Drywall and plaster general manager job description
A drywall and plaster general manager answers to the COO for one branch. They make sure the branch holds the right license for each job it quotes, decide which warranty calls the company owns, and price both builder houses and small homeowner repairs. Revenue per field hour and margin are their scorecard.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, drywall and insulation contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $41,530, middle half $71,540 to $156,540, 90th percentile $214,420. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Chief Operating Officer
Department
Operations
Schedule
Weekdays that flex, on call at peak · Standard hours that flex with job deadlines, occasional drives to job sites in the region, and on-call in peak phases
Oversee and direct drywall and plaster operations, ensuring high-quality installations and efficient team performance. Serve as the primary leader driving operational excellence and meeting strategic KPIs that contribute to the company’s growth and reputation.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Lead and manage project teams to ensure timely, on-budget, and quality completion of drywall and plaster installations.
Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive continuous process improvement.
Collaborate with project managers and clients to maintain high standards of quality and customer satisfaction.
Oversee procurement, scheduling, and inventory management to support seamless operations.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Conduct daily briefings with teams to align on project goals and quality expectations.
Monitor installation progress through regular site visits and performance reviews.
Analyze daily performance data and adjust resources to meet KPI targets.
Interface with clients to address feedback, resolve issues, and ensure a high level of service.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Revenue per hour: $150.
Callback percentage: <5%.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: >4.8 stars.
Gross margin on projects: 30% or higher.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Construction Management, or a related field.
Minimum 5 years of experience in a management role within home services or construction.
Proven ability in leading teams and managing operational processes.
Strong analytical skills with proficiency in tracking and reporting KPIs.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience in drywall and plaster installations or construction project management.
Background in home services industry with a record of driving quality and efficiency.
Familiarity with industry-specific software for project management and performance tracking.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 25 lbs occasionally.
Must be comfortable working in varied environments including active construction sites.
Occasional site visits may require extended periods standing, walking, or climbing.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours with flexibility to adjust based on project requirements and deadlines.
Occasional travel to multiple job sites within the region.
Availability for on-call duties during peak project phases or emergencies.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Annual salary range: $85,000 - $120,000 based on experience.
Performance-based bonus opportunities.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance coverage.
401k plan with company match.
Additional fringe benefits such as paid time off and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We are a growth-oriented company that values innovation, teamwork, and excellence in service delivery.
Our culture is built on transparency, inclusivity, and a commitment to supporting every employee's professional growth.
We believe in empowering our teams to achieve both personal and company success through continuous development and shared goals.
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
The GM decides which work the branch is licensed to take, and who fixes a crack a year after the house closes. The legal examples use Louisiana; rules differ in other states.
License classes have edges
In Louisiana, every project except homes of up to four units counts as commercial, so larger apartment buildings do too. A commercial subcontract at fifty thousand dollars and up needs a licensed sub. Home repair or remodel work above seventy-five hundred dollars, up to fifty thousand, needs at least a home improvement registration. The board's commercial drywall class covers gypsum board and its finishes, but not wood or metal stud framing. Before sales quotes framing with board, or a homeowner repair, the GM confirms the branch holds the right license. Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors: licensing requirements (2025).
The builder's warranty becomes your callback list
Louisiana's New Home Warranty Act makes the builder promise a new home free of defects in materials and workmanship for one year. Its exclusions don't reach work by the builder's subcontractors. Owners report defects to the builder in writing, by registered or certified mail. When a buyer's list arrives, nail pops and cracked joints usually come back to the drywall company. The GM agrees with each builder how those requests reach the branch and how fast it responds. Source: Louisiana R.S. 9:3144: New Home Warranty Act, warranties and exclusions (example).
Some ceiling cracks come from the roof trusses
Building Science Corporation's report on truss uplift says it can't be prevented. The warm bottom chord of a roof truss and the cold top chord hold different amounts of moisture, so the truss bows up and can pull the ceiling away from a wall. The report's fix is to float the ceiling board at those corners so it bends instead of cracking. The GM sets that detail with builders and explains the cause when a crack shows up. Source: Building Science Corporation RR-0107: Drywall, wood and truss uplift.
Small homeowner repairs need their own price
A patch in a lived-in house takes several short visits, since every coat needs drying time, plus floor covers and dust cleanup every time. Priced like builder work by the square foot, these jobs lose money. The GM decides whether the branch takes them at all, sets a minimum charge and a fee for matching texture, and picks the crews who work well in occupied homes.
