A design-build chief operating officer builds the process that moves each home project from the first design meeting through permits, construction and warranty. They decide when an estimate is checked against the drawings and when a job is ready to build, then make sure crews and subcontractors deliver it for the price the client signed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Lead and oversee daily design-construction operations to ensure exceptional project execution and operational efficiency. Collaborate with key executives to align strategic initiatives and drive continuous improvement across design and build functions. Serve as a pivotal leader bridging design creativity with construction pragmatism to deliver projects on time and within budget.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Direct daily design and construction operations ensuring processes are agile and efficient.
Develop and implement operational policies and strategies that align with the company’s short and long-term goals.
Monitor project progress and quality through regular performance reviews and corrective actions as needed.
Foster a collaborative environment between design teams, project managers, and construction crews to achieve seamless integration.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Oversee project status meetings and review daily operational metrics.
Coordinate with design and construction teams to troubleshoot issues and resolve conflicts promptly.
Evaluate workflow processes and implement improvements to enhance productivity and quality assurance.
Ensure effective communication across all departments and maintain alignment with overall strategic objectives.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Project Completion Rate: Achieve a 95% on-time project completion rate.
Operational Efficiency: Improve capacity efficiency by 15% annually.
Customer Satisfaction: Maintain a customer satisfaction rating of >4.8 stars.
Gross Margin: Achieve and sustain a gross margin of at least 25%.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Construction Management, Engineering, or a related field.
A minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience within design-build or construction operations.
Proven track record of strategic planning, operational oversight, and process optimization.
Strong interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills with a focus on team collaboration.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience working within fast-paced design-build environments and handling multi-disciplinary project teams.
Previous involvement in implementing lean operational strategies in construction or home services fields.
Background in integrating innovative technologies to enhance design and construction workflows.
Demonstrated capability in driving profitability and efficiency improvements at a senior operational level.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to occasionally visit job sites, which may involve minor physical exertion such as walking over uneven terrain.
Capable of working in environments with variable weather conditions when on-site visits are required.
Occasional lifting of documents and light materials up to 10 lbs during site inspections.
Comfortable enduring extended periods of standing or walking during operational assessments.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with occasional extended hours as required.
Expected availability for on-site visits and performance meetings during business hours.
Occasional travel to different job sites may be required for project oversight.
Flexibility to participate in strategic meetings and emergency response activities as needed.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Competitive salary range of $150,000 to $200,000 per annum based on experience and qualifications.
Eligibility for performance-based bonuses and profit-sharing incentives.
Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance.
Retirement savings plan with 401(k) matching as well as paid time off and continuing education opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
Join a forward-thinking, growth-oriented company that champions innovation, integrity, and collaboration.
Our culture emphasizes professional development, open communication, and a commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences.
We foster an inclusive work environment that values diverse perspectives and empowers our team members to excel.
Experience a workplace where passion meets purpose and every contribution is acknowledged in our collective success.
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
At a builder, the drawings arrive finished and the price comes after. At a design-build firm the price is promised while the drawings are still changing, so the COO's work starts well before any crew arrives.
The estimate has to keep up with the drawings
A client often sees a budget range when signing the design agreement and a fixed price when signing to build. In between, rooms grow and finishes change. The COO sets the points in design where an estimator prices the latest drawings and the designer shows the client any gap. A job whose price was never checked against its final drawings is where margin goes first.
A job is released to build, not rushed to it
The COO writes the list that must be done before a job reaches the field: permit issued, every selection made, sub bids in, and an estimate that matches the permit set. Starting a job early to keep a crew busy often means stopping it again halfway, with the family living in a torn-open house. The list protects the client and the margin at the same time.
Quality standards belong in the contract
Michigan, for example, lets a builder's contract set workmanship guidelines, consistent with the state residential code, that the state must weigh when a homeowner complains. A contract can also name a neutral dispute process that the firm starts, and the state generally waits for that process, as long as it's done within 90 days of the complaint. The COO writes those terms with the firm's lawyer and trains project managers to build and inspect to them. Source: Michigan Compiled Laws 339.2411: complaints and conduct that brings penalties.
Lead rules apply to the firm, not only the crew
Many remodels open walls in homes built before 1978. Under EPA's rule, a firm paid to renovate those homes needs its own EPA certification, renewed every five years, unless an exception applies; states with an EPA-authorized program certify firms instead. A certified renovator must direct the work, and the firm keeps its records for three years after the job. The COO makes sure every estimate notes the home's age and every pre-1978 job that disturbs paint has a renovator assigned. Source: eCFR: 40 CFR Part 745, Subpart E, residential property renovation.
