyout, submittals, RFIs, change orders, billing, and the schedule that ties them together. When the posting mixes them, you attract field leaders who hate paperwork and office managers who cannot hold a trade meeting, and you interview both without a way to compare them. Write one role, name the other, and say plainly whether the PM is on site daily or managing several jobs from an office with site visits.
You interview on personality because the job description has no scope
A PM job description with no numbers cannot be interviewed against. Put the project value, the project type, the number of concurrent jobs, the delivery method, and the software stack on the posting. Then the interview writes itself: ask about a project of similar value, ask how they built a submittal register from a spec book, ask what they do when an RFI sits unanswered for two weeks and the trade is mobilizing Monday. Our guide to construction project manager interview questions covers the question set. Candidates who cannot answer at your project size self-select out before you spend an hour on them.
Day one arrives and nothing is in one place
A construction PM shows up needing certifications on file, a safety orientation, the subcontract templates, the insurance requirements, the change order form, the software logins, and a clear picture of who signs what. At a small contractor that lives in one person’s memory and three email threads. FirstHR was built for that gap. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, e-signature handles the offer and the policy acknowledgments, document management stores the OSHA card and the driver’s license with expiration dates attached, and training modules deliver safety orientation before the first site visit. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
A construction project manager owns the contract, the money, and the paper on one project: schedule, subcontractors, submittals, RFIs, and budget. The superintendent owns the site.
Organize the posting around those five systems, and put project value, project type, job count, and software stack on it so candidates can self-select and you can interview against something concrete.
Construction managers earned a national median of $114,990 per year and a mean of $124,360 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), covering PMs, superintendents, and contractor management together.
The administrative exemption is a duties test: a working PM performing manual construction most of the day, or a procedural project engineer, often fails it regardless of salary.
OSHA can cite a general contractor as the controlling employer for a subcontractor’s hazard, so write subcontractor safety obligations and documented inspections into the PM job description.
Federally funded construction contracts in excess of $2,000 trigger Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and weekly certified payroll, and many states add their own rules on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a construction project manager do?
A construction project manager owns five systems on an assigned project: the schedule, the subcontractors, the submittal register, the RFI log, and the budget. In practice that means building and maintaining the critical path schedule, buying out and contracting the trades, collecting insurance certificates before anyone mobilizes, driving submittal approvals ahead of procurement dates, writing and tracking RFIs until they close, pricing and negotiating change orders, reviewing subcontractor pay applications, preparing the owner billing, and delivering the closeout package that releases retainage. The PM is the contractual point of contact for the owner and the architect. The superintendent runs what physically happens on site each day; the PM runs the contract, the money, and the paper that governs it.
What is the difference between a construction project manager and a superintendent?
The split is contract versus site. The project manager owns the contract: buyout, subcontracts, submittals, RFIs, change orders, billing, and the master schedule. The superintendent owns the site: daily crew sequencing, trade coordination on the ground, quality inspection, and site safety enforcement. On a large commercial job the two are separate people who talk every day. At a small contractor one person often carries both, which holds up on one job and breaks across three. If you are writing one posting for a blended role, say so explicitly and describe both duty sets, because a field leader who hates paperwork and an office manager who cannot hold a trade meeting will both apply and you will have no basis to compare them.
How much does a construction project manager make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), construction managers earned a national median annual wage of $114,990, or $55.28 per hour, with a mean annual wage of $124,360. That occupation code covers project managers, construction superintendents, and general contractors’ management staff together, so treat it as a band rather than a precise benchmark for one seat. Pay in practice tracks project value, project type, and market. A residential remodel PM at a small builder sits well below the median, a commercial PM running a large ground-up project sits above it, and metro markets pay a premium. Benchmark against contractors of your size and project type in your area, and publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules require one.
Is a construction project manager exempt from overtime?
Usually yes, but the exemption rests on duties rather than the title. The federal administrative exemption at 29 CFR 541.200 requires all three of the following: pay on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than $684 per week, a primary duty of office or non-manual work directly related to management or general business operations, and a primary duty that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance. A true PM running buyout, schedule, change orders, and budget clears that comfortably. A working PM who spends most of the day performing manual construction fails the non-manual prong regardless of salary, and a junior project engineer following established procedures often fails the discretion prong. Several states set a higher salary threshold than the federal one, so check yours. This is general information, not legal advice.
What should a construction project manager job description include?
Include the project, not just the role. Name the project type, the contract value range, the delivery method, the number of concurrent jobs, and the software stack, then write duties grouped by system: schedule, subcontractors and buyout, submittals and RFIs, budget and change management, and safety and closeout. Add the requirements you will actually enforce, marked required or preferred, and state the FLSA classification on the posting. Finish with pay or a good-faith range, the reporting line, the vehicle or allowance policy, and a named person to apply to. The most common omission at small contractors is scope: a posting with no project value and no job count cannot be interviewed against, which is how hiring decisions end up being made on personality.
Does a construction project manager need a license or a degree?
No federal license exists for the role, and a degree is a preference rather than a requirement at most small contractors. State and local licensing generally attaches to the contracting entity or a qualifying individual rather than to the project manager seat, though some states require the person supervising residential work to hold or be covered by a license, so check your contractor licensing board before you write the requirement. Credentials such as PMP, CCM, or a construction management degree are useful signals and belong in the preferred column, because a hard degree requirement filters out capable superintendents moving into management. The requirement worth making non-negotiable is safety training: an OSHA 30 card is commonly demanded by owners and general contractors as a condition of site access.
How do I hire a construction project manager without an HR department?
Run a short, fixed sequence and put scope on the posting so candidates self-select. Post the project value, type, job count, and software stack. Screen resumes for projects of comparable value rather than for years of experience. Interview against the five systems: ask how they built a submittal register from a spec book, what they do when an RFI sits open while a trade is mobilizing, and how they handle directed work with no signed change order. Check references with a superintendent and a trade partner, not only a former boss. Then move fast, because good PMs are rarely on the market long. Onboarding is where small contractors lose time: certifications, safety orientation, subcontract templates, insurance requirements, and software logins all land at once. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
