A demolition chief financial officer keeps track of the money in what leaves each site: machine and truck hours, landfill and recycling fees, and scrap metal that pays the company back. They plan cash around those swings, run the insurance program, and keep the bank and surety informed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, other specialty trade contractors · BLS, May 2025
Provides strategic financial leadership and direction for our demolition operations, managing budgets, cost controls, and forecasting to ensure the company's financial stability and sustainable growth. Collaborates with executive leadership to set financial targets, optimize resource allocation, and implement robust financial controls that drive operational efficiency and profitability.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Develop and execute financial strategies that support the company’s overall demolition service objectives.
Oversee the budgeting process, ensuring accuracy and efficiency in financial planning and resource allocation.
Monitor and control costs while optimizing cash flow and working capital for operational excellence.
Provide accurate and timely financial forecasting and reporting to guide business decisions.
Ensure compliance with financial regulations and internal policies through effective risk management.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review and analyze daily financial transactions and performance data to ensure budget adherence.
Lead regular financial meetings to update executive leadership on current financial health and project-specific expenditures.
Coordinate with department heads to review and adjust operational budgets in response to market conditions.
Manage forecasting efforts by integrating current project performance with historical data trends.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Timely completion of monthly financial reports with 100% accuracy.
Maintain cost overrun variance below 5% across all demolition projects.
Achieve forecast accuracy within a ±3% margin.
Increase net profit margin by at least 10% year-over-year.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or Business Administration.
Professional certification such as CPA, CMA, or MBA is highly desirable.
Minimum of 7 years of experience in senior financial management roles.
Strong analytical, strategic planning, and communication skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience within the home services or demolition industry.
Demonstrated expertise in financial management within construction or industrial environments.
Proven track record of implementing cost saving initiatives and process improvement strategies.
Experience working with cross-functional teams to drive organizational financial success.
7. Physical Requirements
Primarily office-based role with occasional on-site visits to demolition projects.
Ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods.
Occasional light lifting of documents or equipment up to 10 lbs.
Minimal physical exertion required during routine duties.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Occasional evening or weekend hours may be necessary during critical financial periods.
Minimal travel required for key meetings and site visits.
On-call availability during monthly and quarterly financial closings.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $150,000 - $200,000 USD per year.
Annual performance-based bonus potential.
Comprehensive Health, Dental, and Vision insurance plans.
401k retirement plan with company matching contributions.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We are a forward-thinking company that values innovation, integrity, and teamwork in every aspect of our operations.
Our culture is built on continuous learning, growth, and a commitment to excellence, empowering employees to thrive and succeed.
We foster a collaborative and inclusive environment where every team member’s ideas matter.
Join us to make a tangible difference in the demolition home services industry while advancing your career in a dynamic and supportive workplace.
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
In demolition, the material leaving a site can earn money or cost money. The CFO tracks both, along with the heavy fleet that moves it.
Scrap is revenue that rises and falls
Steel beams, copper wire and aluminum from a teardown are sold by weight, and scrap prices move with the market. The contract should say who owns salvage. The CFO decides how much scrap credit a bid may count on, books sales by job from scale tickets, and keeps a cushion so a price drop doesn't turn a winning bid into a loss.
Every load has a disposal price
Concrete, clean wood, metal, drywall and mixed debris often go to different sites at different rates. The CFO keeps a current rate sheet for each site, checks each disposal ticket against its job, and compares each site's mixed-debris rate with its sorted rates, so estimators can see what sorting on site would save.
Heavy trucks owe a federal use tax
The IRS charges a heavy highway vehicle use tax on vehicles used on public highways at a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more, filed on Form 2290. Loaded roll-off trucks and tractors pulling machine trailers can reach that weight. A truck expected to run 5,000 miles or less can claim a suspension, but that claim goes on the form too. The CFO keeps a list of which units qualify and files on time. Source: IRS: About Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return.
Lead work can mean paying people to stay off it
When a worker's blood lead tests reach OSHA's removal level, the employer must remove them from work with lead exposure at or above the action level. For up to 18 months, as long as the job they left still exists, the company keeps their normal earnings, seniority and benefits. The CFO budgets for blood testing and for that protection whenever the company takes on lead jobs. Source: eCFR: Lead in construction (29 CFR 1926.62).
