A basement waterproofing HR manager hires installers for wet, dusty work in basements and crawl spaces, and in-home sales reps paid on commission. They time hiring to the wet season, keep signed commission plans on file, and book the silica medical exams installers who wear respirators are owed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building finishing contractors · BLS, May 2025
The HR Manager is a vital role in our rapidly growing Basement Waterproofing business. This role manages all HR functions, including recruiting, onboarding, ensuring labor compliance, and fostering a positive company culture. The HR Manager will play a crucial part in building and retaining a high-performing team dedicated to delivering excellent service to our clients.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Develop and implement HR strategies and initiatives aligned with the overall business strategy.
Bridge management and employee relations by addressing demands, grievances, or other issues.
Manage the recruitment and selection process.
Support current and future business needs through the development, engagement, motivation, and preservation of human capital.
Develop and monitor overall HR strategies, systems, tactics, and procedures across the organization.
Nurture a positive working environment.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Overseeing the recruitment process and onboarding new hires.
Ensuring compliance with labor laws and company policies.
Organizing team building activities and events to foster a positive company culture.
Regularly communicating with team members and management.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Hiring Efficiency: 90% of positions filled within 30 days of posting.
Labor Compliance: Zero violations.
Employee Turnover Rate: <5% annually.
Employee Satisfaction: >4.8 out of 5 stars.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or related field.
At least 5 years of experience in HR management.
Proven knowledge of labor laws and HR best practices.
Excellent communication and leadership skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous experience in the home services industry, particularly in Basement Waterproofing.
7. Physical Requirements
This is a primarily office-based role with occasional visits to job sites.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM.
Minimal travel may be required for training or industry events.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $65,000 - $80,000 annually, commensurate with experience.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
401K with company match.
Paid time off and holidays.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we believe in creating an environment where everyone can thrive. We are committed to fostering a culture of growth, respect, and inclusivity. Our team's success is our success, and we invest in training and development opportunities to help our employees excel.
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].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
Two groups make most of the hires: installers who break concrete and crawl under houses, and salespeople who work in customers' homes on commission. Each brings its own paperwork.
Write the installer's tasks before the ad
Under federal disability rules, a written job description prepared before you advertise or interview is one piece of evidence of which duties are essential. So HR writes the installer's tasks first: running a jackhammer, carrying bags of stone and concrete down basement stairs, working on knees in a crawl space, standing in a wet trench and wearing a respirator. Describe the work, not the worker, and note that you'll consider reasonable accommodation. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR Part 1630, ADA employment regulations.
Hire for the rain you expect
A new installer may need weeks on a crew before they can set a pit or run a breaker without help. If you hire when the phones start ringing, the new people are still learning when the wet weeks hit. HR counts back from the usual wet season by the length of your training and starts posting then, for reps and installers both.
Commission plans need signatures
New York is one example. A commission salesperson's terms must be written down and signed by the employer and the rep. They must say how commissions and any draw are figured, how often a recoverable draw is settled, and what is paid when the job ends. The employer keeps the plan on file for three years or more. If it can't hand the plan over when the state labor department asks, the rep's account of the terms is presumed. HR collects a new signed copy each time the plan changes. Source: New York Labor Law section 191.
Silica exams go on the HR calendar
The COO's silica plan says which installers get medical exams. HR keeps the calendar. Under OSHA's rule, the first exam is offered within 30 days of first being assigned that work, unless the installer had a qualifying exam in the last three years, and again at least every three years. HR books the clinic and sends it the duty and exposure details the rule lists. The clinic's written opinion is due within 30 days of the exam. File it apart from the personnel file, as federal disability rules require. Source: OSHA: Respirable crystalline silica in construction (29 CFR 1926.1153).
How much basement waterproofing HR managers make
The closest BLS group for basement waterproofing HR managers is human resources managers. Human resources managers who work for building finishing contractors earned a median of $119,610 a year ($57.51 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $149,280 median for human resources managers in all industries. About 150 of the 220,660 human resources managers in that survey work for building finishing contractors.
Salaried, with benefits, a matched retirement plan and paid time off. The BLS figures shown here cover only a small number of HR managers, and their median is far above the template's range. Price the offer from what companies your size nearby are paying.
