6 templates by setting: master, apartment, facility, hotel, industrial, and small business, with salary data and the one thing generic templates skip: whether your working maintenance manager is exempt or owed overtime. Download as DOCX.
Maintenance manager is one of the trickiest roles a small employer hires, and the trickiness has nothing to do with the duties. It is the classification. The job descriptions online give you a clean list of management responsibilities and a salary range, and quietly skip the question that actually exposes a small business to back wages: is this manager exempt from overtime, or not? For a working manager who spends most of the day fixing things, the honest answer is often not.
This page is a hub for that hire, built for the property manager, small hotel, or shop owner doing it without an HR department. It gives you six templates by setting and a real classification guide. At FirstHR, we build hiring and onboarding tools for small operators, so the templates lead with the compliance other pages ignore. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description is a useful companion.
TL;DR
A maintenance manager leads the maintenance function: planning, supervising a team, budgeting, and keeping a site safe and running. The hard part is classification. To be exempt from overtime, the role's primary duty must be genuine management, not hands-on repair. A working manager who mostly turns wrenches is non-exempt and owed overtime, regardless of salary, because job titles do not determine exempt status. The matching occupation reports a median near $78,300, but small-business roles cluster lower. Six templates below.
What a Maintenance Manager Does
A maintenance manager leads the maintenance function for a property, facility, or plant: planning preventive and corrective maintenance, supervising technicians and contractors, controlling the budget, ensuring safety and code compliance, and keeping buildings, equipment, and systems running. The work splits into planning and scheduling, managing the team and contractors, budget and recordkeeping, and safety and compliance.
How much of the role is actual management depends on the size of the operation. At a large plant the maintenance manager mostly manages. At a small property, hotel, or shop, the maintenance manager is usually a working manager who plans the work and personally performs a large share of the repairs. That distinction is not just a description of the day. It decides how the role is classified and paid, which is why this page treats classification as the main event rather than a footnote.
Maintenance Manager Duties and Responsibilities
Maintenance manager duties cluster into four areas: planning and scheduling, team and contractors, budget and records, and safety and compliance. A strong job description picks the responsibilities from each area that match the setting and the size of the operation, rather than listing every possible task.
Planning and scheduling
Plan preventive and corrective maintenance
Schedule the team and prioritize work orders
Track equipment history and reliability
Team and contractors
Supervise technicians and assign work
Manage contractors and vendor relationships
Lead hiring, training, and performance
Budget and records
Control the maintenance and capital budget
Manage parts inventory and purchasing
Keep equipment, warranty, and maintenance records
Safety and compliance
Enforce lockout/tagout, PPE, and OSHA standards
Lead safety training and emergency planning
Verify and track certifications and licenses
The balance shifts with scale: a large facility role leans toward planning and budget, while a small-business role mixes management with a heavy share of hands-on repair. For a structured way to scope the role, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
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Pick the template by setting. The leadership-and-maintenance core runs through all six, but each one frames the duties, certifications, pay band, and team size for a specific kind of operation, and each carries the classification note. Use this guide to choose the closest fit, then adjust.
Maintenance Manager (Master)
Any setting
The full version with every standard section plus the classification note. Start here and adapt, or pick a setting-specific template below.
Apartment / Property
Multifamily, property management
The property version: leading make-readies and resident work orders, the on-call rotation, and a maintenance team, often as a working manager.
Building / Facility
Offices, schools, facilities
The facility version: preventive maintenance on building systems, contractor and budget management, and code compliance for a facility.
Hotel (Chief Engineer)
Hotels, hospitality
The hospitality version: leading engineering for a property, balancing preventive maintenance and guest response, and life-safety systems.
Industrial / Plant
Plants, manufacturing
The industrial version: building preventive and predictive programs, minimizing downtime, and enforcing strict safety in production.
Small Business (Working Manager)
Owner-operated
A working-manager version where the manager plans the work and personally does a large share of the repairs in a small operation.
