Basement waterproofing field supervisor job description
A basement waterproofing field supervisor moves between install crews, checking drain, pump, bracing and crawl space work against the company's install standard before it gets covered. They go back when a homeowner finds a damp spot, close out punch lists, shift people between sites in wet weeks, and stop any work that isn't safe.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building finishing contractors · BLS, May 2025
As a Field Supervisor in Basement Waterproofing, you will play a critical role in maintaining the high-quality standards of our company. Your main responsibility will be to monitor crews, inspect workmanship, and resolve job-site challenges. Your role is crucial in ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining our reputation for superior service.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Supervise and monitor the performance of waterproofing crews.
Conduct regular inspections of workmanship to ensure quality standards are met.
Resolve job-site challenges and provide solutions.
Communicate effectively with crews, management, and customers.
Ensure adherence to safety regulations and company policies.
Provide training and mentorship to new crew members.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Oversee daily operations of waterproofing projects.
Conduct pre and post-work inspections.
Resolve any challenges or issues that arise on the job site.
Provide daily updates to management on project progress and challenges.
Maintain an open line of communication with crews and customers.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Quality Score: Maintain a quality score of >90% on all projects.
Crew Efficiency: Ensure crews complete projects within the allocated time >90% of the time.
Safety Compliance: Zero safety violations.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: Aim for >4.8 stars.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High school diploma or equivalent.
Minimum 3 years of experience in basement waterproofing.
Strong leadership and problem-solving skills.
Excellent communication and customer service skills.
Understanding of safety regulations and procedures.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous supervisory experience in the home services industry.
Certifications in project management or related field.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 50lbs.
Comfortable working in confined spaces and various weather conditions.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours: Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Occasional weekend work may be required.
Minimal travel may be required.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary: $55,000 - $65,000 annually.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
401k plan with company match.
Paid time off and holidays.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we believe in fostering a culture of growth, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. We are committed to providing opportunities for our employees to learn, grow, and excel in their roles. Our focus is on delivering superior service to our customers and helping our employees succeed.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
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What a waterproofing field supervisor checks and decides
Most of a waterproofing system ends up under new concrete or behind a liner. The supervisor's visits are timed to see the work before it's buried.
Checks timed to the open trench
The install standard sets pit depth, pipe, stone, the check valve and the patch. The supervisor plans visits from the crew board around the stages that disappear: a trench before stone goes in, a pit before the pump, a liner before its seams are taped. When a lead's photos stand in for a visit, the supervisor reviews them that day, and trains to whichever items fail most.
Going back after the first big rain
The template asks for checks before and after the work. The hardest after-check comes with the first heavy rain. When a homeowner reports a damp spot, send the supervisor, not the installing crew. They check whether that wall was inside the sold system, whether the pump ran and whether the discharge line was clear, and they photograph what they find. The production manager codes the callback from that report.
Wet weeks thin out every crew
When storm calls pile up, the operations manager may pull an installer or helper off an install. The supervisor sorts out what that leaves on site: which task can wait, whether a short crew can still keep someone outside a crawl space hatch or beside a dig, and whether to pick up tools for the day. Jobs with the floor already open get people first.
Punch items close the job
A waterproofing punch list is short but exact: a low spot in the patch, a discharge line that ends too close to the house, a missing alarm, dust on the homeowner's shelves, a lawn not raked after anchors. The supervisor writes each item with a photo, an owner and a date, and won't mark the job complete until all of them close. Ask the office to send the final bill only after that.
Stopping work is part of the job
Make it company policy that the supervisor can halt any task on the spot: a breaker running indoors with no water or dust collector, a foundation wall that starts to move once the floor is out, a loose live wire in a crawl space, a cord lying in water. Log stopped days apart from slow ones, so crews don't hide problems. If you name the supervisor your competent person, OSHA's definition says you've authorized them to take prompt corrective measures, so don't make them wait on the office. Source: OSHA: Construction definitions, competent person (29 CFR 1926.32(f)).
How much basement waterproofing field supervisors make
The closest BLS group for basement waterproofing field supervisors is First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers. First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for building finishing contractors earned a median of $35.00 an hour ($72,800 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $79,920 median for First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in all industries. About 53,540 of the 812,210 First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in that survey work for building finishing contractors.