Building finishing contractors
$119,610$119,610 median Middle half $97,340–$166,420 10th–90th $83,370–$197,330
All industries
$149,280$149,280 median Middle half $111,110–$199,290 10th–90th $88,200–$267,810
$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k
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
$83,370
$97,340
$119,610
$166,420
$197,330
All industries
$88,200
$111,110
$149,280
$199,290
$267,810
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 filled installer crews and commission sales teams in the same season
Writes job ads from the tasks, in plain words, without health or age language
Keeps signed plans, medical opinions and training records in the right files
Builds a hiring calendar around the busy season and the time it takes to train
Knows when a question belongs with an employment lawyer
Teach these on the job
What installers do on drain, wall and crawl space jobs
Your commission plan, draws and how cancellations are handled
Your silica plan, respirators and the clinic you use
The applicant tracking and payroll tools you already run
Pay and commission rules in each state you hire in
Expect a payroll and HR system such as Paycom, Paylocity or Gusto, an applicant tracking tool for installer and sales ads, and a calendar that flags silica exams, fit tests and plan renewals before they lapse. Tell candidates whether commission payroll runs through HR or the bookkeeper.
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 · Lawful screening for physical work
You're hiring [5] installers for heavy lifting and digging. How do you describe and screen for the physical demands lawfully?
A strong answer: Lists essential physical functions in the job description, asks every candidate whether they can do them with or without reasonable accommodation, gives any job-related physical test to everyone, and holds medical exams until after a conditional offer, for all new installers.
Behavioral · Keeping new hires
Tell me what you changed when new installers or helpers kept quitting in their first few weeks.
A strong answer: Found why through exit and stay interviews, such as a posting that hid how hard the work is or no lead to learn from, fixed it with a mentor and early check-ins, and tracked early quits.
Set targets with the owner using last year's numbers, kept separate for installers, sales and office.
Hiring Efficiency
Log when each ad goes up and when the offer is signed, and report the gap. Report installers and sales reps on their own lines, and watch the weeks before your wet season most closely.
Labor Compliance
Every quarter, open a few personnel files and look for signed commission plans, I-9s, silica exam opinions and training records. Count every missing or late item as a finding, and fix it by a set date.
Employee Turnover Rate
Count departures over the year against average headcount, with installers, reps and office on separate lines. Read exit notes for patterns, such as a draw that never paid off or a hard crew lead.
Employee Satisfaction
Run an anonymous pulse survey in dry months, when crews have time to answer. Compare installers, reps and office, and share one change you made from the last round.
Career path
HR coordinator or recruiterWrites installer and rep ads, sets interviews and runs I-9s.
HR managerOwns hiring, commission paperwork, medical exam scheduling and staff issues.
HR directorOversees HR across several offices, with training and safety under them.
Decide before you hire what a dry month means for an installer's hours, and say it plainly in the interview. Crawl space, wall bracing and pump service work runs in dry months too, so cross-train crews on it in slow weeks. If hours will drop, tell people how far and for how long. Check exit notes from dry months to see whether that promise held.
How much does a basement waterproofing HR manager make?
Human resources managers who work for building finishing contractors earned a median of $119,610 a year ($57.51 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $97,340 and $166,420 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What can HR ask an installer applicant about crawl space work?
Describe each task and ask if the applicant can perform it, with or without an accommodation, or have them walk you through how they'd do it. Federal rules allow that before an offer. Don't ask about health, injuries or medications before an offer. Show the applicant a short video or photos of a real crawl space job, so they know what the work looks like.
What happens to a rep's commission on jobs not yet installed when they leave?
Whatever the signed plan says, so write it down before it comes up. Spell out whether a rep who quits or is let go still earns commission on jobs that install later, and what happens to jobs that cancel after they leave. HR gives the departing rep a written list of open jobs and how each will be paid.
Who schedules silica exams and fit tests, HR or operations?
Split them by who holds the calendar. HR owns the exam side: who is due, the three-year repeat, and where the written opinions are filed. Operations owns fit testing, whether a safety lead or a testing vendor runs it. Both work from one list of installers who wear respirators, so neither side misses a new hire.
