Civil construction field supervisor job description
A civil construction field supervisor is the foreman who runs a pipe crew, a grading crew or a paving spread. They plan the crew's day and set up trench protection and traffic control. They check pipe and grades against the plans, keep machines and trucks moving, and mark up the plans so the as-builts match what's in the ground.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, heavy and civil construction · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $55,860, middle half $64,370 to $102,380, 90th percentile $128,010. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Lead Engineer / Superintendent
Department
Operations
Schedule
About 7 to 5, longer as jobs need · Days of about 7 to 5, extra hours when a job calls for it, drives between nearby sites, and on-call for urgent problems
Civil & Infrastructure Contractors - Field Supervisor
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
[Lead Engineer / Superintendent]
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
The Field Supervisor plays a pivotal role in overseeing job sites, ensuring adherence to safety protocols, and managing on-site challenges in the civil and infrastructure contracting space. This role directly contributes to delivering high-quality projects on time and within budget while promoting a safe work environment.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Supervise daily operations on job sites to maintain schedule and quality standards.
Enforce adherence to safety protocols and regulatory compliance.
Resolve on-site challenges and coordinate with subcontractors effectively.
Provide clear direction and support to field staff, fostering teamwork and accountability.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Conduct regular inspections of job sites to ensure work quality and safety compliance.
Communicate daily with project managers and site crews regarding progress and issues.
Monitor materials usage and equipment performance to avoid delays.
Document incidents and performance metrics to evaluate project success.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Incident Rate: <2 incidents per quarter.
Project Completion Rate: 95% of projects completed on schedule.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: >4.8 stars.
Safety Compliance: 100% adherence to safety standards.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Associate or Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, or related field.
Minimum of 5 years’ experience in field supervision within construction.
Strong leadership and conflict-resolution abilities.
Proficient in safety compliance and quality assurance practices.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience working in civil and infrastructure contracting environments.
Familiarity with local and federal construction safety regulations.
Proven track record in managing multi-disciplinary teams on complex projects.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
Regular exposure to outdoor environments including varying weather conditions.
Mobility to navigate uneven terrain and construction sites safely.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical working hours from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM with additional hours as needed.
Occasional travel between job sites within the region.
On-call responsibilities for urgent issues outside normal hours.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $70,000 - $90,000 per year.
Eligibility for performance-based bonuses.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
401(k) with company match and additional fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We pride ourselves on fostering a culture of safety, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Our team values mentorship, professional growth, and a collaborative environment.
We are dedicated to delivering excellence to our clients while investing in the success of every employee.
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
A civil foreman leads a single crew and the machines that go with it, usually in a trench, on a grade or on a paving spread, often a few feet from live traffic. Most of what goes wrong on the job starts or stops with this person.
Traffic and old trenches rule out Type A
When trench protection comes from OSHA's sloping or shoring tables, or from maker's data based on soil type, a competent person sorts each deposit into stable rock, Type A, Type B or Type C. That person is often the foreman. The call needs at least one test by eye and one by hand. On street work, Type A is usually off the table: soil shaken by heavy traffic can't be Type A, and neither can ground dug before, like an old utility trench. Layered ground takes its weakest layer's type. Source: 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P, Appendix A: Soil classification (eCFR).
The trench box comes with its data sheet
A trench box picked from the maker's tabulated data has to be used within all of the maker's written limits, and a copy must be at the job while the protection goes in. Going outside those limits takes the maker's written OK. Nobody stays in the box while it's set, pulled or raised. The crew may dig up to 2 feet below the box only if it's rated for the full trench depth and there's no sign of soil loss behind or under it. Source: 29 CFR 1926.652: Requirements for protective systems (eCFR).
The lane closure moves with the crew
Signs, cones and tapers follow Part 6 of the MUTCD, the national standard for roads open to public travel, or a state version that has to conform to it. Its guidance says only people trained in traffic control should supervise placing the devices, and plan changes should be OK'd by someone who knows the rules. At 45 mph or more, a merging taper should be at least the lane width times the speed: 540 feet for a 12-foot lane at 45. The setup moves as the pipe does. Source: FHWA: MUTCD 11th Edition with Revision 1 (Part 6, Sections 6A.02, 6A.03 and 6B.08).
As-builts start with the foreman's notes
Owners want record drawings that show where the pipe really went. The foreman marks up a field set each day: valve and fitting locations, depths at each manhole, service tap stations, and every old line the crew hit or moved around. Notes written that day are good. Notes rebuilt from memory at closeout are guesses, and the next crew to dig there finds out the hard way.