Match the Template to the Setting
A general or first maintenance-management hire uses the Master template. An apartment community or property manager uses Apartment / Property. An office, school, or facility uses Building / Facility. A hotel uses Hotel (Chief Engineer). A plant uses Industrial / Plant. An owner-operated business making a working-manager hire uses Small Business. Whichever you pick, make the exempt-or-non-exempt decision before you post.
6 Maintenance Manager Job Description Templates
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company and job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, a classification note, pay, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Download All 6 Job Description Templates
Master, apartment, facility, hotel, industrial, and small business. All in one DOCX.
Template 1: Maintenance Manager (Master Template)
The full version with every standard section plus the classification note. Start here and adapt, or pick a setting-specific template below.
Template 3: Building / Facility Maintenance Manager
The facility version: preventive maintenance on building systems, contractor and budget management, and code compliance for an office, school, or facility.
Building / Facility Maintenance Manager Job Description
BUILDING / FACILITY MAINTENANCE MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: __ (Operations / Facilities Director)
Direct reports: maintenance technicians, custodial staff
Pay: $_____ to $_____ per year (or $______ per hour if non-exempt)
ABOUT US
We are an owner-operated business hiring a Maintenance Manager to run
our maintenance function. In a small operation this is a working-manager
role: you plan and manage the work, and you also do a large share of the
repairs yourself.
JOB SUMMARY
[Company Name] is hiring a Maintenance Manager to lead and perform
maintenance across our [property / facility / equipment]. You will plan
preventive maintenance, manage a small team and contractors, control a
maintenance budget, keep us compliant and safe, and personally handle a
significant share of the hands-on repair work.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Plan, schedule, and personally perform maintenance and repairs
•Supervise a small team and coordinate contractors
•Manage the maintenance budget and order parts
•Keep the site safe and compliant with OSHA standards
•Maintain equipment records and certifications
•Lead safety practices, lockout/tagout, and PPE
•Respond to emergencies and after-hours issues
•Wear several hats as part of a small team
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Maintenance experience with some lead or supervisory work
•Versatile across HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and general repair
•Reliable, resourceful, and safety-minded
•Basic budgeting and recordkeeping ability
•Relevant certifications a plus (EPA 608, OSHA 10/30)
•Valid driver's license if traveling between sites
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
In a small business, the maintenance manager is usually a working
manager who does most of the repairs. Under DOL rules, an employee whose
primary duty is hands-on repair work is non-exempt and owed overtime,
even on a salary above the threshold. Decide classification by actual
duties. See the classification section on this page.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Pay: $_____ to $_____ [+ benefits]
To apply, email __ or stop by.
We are an equal opportunity employer.
Exempt or Non-Exempt? The Working-Manager Trap
This is the part generic maintenance manager templates skip, and it is the part that protects a small business from a wage-and-hour claim. The question is whether the role is exempt from overtime. The salary test is usually easy to clear; the duties test is where working managers fall, and the title does not save you.
The salary test is usually the easy part
The executive exemption has two parts, and most maintenance managers clear the first one. The federal salary level is $684 a week, about $35,568 a year, under the 2019 rule that remains in force after a court vacated the planned 2024 increase. A salaried maintenance manager almost always earns above this threshold. That leads many small employers to assume the role is automatically exempt from overtime. It is not. Clearing the salary level is necessary but not sufficient, because the duties test still has to be met, and that is where maintenance manager roles often fall apart. This is general information, not legal advice.
The duties test is where working managers fail
To be exempt as an executive, the employee's primary duty must be managing the enterprise or a recognized department, they must regularly direct two or more employees, and they must have authority to hire and fire or meaningfully influence those decisions. Primary duty means the principal, main, or most important duty, not a matter of clock time alone, but time is strong evidence. A maintenance manager at a small property or shop who spends most of the day doing hands-on repairs, rather than genuinely managing, generally does not meet the primary-duty test. The Department of Labor is explicit that a working supervisor whose primary duty is the hands-on repair work itself does not become exempt just because they occasionally direct others. This is general information, not legal advice.