How much drywall and plaster general managers make
The closest BLS group for drywall and plaster general managers is general and operations managers. General and operations managers who work for drywall and insulation contractors earned a median of $99,220 a year ($47.70 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $105,770 median for general and operations managers in all industries. About 6,150 of the 3,503,020 general and operations managers in that survey work for drywall and insulation contractors.
Salary is paired with a results bonus in this template. At drywall and insulation contractors, BLS's general and operations manager median falls inside the salary range. Paying the bonus on branch margin after warranty visits keeps callbacks in the GM's math.
Drywall and insulation contractors
$99,220$99,220 median Middle half $71,540–$156,540 10th–90th $41,530–$214,420
All industries
$105,770$105,770 median Middle half $72,320–$167,280 10th–90th $50,090–$253,390
$0k$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
Drywall and insulation contractors
$41,530
$71,540
$99,220
$156,540
$214,420
All industries
$50,090
$72,320
$105,770
$167,280
$253,390
BLS reports drywall and insulation contractors together. 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 a drywall or interior finishes branch with its own builders and crews
Knows what a patch, a texture match and a whole house each take in labor
Tells a finishing defect from truss movement or framing shrinkage
Keeps a builder's trust through a missed date or a warranty dispute
Spots the builder or house plan that is losing the branch money
Teach these on the job
Your license classes and renewal dates
Each builder's warranty request process
How your estimators price a house plan
Your prices for patches and texture matching
How the COO wants callbacks logged
Each builder's price sheet by house plan and the warranty request log are the documents a drywall GM touches most, next to the branch profit and loss. Tell candidates how many builders, project managers and crews the branch has today.
Drywall and plaster general 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 · Revenue per hour
Revenue per labor hour dropped across crews this quarter. What do you do?
A strong answer: Breaks it down into travel, waiting on other trades, rework and pricing by crew and job type, and fixes the biggest cause.
Behavioral · Running by metrics
Tell me about a metric you started tracking, such as revenue per labor hour or callbacks by builder, that changed a decision.
A strong answer: Names the metric, what it showed, and the decision it changed.
Agree on how warranty visits and drive time are counted before setting targets. Both can swing the hourly revenue and callback numbers more than crew skill does.
Revenue per hour
Branch revenue for the month divided by every paid field hour, including drive time, stocking and warranty visits, so unbilled hours show up in the number.
Callback percentage
Warranty and repair visits made this month against houses and units turned over in the past year, sorted by cause: hanging, finishing, truss movement or damage by other trades.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
For builders, whatever ratings their warranty teams or superintendents give your crews. For homeowners, review ratings. Complaints that reach the GM's phone are a check on both.
Gross margin on projects
Margin on every closed job after board, compound, crew labor and warranty visits, compared across builders and communities to find the house plans that lose money.
Career path
Project managerHandles takeoffs, board orders and change orders for a set of builder jobs.
Production managerLearns what each crew day costs across a branch's jobs.
General managerAnswers for a branch's licenses, warranty work and margin.
Enough to price it and not overpromise. Plaster and veneer bids cross the GM's desk, so they should know when old lath plaster gets repaired and when it gets covered, and what a patch can and can't match. The lead plasterer judges the method on site. Whether the branch has the crew and the calendar for it is the GM's call.
How much does a drywall and plaster general manager make?
General and operations managers who work for drywall and insulation contractors earned a median of $99,220 a year ($47.70 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $71,540 and $156,540 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should a drywall GM report to the COO each month?
Revenue per field hour for each kind of work, and margin by builder and community. Open warranty requests and how old they are. Builder bills past due, and next quarter's backlog against the crews you have. Add a line on each builder: new communities coming, phases slowing down, or a new superintendent who may run jobs differently.
What hiring exercise tests a drywall GM?
Give finalists a builder's warranty list from one of your communities, with buyer names blacked out. Ask them to sort it: which items are hanging or finishing, which come from truss movement, paint or framing, and which belong to the builder. A strong GM asks to see the house before deciding the close calls.
The template says site visits may mean long stretches standing, walking or climbing. How should that read in an ad?
Describe the visits as they happen. Think of a punch walk through a community with a builder's superintendent, or a ladder climb to see a ceiling crack in a buyer's living room. Now and then the GM carries in a box of patch supplies, within the template's 25-pound limit. Write about the work rather than the worker, and close with an offer of reasonable accommodation.