Design output has to match crew capacity
Each signed design agreement turns into a build start some months later. If designers sign more than crews can build, clients wait with a permit in hand. If they sign too few, crews sit idle or fill time with small, thin-margin jobs. The COO compares both queues each month and tells sales when to slow down or push harder.
How much design-build chief operating officers make
The closest BLS group for design-build chief operating officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for building contractors earned a median of $220,450 a year ($105.99 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 1,370 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for building contractors.
The template lists salary, bonuses and profit sharing. Base the bonus on closed-job margin and on-time finishes, which the COO's systems control, rather than to sales volume.
Building contractors
$220,450$220,450 median Middle half $162,630–$341,330 10th–90th $117,930–$453,730
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
Building contractors
$117,930
$162,630
$220,450
$341,330
$453,730
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for design-build firms on their own. These figures cover construction of buildings, 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 production for a remodeling, design-build or custom home company with several project managers
Has built an estimating process and checked estimates against final job costs
Writes procedures that designers, estimators and project managers all follow
Matches the design queue to crew and sub capacity
Has planned jobs around slow permit reviews and failed inspections
Teach these on the job
Your estimating database and cost codes
Your design phases and release-to-build list
Each local building department's review times
Which subs you rely on for each trade
Your project management software's reports
The COO works in project management software like Buildertrend or JobTread, the estimating program, and the job cost reports accounting produces. Ask finalists which reports they built at their last firm and which decision each one changed.
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 · Buildable drawings
Field crews keep finding details on drawings that can't be built as drawn. How do you fix it?
A strong answer: Adds field reviews at set design stages, builds a library of standard details, creates a feedback loop, and tracks field questions per project.
Behavioral · Removing handoff waste
Tell me about a time you removed wasted time or rework between design and construction.
A strong answer: Names the waste (waiting on drawings, redraws, field questions), the change, who was involved, and the measured result.
Count these on jobs closed in the quarter, so long custom homes don't hide behind quick remodels, and set each bar from your own history before adopting the template's.
Project Completion Rate
Closed jobs done on or before the contract date, allowing only extra days from signed change orders, shown by project type.
Operational Efficiency
Construction revenue completed per project manager and per field employee each year, so you can see whether the firm builds more with the same team.
Customer Satisfaction
Move-in survey scores across all jobs, sorted by project manager and project type, with each low score traced to a cause in the job file.
Gross Margin
Closed-job margin by project type and project manager, set beside the margin each job was estimated at.
Career path
Project managerRuns additions and remodels from signed contract to closeout.
Operations managerDirects the crews, subs and daily schedule across jobs.
Chief operating officerOwns the design-to-build system on every job.
Often the COO, since one estimate sets both the client's price and the crew's budget. Some firms put estimating under sales or the design manager, which speeds up early budgets but tempts estimators to price for the sale. If estimating sits outside operations, give the COO the right to stop any build contract priced below the estimate's cost.
How much does a design-build chief operating officer make?
Chief executives who work for building contractors earned a median of $220,450 a year ($105.99 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $162,630 and $341,330 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should a COO do when estimates keep coming in low?
Pull ten or so closed jobs and compare each estimate with its final cost, line by line: demolition, framing, cabinets, electrical and so on. The problem usually sits in a few lines, such as demolition on older houses or allowances clients outspent. Fix those unit costs or allowances first, then show the designers what changed and why.
Should the design team report to the COO?
It can work when the COO came up through design or the firm is small. More often the design manager reports elsewhere, and the COO sets the rules designers follow: budget checks, drawing standards and selection deadlines. What matters is that one person can settle a dispute between design and production within a day.
Why does the template mention emergency response?
Design-build crews work in homes where people live, so things go wrong: a pipe cut by mistake, a storm over an open roof, an injury on site. The field supervisor and operations manager take the first call. The COO steps in when the problem needs money, an apology from the top, or a change in how the firm works.
What do the template's standing and walking lines mean for a COO?
The template's lines ship as written. On a design-build job they describe site walks: a walk-through before drywall on an addition, a look at footings on a sloped lot, or a quality review of a finished remodel with the project manager. List those walks and about how often they happen in the ad, with a line offering reasonable accommodation.