Job titles do not determine exempt status
This is the trap. Calling the role a manager and putting it on salary does not make it exempt. The Department of Labor states plainly that job titles do not determine exempt status, and that an employee's specific duties and salary must meet all the regulatory requirements. Blue-collar workers who perform manual, hands-on work are entitled to minimum wage and overtime no matter how highly paid they are. So a salaried maintenance manager who is really a working technician is non-exempt and owed overtime for hours over 40 in a week. Misclassifying them exposes the employer to back wages and penalties. When the answer is genuinely unclear, the conservative choice is to treat the role as non-exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.
What to do about it in the posting
Decide the classification before you post, based on how the role will actually work day to day, not the title you want to use. If the person will spend most of their time managing, planning, budgeting, and directing a team, exempt is defensible, and you post a salary. If they will spend most of their time turning wrenches with a small crew, treat the role as non-exempt, post an hourly or salaried-non-exempt arrangement, and track hours and overtime. State the classification clearly in the posting so candidates know what they are accepting, and revisit it if the real duties drift. This is general information, not legal advice.
Job Titles Do Not Determine Exempt Status
Under the executive exemption, the employee's primary duty must be management, they must direct two or more employees, and they must have hire-and-fire authority. The Department of Labor is explicit that job titles do not determine exempt status, and federal rules state that an employee whose primary duty is ordinary hands-on work cannot qualify for the executive exemption, no matter how highly paid.
Maintenance manager roles often carry certification requirements that generic templates leave out. Name the ones the work requires in your posting, and plan to verify and track them across the team.
EPA Section 608
Federally required for anyone who services equipment that could release refrigerants. Type I, II, III, or Universal by equipment. The credential does not expire, but refrigerant records must be kept for three years.
OSHA 10 / 30
Voluntary safety training widely expected for maintenance leaders. The 30-hour course suits supervisors and managers responsible for a team's safety program.
CMRP and reliability credentials
The Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional and similar credentials signal planning and reliability skill, common in facility and industrial roles.
State trade and building licenses
Depending on the work and the state, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or boiler licenses may be required. Verify what your jurisdiction and equipment demand.
EPA 608 Records Matter
EPA Section 608 certification is federally required to service equipment that could release refrigerants, and the certification does not expire. Refrigerant-handling records must be retained, so a maintenance manager needs a reliable way to store credentials and track licenses for the whole team, not a drawer of paper.
Maintenance Manager Pay
Maintenance manager pay swings widely because the title covers two different jobs. Anchor your range to government data and your specific setting rather than the national headline.
Median Near $78,300 a Year (BLS)
The matching federal occupation, first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers, reported a median around $78,300 a year in the most recent data, with roughly $46,000 at the 10th percentile and about $119,000 at the 90th (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The spread reflects a real split between lower-paid property roles and higher-paid industrial roles.
Setting
Typical range
Zone for a small operator
Apartment / property
Around $50K to $75K
Core small-business zone
Building / facility
Around $60K to $90K
Often small-business zone
Hotel (chief engineer)
Around $55K to $85K
Often small-business zone
Industrial / plant
Around $110K and up
Usually larger employers
A small property, hotel, or shop hires the lower end of this distribution. Benchmark to your setting and local market, and remember that a non-exempt working manager also earns overtime on top of base pay for hours over 40 in a week.
Hiring a Maintenance Manager for a Small Operation
A large company hires a maintenance manager through an HR team, with the role clearly exempt and clearly defined. A small property manager, hotel, or shop hires a working manager directly, and faces three things the template farms ignore: the pay is lower than the headlines, the classification decision is theirs to get right, and the manager carries the team's safety and certification obligations alone.
At small-business scale, your maintenance manager is a working manager, and the salary is lower than the headlines suggest
The salary numbers for maintenance manager swing wildly, from around $50,000 for an apartment role to well over $140,000 for an industrial plant manager, because the title covers two very different jobs. A property management company, a small hotel, or a small shop hires the lower end: a working manager who leads a small team and personally does a large share of the repairs. The government median for the matching occupation sits in the high seventies, and the most small-business-representative pay data clusters in the $50,000 to $75,000 range. Benchmark to your setting, not to the inflated industrial figures, and write the role honestly as the working manager it usually is.
