A design-build HR manager hires for a firm where designers, project managers and carpenters all work in the same family's home. They check with counsel which design jobs are exempt from overtime, keep fall training and injury records current, and set the rules for working in clients' houses.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Serve as the primary HR leader responsible for recruiting top talent, ensuring comprehensive training programs, and enforcing labor compliance within our design-build firm. Foster a positive and inclusive work culture that aligns with our business objectives and drives employee engagement. Play an integral role in supporting the company's strategic goals by effectively managing human capital and promoting continuous professional development.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Develop and implement effective recruitment strategies to attract and retain high-quality candidates.
Oversee the design and delivery of training programs to ensure employees meet compliance and performance benchmarks.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of labor laws and enforce compliance across all levels of the organization.
Champion initiatives that enhance employee engagement, workplace safety, and overall company culture.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Conduct daily reviews of staffing needs and coordinate with department heads on recruitment priorities.
Manage applicant tracking systems and schedule interviews to ensure a smooth hiring process.
Oversee onboarding procedures, including new hire orientations and initial training sessions.
Monitor attendance, performance metrics, and employee satisfaction, providing timely reports to senior management.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Time-to-Hire: Achieve an average time-to-hire of less than 30 days.
Employee Training Completion Rate: Ensure over 95% of employees complete required training modules within designated timeframes.
Labor Compliance Audit: Maintain a 100% compliance rate during quarterly audits.
Employee Satisfaction Rating: Achieve a satisfaction rating of over 4.5 stars on internal surveys.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
Minimum of 5 years of progressive HR experience, preferably within the home services or construction industry.
Proficient in using HRIS and applicant tracking systems with strong data analytics skills.
Excellent interpersonal, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience working as an HR Manager in design-build or construction-related industries.
Background in developing and implementing comprehensive training and development programs.
Proven track record in managing labor compliance and navigating complex regulatory environments.
Familiarity with innovative HR technology solutions and process automation tools.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to sit for prolonged periods while working at a computer.
Occasional lifting of files and office supplies up to 15 lbs.
Capacity to move throughout an office setting and attend meetings in various on-site construction locations.
Possess sufficient mobility to participate in on-site visits as needed.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Moderate level of daily interaction with staff across multiple departments.
Occasional travel to job sites and construction locations may be required.
Standard office environment with occasional site visits to ensure operational alignment.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary Range: $75,000 - $90,000 USD per year based on experience and qualifications.
Eligibility for performance-based bonuses and incentive programs.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
Contributions to a 401(k) retirement plan with company matching available.
Additional fringe benefits including paid time off, professional development opportunities, and flexible work arrangements.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we foster a growth-oriented and inclusive work environment where every team member is empowered to excel.
We value innovation, continuous learning, and a proactive approach that drives our success in the design-build industry.
Join us to be part of a dynamic team that celebrates diversity, nurtures talent, and is committed to creating lasting impacts within our community.
We believe in investing in our employees’ growth and providing the tools necessary to achieve both personal and professional 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
A design-build firm employs creative staff, office staff and tradespeople, and sends all three into the same family's house. Their overtime rules, training records and conduct standards differ, and HR keeps each one straight.
Design titles don't settle overtime
Federal rules list architecture as a field for the learned professional exemption, and a licensed architect who designs may fit it. The exemption doesn't reach jobs people usually learn by doing or through an apprenticeship. That can rule out a designer job you fill with people trained on the job. The creative exemption is judged case by case and doesn't cover routine work. Review each design job's duties with counsel. Pay overtime where the job doesn't fit. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 541.301, learned professionals.
Fall training reaches past the carpenters
OSHA requires fall protection training for each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards. That reaches past the framers. On a design-build job it can include a designer measuring an open second floor, or a project manager walking an addition before the railings go in. Decide with the operations manager who gets trained and who waits for guardrails. HR keeps each person's latest signed training record. It books retraining when crews switch to new gear. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.503, fall protection training requirements.
Office staff count toward the injury summary
OSHA lists construction among the industries that must file a yearly injury summary online. A location with 20 to 249 employees at any time last year files its Form 300A by March 2. Count everyone on that location's payroll during the year, including designers, salespeople, office staff and part-timers. A company executive signs off on the summary. It's posted where staff notices go from February 1 through April 30. Keep the injury log current all year, so January isn't a scramble. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1904.41 and appendix A, electronic submission of injury records.
House rules for working in a client's home
Crews may spend months in one house, around the family's belongings, children and pets. HR writes the house rules and teaches them before a new hire's first day on site: how keys and door codes are kept, no personal photos or posts of the home without the client's okay, no smoking on the property, and which bathroom crews may use. Each worker signs them, and sub contracts carry the same rules.
