Drywall and plaster chief financial officer job description
A drywall and plaster chief financial officer covers the gap between buying board and getting paid for it. Builders and general contractors often pay weeks later, so the CFO prices tax and board cost swings into bids, funds stocked board, and guards the company's right to be paid.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, specialty trade contractors · BLS, May 2025
Serve as a strategic leader managing financial planning, budgeting, and cost analysis in the home services sector with a focus on drywall and plaster operations. Drive the company’s fiscal health by implementing robust financial policies and aligning business strategies with financial goals.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Direct financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting to support strategic decision-making.
Manage comprehensive cost analysis to improve operational efficiencies and profitability.
Monitor and report on financial performance to ensure regulatory compliance and sustainability.
Develop and enforce financial policies, procedures, and controls across the organization.
Collaborate with senior leadership to align financial operations with overall business objectives.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review daily cash flow, manage transactions, and ensure timely processing of financial records.
Analyze budget variances and provide actionable insights to department heads.
Oversee preparation and approval of financial reports and key performance metrics.
Engage with project managers and vendors to monitor and optimize project costs.
Ensure accurate and timely financial reconciliations and forecasting updates.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Revenue Growth Rate: Achieve a minimum of 10% year-over-year increase.
Operating Expense Ratio: Maintain expenses at or below 30% of total revenue.
Gross Profit Margin: Secure a minimum margin of 35%.
Budget Variance: Keep deviations within ±5% of projected figures.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related field; CPA or MBA highly desirable.
Minimum of 7 years of progressive financial management or executive-level experience.
Proficiency with financial software, developing budgets, forecasting, and data analytics.
Exceptional leadership, strategic planning, and communication skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Demonstrated experience in the home services industry, specifically with drywall and plaster operations.
Proven track record of managing financial operations in project-based or service industries.
Familiarity with project costing, vendor negotiations, and cost reduction initiatives.
Experience implementing financial controls in a growth-oriented environment.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to work in a standard office environment for prolonged periods.
Occasional travel to on-site project locations is required.
Minimal physical exertion, with no heavy lifting expected.
Standard visual and auditory acuity required to perform daily tasks.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard business hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Occasional extended hours during fiscal month-end, audit periods, or financial closing.
Limited travel required for on-site visits and vendor meetings.
Collaborative and dynamic office environment with modern facilities and tools.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $120,000 - $150,000 USD annually, commensurate with experience.
Annual performance bonus linked to achieving key financial and operational metrics.
Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance.
401(k) plan with company match and additional fringe benefits available.
10. Company Culture and Overview
A dynamic, innovative environment that encourages professional growth and continuous improvement.
A collaborative culture dedicated to excellence, integrity, and exceptional customer service.
Strong emphasis on employee development, recognition, and maintaining work-life balance.
An inclusive workplace committed to fostering a supportive and engaging team environment.
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
Board is bought, delivered and stocked before a builder or general contractor pays for it. The CFO keeps the company from quietly financing its customers. The tax example uses Kentucky; rules differ by state.
Kentucky taxes the board when you buy it
Kentucky's contractor rule names plastering among the building trades and wall board among the materials. The contractor pays sales or use tax when it buys what it installs. The contract type doesn't matter. It doesn't add sales tax as a separate charge on the customer's bill. A school, church or government job doesn't make the board exempt. Board from an out-of-state seller that doesn't collect Kentucky tax goes on a consumer's use tax return. Price the tax into every bid. Source: Kentucky 103 KAR 26:070: Contractors (sales and use tax).
Board prices can move during a price lock
BLS's producer price index for gypsum products rose by about two-fifths from December 2020 to December 2022, then changed far less through the summer of 2026. A builder price sheet held for a year, or a multifamily bid signed months before delivery, carries that risk. The CFO tracks the index and each supplier's price letters. With the CEO, they write escalation terms that let prices reopen when board costs jump. Source: BLS producer price index: gypsum products (WPU137).
Stocked board is cash out the door
On multifamily and commercial jobs, board is often stocked floor by floor before hanging starts. The supplier's bill can come due before the general contractor pays for any of it. Read each subcontract to see if stored materials can go on a pay application, and what proof the contractor wants. Decide who pays when stocked board gets wet or broken, and match delivery tickets to each floor.
Wrap-up insurance changes the bid
Some large multifamily and commercial jobs run under one insurance program, bought by the owner or the general contractor, that covers the contractors enrolled in it. Ask for the program manual before you bid. It says which of your insurance costs to drop from the price and what payroll reports the program wants. Then ask the broker whether it covers company trucks and work done at your own yard, and keep your own policies in place for anything it leaves out.