Classification is the expensive mistake, and the title invites it
Putting a working maintenance manager on salary and calling them exempt is one of the most common and costly wage-and-hour mistakes a small employer makes. If their primary duty is hands-on repair rather than genuine management, federal rules make them non-exempt and owed overtime, no matter the salary or the title. The exposure is back wages plus penalties, and it is entirely avoidable. Decide the classification up front based on how the role really works, state it in the posting, and when the answer is unclear, treat the role as non-exempt. This is the single most important decision on the page, and no generic template makes it for you.
The manager carries the team's safety and certification obligations, with no HR to back them up
A maintenance manager is responsible not only for their own compliance but for the team's: lockout/tagout and safety training, PPE, OSHA standards, and the certifications and licenses the work requires, including EPA Section 608 for refrigerant work and any state trade licenses. In a small operation there is no HR department tracking expiration dates or storing signed acknowledgments. FirstHR fits this people side of the hire: e-signature for the offer and policy and safety acknowledgments, training modules for safety onboarding, document management to store and track EPA 608, OSHA cards, and license expirations, task workflows for the new-hire checklist, and an onboarding wizard that turns the job description into a plan for the manager and their team. The flat monthly price suits a small property or facilities operator. To be clear about scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a work-order, CMMS, or payroll system, and it does not run payroll or administer benefits, so pair it with those providers. Applicant tracking is coming soon.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document and the classification decision become the basis for the offer and onboarding. The paperwork comes first: the offer in writing with the exempt or non-exempt classification spelled out, the I-9 with documents verified, and the W-4 and state tax forms per the new hire paperwork guide, alongside the safety setup the role demands.
Send the offer with the classification spelled out
Confirm the role, the pay, the exempt or non-exempt classification, and the start date in writing, so the manager knows exactly what they accepted, including how overtime works.
Set up safety from the start
Lockout/tagout, PPE, and OSHA expectations come first, since a maintenance manager owns the team's safety program from day one.
Verify and track certifications
Check EPA Section 608 for refrigerant work, plus OSHA cards and any state trade licenses, and store copies with expiration tracking for the manager and the team.
Store the records
Keep the signed offer, the I-9 and tax forms, safety acknowledgments, and certifications organized and audit-ready in one place.
Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step, and an onboarding template gives the new hire a structured start. To build out the team, the maintenance technician and HVAC technician templates cover the hires the manager will lead. FirstHR connects the offer, paperwork, e-signatures, safety training, certification tracking, and the onboarding workflow in one place so a small operator can manage the full process, for the manager and the team, from one system. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a work-order, CMMS, or payroll tool, and it does not run payroll or administer benefits, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
A maintenance manager leads the maintenance function: planning, supervising a team, budgeting, and keeping a site safe and running.
Classification is the key decision: exempt requires that the primary duty be genuine management, not hands-on repair.
A working manager who mostly does repairs is non-exempt and owed overtime, regardless of salary, because job titles do not determine exempt status.
Use the template that matches the setting: master, apartment, facility, hotel, industrial, or small business.
Pay splits by setting: property roles cluster around $50K to $75K while industrial roles often exceed $110K; the matching occupation medians near $78,300.
Name the certifications the work requires, including EPA 608 and OSHA training, and plan to track them across the team.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a maintenance manager do?
A maintenance manager leads the maintenance function for a property, facility, or plant. The role plans and schedules preventive and corrective maintenance, supervises maintenance technicians and contractors, controls the maintenance budget, ensures safety and code compliance, and keeps buildings, equipment, and systems running. The work clusters into four areas: planning and scheduling, managing the team and contractors, budget and recordkeeping, and safety and compliance. The exact mix depends on the setting and the size of the operation. At a large plant, the maintenance manager mostly manages. At a small property or shop, the maintenance manager is usually a working manager who plans the work and also personally performs a large share of the repairs, which has real consequences for how the role is classified and paid.