Pipe, grading and paving need different foremen
A pipe foreman lives by depth, grade and the trench. A grading foreman balances cut and fill, places dirt in lifts that pass the compaction test, and often works from GPS machine control. A paving foreman times trucks from the plant, watches mat temperature and builds joints that hold up. Hire for the crew you need, and be careful moving a strong foreman to a crew type they've never run.
How much civil construction field supervisors make
The closest BLS group for civil construction field supervisors is First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers. First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for heavy and civil engineering contractors earned a median of $39.29 an hour ($81,730 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $79,920 median for First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in all industries. About 110,250 of the 812,210 First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in that survey work for heavy and civil construction.
The template puts this foreman on salary with a performance bonus, and its pay range lands near the middle of this chart. If your foremen work under a union agreement, or run a machine or lay pipe part of the day, hourly pay may fit better. Base any bonus on production against the bid and on safety steps you can check, not on a low injury count, which can keep people from reporting.
Heavy and civil construction
$81,730$81,730 median Middle half $64,370–$102,380 10th–90th $55,860–$128,010
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
Heavy and civil construction
$55,860
$64,370
$81,730
$102,380
$128,010
All industries
$53,280
$63,400
$79,920
$101,460
$128,260
BLS doesn’t publish pay for civil contractors on their own. These figures cover heavy and civil engineering construction, 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 run a crew laying pipe, grading or paving on road, utility or site jobs
Reads plan and profile sheets, cut sheets and stakes without help
Picks and sets up trench protection that fits the soil and the depth
Sets out a lane closure to a traffic control plan and keeps it right as work moves
Gets steady output from operators, pipe layers and laborers and corrects them on the spot
Teach these on the job
Your daily report and timecard app
Your trench box and shoring inventory and the data for each
Each owner's testing, inspection and hold points
Your as-built markup standard
Your GPS machine control setup
Expect a timecard and daily report app on a phone, a laser or GPS rover for grade, machine control on dozers and excavators, and the job's plan set on a tablet. The ad should name the crew type and its machines, such as excavators, a dozer, rollers or a paver.
Civil construction 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 · Enforcing safety with subcontractors
A subcontractor's crew is working in a deep trench with straight walls and no trench box, shoring or sloping. Their foreman says it's only for a few minutes. What do you do?
A strong answer: Gets everyone out now, requires a protective system the competent person approves before anyone goes back in, documents it, and tells the project manager and the subcontractor's management.
Behavioral · Holding crews accountable
Tell me about a time a crew member kept skipping a safety step on your jobs, such as staying clear of a machine's swing or wearing a vest in the work zone. How did you handle it?
A strong answer: Talked directly, explained the risk, documented it, followed the discipline policy and checked the person's work afterward.
Rank each foreman only against crews on like work. A pipe crew and a paving crew can't share one target, so base each on your own job records.
Incident Rate
Recordable injuries, first aid cases and near misses on the crew each quarter, read against hours worked. Near misses reported are a good sign, not a bad one.
Project Completion Rate
The crew's share of each job finished by the dates in the schedule, plus daily output, such as feet of pipe laid or tons placed, against what the bid assumed.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
The owner's inspector's punch list items and failed tests on the crew's work, plus resident complaints the office logs against that crew.
Safety Compliance
Spot checks by the superintendent or safety lead: soil type logged, box data on site, lane closure matching the plan, and every worker in the right gear.
For the hours spent on hands-on work, often yes. On Davis-Bacon jobs, DOL counts a foreperson as a laborer or mechanic for that time if that work fills over one-fifth of their hours that week and they don't qualify as exempt under the federal executive, administrative or professional tests. A foreman who runs the excavator half the day needs those hours on the certified payroll at the operator's rate. The rule is in 29 CFR 5.2.
How much does a civil construction field supervisor make?
First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for heavy and civil engineering contractors earned a median of $39.29 an hour ($81,730 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $64,370 and $102,380 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
How do I try out a pipe foreman before hiring?
Hand them one plan and profile sheet from a past sewer job and a soils note. Ask how they'd set up the day: how deep the cut gets, what box or slope they'd use, where the spoil goes, how traffic gets past, and how many feet they'd expect to lay. Strong candidates ask about existing utilities and the inspector before they ask about the machine.
What should a civil foreman check before the crew leaves for the day?
That the job is safe with nobody on it. Backfill or plate the trench, and fence or cover any open hole. The MUTCD says signs and cones that no longer fit the work get removed or covered, so pull or cover them. Its guidance also says to store machines and materials where a car leaving the road is less likely to hit them. Then finish the daily report before leaving the site.
Why does the template list lifting 50 pounds?
The line ships as written. On a civil crew it means carrying a laser, a grade rod, fittings, cones and signs, climbing in and out of a trench by ladder, and walking rough ground all day in any weather. The ad should list those tasks rather than a bare weight, and invite applicants to raise any accommodation they need.