How much drywall and plaster chief financial officers make
The closest BLS group for drywall and plaster chief financial officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for specialty trade contractors earned a median of $169,170 a year ($81.33 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 3,830 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for specialty trade contractors.
Base pay plus an annual bonus on financial and operating results is the template's offer. BLS files CFOs under chief executives, and the median for that group at specialty trade firms, presidents included, is above the template's range. A candidate who has already run a contractor's finances may ask for more.
Specialty trade contractors
$169,170$169,170 median Middle half $100,570–$283,340 10th–90th $69,930–$386,670
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
Specialty trade contractors
$69,930
$100,570
$169,170
$283,340
$386,670
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for chief executives at drywall and insulation contractors on their own, so these figures cover specialty trade contractors. 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 managed finance for a subcontractor that bills builders or general contractors
Knows, state by state, whether contractors pay tax on materials or collect it from customers
Builds cash forecasts around retainage, stored materials and slow-paying builders
Reads subcontract payment, insurance and back-charge clauses
Sets controls on supplier accounts so every board delivery lands on a job
Teach these on the job
How each general contractor wants stored board shown on a pay application
Your board suppliers' rebate programs and statement dates
Your job-cost codes by phase
Your broker's process for certificates and wrap-up enrollment
Union fringe benefit reports, if you sign an agreement
Job costing by phase, payroll that can pay hangers by the sheet and file any union fringe reports, and a log of stored-material billing on each job are the CFO's core tools. A good test question: how did they tie board deliveries to supplier invoices at their last company?
Drywall and plaster chief financial officer 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 · Material price risk
Gypsum board prices jump between bid and order on several jobs. What do you do?
A strong answer: Measures the exposure, checks contracts for escalation terms, asks the supplier about price holds, updates current bids, and adds protection going forward.
Behavioral · Fixing losing work
Tell me about a time you found that one type of work, such as small repairs, was losing money. What did you do?
A strong answer: Showed the numbers, changed pricing, minimums or how the work was scheduled, and tracked margin after.
A year when board prices jumped can make margin and expense targets look missed for reasons outside anyone's control. Base them on your statements from several years, and flag any year with a big board price change.
Revenue Growth Rate
Billed revenue each month against the matching month of the prior year, with billing for stocked board shown apart from installed work, so early material billing doesn't pass for growth.
Operating Expense Ratio
Overhead, such as office pay, rent, trucks, insurance and software, as a share of monthly revenue. Field labor and board stay out of it, since they belong in job cost.
Gross Profit Margin
Revenue minus board, compound, tape, bead, fasteners and field labor with its payroll costs, by builder and job type, tied out to the job-cost report each month.
Budget Variance
Track it line by line monthly, and split the board line into price and quantity. A supplier increase and a wasteful crew both raise it, for different reasons.
Career path
Construction accountantKeeps job costs and pay applications for a contractor or a CPA firm's contractor clients.
ControllerKeeps payroll, supplier bills and the general ledger clean.
Chief financial officerFunds board and payroll ahead of builder payments and guards the right to be paid.
What protects a drywall sub's money on a federal job?
Usually the prime contractor's payment bond. The Miller Act requires one on larger federal construction contracts. A sub not paid in full 90 days after its last work can sue on the bond. The suit must be filed within one year of that last work. If you work for another sub instead of the prime, first give the prime written notice within 90 days of your last work. A waiver of these rights counts only if it's written, signed and given after you've done the work. For city, county and state jobs, ask your attorney which bond law applies.
How much does a drywall and plaster chief financial officer make?
Chief executives who work for specialty trade contractors earned a median of $169,170 a year ($81.33 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $100,570 and $283,340 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How should a drywall CFO handle builder back-charges?
Agree in the master agreement on how a builder reports a back-charge. It should come in writing, with photos, within an agreed number of days, and before it comes off a payment. Track each one by builder and cause, such as cleanup, damage to other trades' work or a missed date. Send disputed ones to the general manager within days, while the superintendent still remembers the job.
How should job costs be split on a drywall job?
By phase: stocking, hanging, taping, finishing, punch and warranty, with board and compound coded to the job when they arrive. Then divide labor by the square feet of board on the job, so the CFO and estimators can compare houses and buildings of different sizes. Give plaster and veneer jobs their own codes, since a coat of plaster and a coat of mud take very different amounts of time.
The template asks for standard vision and hearing. How should that read?
Treat it as shorthand for tasks: reading statements and job-cost reports on a screen, taking calls with lenders, suppliers and auditors, and visiting a job to count stocked board against the delivery tickets. Name them in the ad. Screen magnifiers, captions and other tools help many people do this work, so make clear you'll consider accommodation requests.