Insurance follows the hazards
The CFO runs renewals for workers' comp, general liability, auto, equipment and pollution coverage. Ask the broker how each policy treats asbestos, lead, silica and mold claims, and whether the company needs a contractors pollution liability policy. Keep certificates ready, since a client can ask for proof of these limits before a crew may start.
How much demolition chief financial officers make
The closest BLS group for demolition chief financial officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for other specialty trade contractors earned a median of $151,900 a year ($73.03 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 490 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for other specialty trade contractors.
Salary with a yearly performance bonus, as the template lays out. Base part of the bonus on how closely closed jobs matched their bids on disposal and scrap.
Other specialty trade contractors
$151,900$151,900 median Middle half $113,900–$319,020 10th–90th $83,500–$392,040
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Other specialty trade contractors
$83,500
$113,900
$151,900
$319,020
$392,040
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for demolition contractors on their own. These figures cover other specialty trade 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 led finance at a demolition, abatement, heavy construction or hauling company
Sets the scrap credit and disposal allowances estimators may count on in a bid
Has placed pollution and umbrella coverage for a contractor that handles hazardous materials
Tracks job cost by phase: strip-out, demolition, hauling and site cleanup
Explains a job that lost money to a field leader without blame
Teach these on the job
Your scrap buyers and how they pay
Each landfill, transfer station and recycler's rates and tickets
Your fleet list and which trucks need a use tax return
Your lead testing and medical program costs
How your job cost codes split hauling, disposal and salvage
The CFO's desk runs on construction accounting software that tracks job and equipment cost, scale and disposal tickets scanned to each job, the fleet and loan schedule, and the insurance schedule. Have finalists take one closed job and rebuild its profit from the tickets.
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 · Disposal cost overruns
Disposal costs on three jobs came in far over estimate. What do you do?
A strong answer: Compares estimated to actual tons, checks whether mixed loads were charged at higher rates than sorted ones, checks rate changes, and updates estimating and sorting rules.
Behavioral · Learning from forecast misses
Tell me about a time your cash forecast missed because of disposal bills, slow payments or a delayed job. What did you change?
A strong answer: Explains what was missed, how they found out, and how they changed the forecast method.
Work these out with the CEO from the books of the past few years, and report disposal and scrap apart from labor so their swings are easy to see.
Timely completion of monthly financial reports with 100% accuracy
Days from month-end to a closed set of statements, plus how many entries were corrected after the close. Late scale and disposal tickets are a frequent cause.
Maintain cost overrun variance below 5% across all demolition projects
Actual cost against estimate on each closed job, split into labor, equipment, hauling and disposal, net of scrap. Look for the line that misses most often.
Achieve forecast accuracy within a ±3% margin
Compare each quarter's cash and profit forecast with what happened, and note misses caused by scrap prices, slow-paying clients or a job stopped by hidden asbestos.
Increase net profit margin by at least 10% year-over-year
Decide first whether the target means points of margin or a relative gain. Then compare net margin with last year from statements your CPA reviews.
Career path
BookkeeperPosts disposal tickets, scrap sales and payables.
ControllerCloses each month with every scale and dump ticket on a job.
Chief financial officerRuns cash, insurance, fleet financing and the bank.
Who should handle scrap sales, operations or finance?
Operations decides what gets pulled and sorted on site; finance sets the rules for selling it. Have the CFO approve the scrap buyers, match every scale ticket to a payment, and review sales by job. Take payment by check or transfer only, since cash and loose paperwork at the scrap yard make losses hard to trace.
How much does a demolition chief financial officer make?
Chief executives who work for other specialty trade contractors earned a median of $151,900 a year ($73.03 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $113,900 and $319,020 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How should a demolition CFO price disposal in a bid?
Start from the waste plan: loads or tons of each material, where each goes, and the current rate there. Add the truck time to reach each site, not only the fee. Then check the estimate against tickets from similar closed jobs. The gap shows where your estimates run light.
Should a demolition company own its haul trucks?
Work it out per load. Your own trucks swap boxes when the crew needs it rather than when a hauler can come, which keeps the machines loading. Hired haulers fit peak weeks and far dump sites. In your own truck's full cost, count the use tax return, insurance, driver pay and the time spent in line at the scale.
Who pays when hidden asbestos turns up mid-job?
Settle that in the contract before the job starts. The CFO should make sure a change order is signed before abatement begins, then track these jobs apart. Repeat surprises from one client or one inspection firm point to a problem in the bids or the reports, not bad luck.