Lead carpenters are grown, not found
A lead carpenter who can run a remodel and talk calmly with the homeowner can be the hardest field job to fill, so plan to grow your own. HR builds the ladder with the operations manager: what a laborer must learn to become a carpenter, and what a carpenter must show to lead a job. Then HR tracks each person's progress, so good people see a next step and stay.
How much design-build HR managers make
The closest BLS group for design-build HR managers is human resources managers. Human resources managers who work for building contractors earned a median of $143,740 a year ($69.11 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 1,320 of the 220,660 human resources managers in that survey work for building contractors.
The template pays a salary, plus bonuses and incentive programs. The BLS chart for HR managers at building contractors runs well past the template's range. To hire inside it, look at HR coordinators at larger builders or remodelers who are ready to run HR on their own, and plan raises as the firm adds crews.
Building contractors
$143,740$143,740 median Middle half $121,960–$179,240 10th–90th $97,490–$225,990
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 contractors
$97,490
$121,960
$143,740
$179,240
$225,990
All industries
$88,200
$111,110
$149,280
$199,290
$267,810
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 HR for a builder, remodeler or other contractor with field crews
Explains overtime exemptions by duties, not titles, and knows when to call counsel
Keeps OSHA training records and the injury log current
Has written conduct rules for staff who work in customers' homes
Has filled both design and carpentry openings
Teach these on the job
Your job titles and what each design job really does
Your fall protection plan and who teaches it
Your career ladder from laborer to lead carpenter
The payroll and hiring software you run
Your sub contracts and site rules
The template asks for HRIS and applicant tracking skills; at a firm this size both often sit inside one payroll platform. Add a training log that flags expiring cards and missing fall training. Ask candidates how they once caught a missing training record before a new hire started work at height.
Design-build HR manager 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 · Consistent hiring across very different roles
You need to hire a project designer and a lead carpenter, and the two hiring managers want very different processes. How do you handle it?
A strong answer: Keeps one structured process with role-specific competencies and work samples (portfolio review, shop test), the same fairness rules, and documentation.
Behavioral · Compliance buy-in
Tell me about a time you got managers to follow a process they saw as paperwork, such as timekeeping, I-9 forms or safety records.
A strong answer: Made it simpler, explained the real risk, trained, checked compliance, and followed up with anyone who skipped it.
Split each number into design, office and field staff. Those groups come from different hiring pools and need different training, so one blended figure hides the group that's struggling.
Time-to-Hire
Track each opening from the day the COO approves it to the day the candidate says yes. Read a lead carpenter or designer search against the last one like it, not against office hires.
Employee Training Completion Rate
Of the trainings each person was assigned this quarter, the share finished on time. Fall training finished after someone already worked at height still counts as late, and so do house rules signed after a first day on site.
Labor Compliance Audit
Every quarter, open a sample of personnel files and look for a complete Form I-9, a written duties review for each salaried designer, current fall training and signed house rules. Report the share complete and fix each gap within the month.
Employee Satisfaction Rating
Ask a few questions at each job's closeout, while the crew and designer who worked it remember it, plus one full staff survey a year. Keep answers unsigned, and ask carpenters about training and designers about late plan changes.
Career path
Office managerHandles new-hire paperwork and benefits along with the front office.
HR managerRuns hiring, training records and people rules for design, office and field staff.
HR director at a larger builderLeads HR across several offices, with recruiters and a safety lead reporting in.
Why does the HR template mention mobility for site visits?
The template's lines stay as written. For HR they mean site trips: stepping around hoses and lumber in a house mid-remodel, standing in a driveway for a crew's safety talk, and checking a hazard a worker reported. Say in the ad how often those trips happen, and invite requests for reasonable accommodation.
How much does a design-build HR manager make?
Human resources managers who work for building contractors earned a median of $143,740 a year ($69.11 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $121,960 and $179,240 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How do you hire designers and carpenters at the same firm?
Run them as two searches. Designers come from architecture and interior design programs, kitchen and bath showrooms and other design-build firms, and you judge them on a portfolio and a drawing set. Carpenters come from referrals, builders and trade programs, and you judge them on a site walk or a short paid task. Have the design manager and a lead carpenter each sit in on their own group's interviews.
What should HR do when a homeowner complains about a worker?
Treat it as an employee issue and a client issue at once. Get the facts from the client, the project manager and the worker, and write down what each said. Decide with the operations manager whether the worker stays on that house. If the worker belongs to a sub, go through the sub's owner. Keep the record in the employee's file even if no discipline follows.
What background suits a design-build HR manager?
HR at a remodeler, a home builder or an architecture firm comes closest, though each covers only part of your staff. Someone from a remodeler knows field crews and OSHA records. Someone from an architecture firm knows how designers are hired and paid. Ask which side the candidate knows less, and pair them early with that side's leader, the design manager or the field supervisor.