Yearly salary, benefits and a company-matched retirement plan in the template. At building finishing contractors, BLS puts the median for construction trade supervisors above that range. If you add a bonus, base it on rechecked jobs and callbacks rather than jobs closed, so passing a shallow trench never pays.
Building finishing contractors
$72,800$72,800 median Middle half $58,890–$91,350 10th–90th $49,120–$121,330
All industries
$79,920$79,920 median Middle half $63,400–$101,460 10th–90th $53,280–$128,260
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Building finishing contractors
$49,120
$58,890
$72,800
$91,350
$121,330
All industries
$53,280
$63,400
$79,920
$101,460
$128,260
BLS doesn’t publish pay for waterproofing contractors on their own. These figures cover building finishing contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has installed drains, pumps and crack repairs, and led a crew doing it
Spots a flat run of pipe, a shallow pit or a poorly taped seam at a glance
Tells a lead their work misses the standard and shows the fix
Calms a homeowner who sees a damp spot and gets the facts down
Halts an unsafe task even when the job is running behind
Teach these on the job
Your install standard and how the checklist is scored
The frequent checks of sites, materials and equipment your silica competent person makes
Wall anchor and bracing layouts, if their background is drainage only
Your punch list and job close-out steps in the CRM
Coaching, written warnings and other parts of managing people
The supervisor's kit is a level and tape for trench slope and pit depth, a moisture meter for callback walls, a bright light for crawl spaces, and a tablet with the install checklist, crew photos and punch lists. Tell candidates how many sites a day they'll cover.
Basement waterproofing field supervisor interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Finding post-install leaks
A customer reports water on the floor [2] weeks after your crew installed a drain system. What do you do?
A strong answer: Visits quickly, finds where the water comes from (above the drain, a floor crack, a window well, plumbing), checks the pump and discharge, and fixes the cause.
Behavioral · Turning around crew quality
Tell me how you got a crew back on track when their jobs kept getting callbacks for pump or drain problems.
A strong answer: Found the specific problems, coached on site, set check points, and followed up until it held.
Score these by crew each month, and pick targets only after a year that includes a full wet season.
Quality Score
Checklist items passed on jobs the supervisor inspected, out of items checked, crew by crew. Set it beside each crew's callbacks in the first wet season: high scores with rising callbacks mean the checks are too easy.
Crew Efficiency
Each month, compare the days every crew booked with the days it used. Mark days a crew ran short because storm calls took its people, so a thin crew isn't scored as a slow one.
Safety Compliance
What the supervisor's own site checks found and got fixed, what outside audits found that those checks missed, and any injury. Don't count stop-work calls against the supervisor; they show the policy working.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Ratings on jobs this supervisor oversaw, read beside punch items still open at the final walk and callbacks during the first wet season.
Career path
Lead installerLeads one crew and takes the hardest part of each job.
Field supervisorInspects every crew's work, handles damp-spot callbacks and closes punch lists.
Production managerSets start dates, crew loads and bulk orders weeks ahead.
Operations managerAdds service calls, the yard and the daily crew board.
Can one field supervisor be the competent person on every job?
Not on jobs with a dig. Under OSHA's excavation rule, the competent person's first inspection of a dig comes before anyone starts work, so whoever holds that role must be on site at the start. One supervisor driving between five sites can't do that. Train your leads, write down who is the competent person on each site that day, and have the supervisor check that those inspections happen.
How much does a basement waterproofing field supervisor make?
First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for building finishing contractors earned a median of $35.00 an hour ($72,800 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $58,890 and $91,350 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Which supervisor tasks match the template's physical requirements?
Mostly inspection work. The supervisor crawls the length of a crawl space to see liner seams and the wrap at each pier, lies flat to read a level set in the trench, lifts a pit lid to check the float, and walks a yard in sleet looking for wall anchor plates. List the ones your supervisor really does, and offer reasonable accommodation.
What experience should a waterproofing field supervisor have?
Three years in basement waterproofing is the template's ask. The best fit is usually a lead installer who has trained others and whose jobs rarely come back. A foreman from foundation repair or concrete flatwork can grow into it if they'll learn drainage. Someone who has never installed a drain will struggle to spot a bad one. Treat the template's project management certificate as a plus.
What should a supervisor do when a homeowner asks for more work mid-job?
Write it down and say who will follow up, but don't price it or promise it in the basement. Another wall, a second pump or a dehumidifier changes the contract, so it goes to the rep or the office for a signed change. The crew keeps working to the sold scope until that paper exists.