Is a maintenance manager exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
It depends entirely on the actual duties, not the title. To be exempt under the executive exemption, the maintenance manager must be paid on a salary at or above $684 a week, their primary duty must be genuine management of the enterprise or a department, they must regularly direct two or more employees, and they must have hire-and-fire authority or strong influence over it. Most salaried maintenance managers clear the salary level, but many fail the duties test. A working manager at a small property or shop who spends most of the day doing hands-on repairs, rather than managing, is generally non-exempt and owed overtime for hours over 40 in a week, regardless of the salary. The Department of Labor states that job titles do not determine exempt status. When the answer is unclear, the conservative choice is to classify the role as non-exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can a maintenance manager on a salary still get overtime?
Yes. Paying a salary does not by itself make an employee exempt from overtime. Exemption requires meeting both the salary test and the duties test under the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions. If a salaried maintenance manager's primary duty is hands-on repair work rather than management, they do not meet the executive duties test and are non-exempt, which means they are owed overtime at one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. This is common in small operations where the manager is really a working technician with a few reports. Misclassifying such a worker as exempt exposes the employer to back overtime wages and penalties. Decide classification by the real duties before posting, and track hours for any non-exempt manager. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is the difference between a maintenance manager and a maintenance supervisor?
The line is not standardized and the roles overlap, especially in small companies. Generally, a maintenance manager owns the broader function: budget, planning, vendor relationships, hiring, and overall responsibility for the maintenance program. A maintenance supervisor is usually closer to the work, leading a crew day to day and often performing repairs alongside them. In a small business, one person frequently does both. The practical implications are the same for classification: whether the title is manager or supervisor, the FLSA exempt or non-exempt question turns on the primary duty, and a hands-on working supervisor is typically non-exempt. Match the title to the scope of the role, and classify by what the person actually does rather than by the label on the org chart.
What certifications does a maintenance manager need?
It depends on the setting and the work, but several come up repeatedly. EPA Section 608 certification is federally required for anyone who services equipment that could release refrigerants, which is common in property, hotel, and facility roles with HVAC work. OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour safety training is widely expected for maintenance leaders, with the 30-hour course aimed at supervisors and managers. Reliability credentials such as the Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional signal planning skill, especially in facility and industrial settings. Depending on the state and the equipment, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or boiler licenses may be required. The manager is also responsible for tracking these credentials across the team, so a system for storing copies and monitoring expirations matters. Name the required certifications in the posting and verify them before hire. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a maintenance manager make?
Pay varies widely by setting, which is why aggregator figures range from about $50,000 to over $140,000. The matching federal occupation, first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers, reported a median around $78,300 a year in the most recent data, with a wide spread from roughly $46,000 at the 10th percentile to about $119,000 at the 90th. The split is meaningful: apartment and property maintenance managers cluster in the $50,000 to $75,000 range, facility roles run somewhat higher, and industrial plant maintenance managers often exceed $110,000. A small property, hotel, or shop hires the lower end of this distribution. Benchmark your range to your specific setting and local market rather than to the national headline, and remember that a non-exempt working manager also earns overtime on top of base pay. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do small businesses hire maintenance managers?
Yes, frequently, and in exactly the settings a small-business HR platform serves: property management companies and apartment communities, small hotels, small manufacturing shops, schools, churches, retail and restaurant groups, and healthcare facilities. At this scale the role looks different from a corporate maintenance manager. The person typically leads a small team of one to three, reports directly to an owner or operations lead, and personally handles a large share of the repairs. There is usually no HR department, so the owner or a manager writes the posting, makes the classification decision, runs onboarding, and tracks the certifications. The templates on this page, especially the small-business working-manager version, are written for that reality rather than for a large employer with a full maintenance department.
What should a maintenance manager job description include?
A strong maintenance manager job description names the setting, includes a short company overview and a job summary that captures both the leadership and the hands-on sides of the role, and lists responsibilities grouped into planning and scheduling, managing the team and contractors, budget and recordkeeping, and safety and compliance. It should state the experience and certification requirements, name the reporting line and the size of the team, and post a pay range. The most valuable addition, and the one generic templates skip, is a clear classification decision: whether the role is exempt or non-exempt based on the actual primary duty, since a working manager who mostly does repairs is owed overtime. Include the certifications the work requires, an equal opportunity statement, and clear apply instructions. This is general information, not legal advice.
