A fireplace and stove HR manager hires and keeps installers, service techs, showroom staff and the office team for a business that peaks every fall. They time seasonal hiring and benefits and plan time off around the rush. They also keep training records by fuel and brand, and handle hiring paperwork and staff issues.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building equipment contractors · BLS, May 2025
Responsible for overseeing all HR functions within the Fireplace & Stove Installation division, ensuring efficient recruiting, effective onboarding, positive employee relations, and strict compliance with labor regulations.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Manage the entire recruitment cycle from job posting to candidate selection and onboarding.
Develop and maintain an effective onboarding program to ensure new hires are quickly integrated and supported.
Monitor and ensure compliance with labor laws and industry regulations.
Address and resolve employee relations issues to maintain a harmonious work environment.
Collaborate with management and operations to foster employee engagement and retention.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review job applications, conduct interviews, and evaluate candidate fit for specialized roles.
Coordinate and facilitate onboarding sessions and new-hire training programs.
Provide ongoing support and guidance for employee queries and conflict resolution.
Monitor daily HR operations to ensure compliance with internal policies and legal requirements.
Update and maintain employee records and HR databases accurately.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Recruitment cycle time: Less than 30 days per hire.
Employee turnover rate: Below 10% annually.
New hire onboarding satisfaction: Exceeding 90% positive feedback.
Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
Minimum 3-5 years of HR experience within a service-oriented industry.
Strong understanding of labor laws, HR best practices, and compliance regulations.
Excellent interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Direct experience in the home services industry, preferably within Fireplace & Stove Installation.
A proven track record in recruitment and onboarding in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrated expertise in managing employee relations and conflict resolution.
Proficiency with HR management software and digital recruitment platforms.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 25 lbs occasionally.
Extended periods of sitting and using a computer.
Occasional visits to installation sites requiring moderate physical activity.
Capability to work in environments with variable temperatures.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Occasional overtime may be required during peak hiring seasons.
Minimal travel required between corporate offices and installation sites.
Flexible work schedule available based on departmental needs.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary Range: $65,000 - $85,000 per year.
Performance-based bonus opportunities available.
Comprehensive benefits package including Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
401(k) retirement plan along with other fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We cultivate a collaborative environment that values each individual’s contribution and teamwork.
Our company emphasizes continuous learning, professional growth, and career advancement.
We are committed to diversity, inclusion, and innovation, empowering every employee.
We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer service and quality craftsmanship in installation.
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 hearth company staffs up for a few busy months and runs lean the rest of the year. That puts benefits timing, sick time, training trips and vacation rules on HR's desk long before the first cold night.
Fall hires and the health plan
For a company big enough to be covered by the ACA employer mandate, the IRS look-back method has special rules for new seasonal employees. The IRS defines them as people hired into a job that usually lasts six months or less and starts about the same time each year. A fall installer hired every September may fit; one kept on all year may not. Pick the method with your benefits broker before fall hiring starts. Decide then which fall jobs count as seasonal. Source: IRS: Questions and answers on the employer shared responsibility provisions (seasonal employees, Q27).
Seasonal hires and sick time
State sick leave laws can treat short jobs differently. Take Vermont's earned sick time law. It doesn't cover someone employed 20 weeks or fewer in a 12-month period in a job scheduled to last 20 weeks or fewer. It also leaves out someone who averages under 18 hours a week. So a fall helper hired for September through December may fall outside it. Keep that person on into spring, and the exclusion can end. Track each seasonal hire's weeks against your own state's rule. Source: Vermont statutes, 21 V.S.A. § 481: Earned sick time definitions.
Factory classes mean travel time
A maker's installer class at its plant or training center can mean a night away. Say a tech who works 7 to 3:30 flies out at noon on a Sunday. Federal rules treat noon to 3:30 as work time, because a trip that keeps someone away overnight is work whenever it overlaps their usual hours, day off or not. Time in the air after 3:30 isn't counted, as a Labor Department enforcement policy. A tech you send to drive the company truck is working while driving, meal breaks aside. Source: 29 CFR 785.39: Travel away from home community (eCFR).
Plan fall time off in the spring
If most of your installs land between the first cold weeks and the holidays, put those weeks in the handbook as limited time off for installers, service techs and showroom staff. Put it in each offer letter too, and steer vacations to spring and summer. Apply the rule the same way to everyone, and handle leave the law protects, such as medical or military leave, apart from the vacation rule.
How much fireplace and stove HR managers make
The closest BLS group for fireplace and stove HR managers is human resources managers. Human resources managers who work for building equipment contractors earned a median of $133,780 a year ($64.32 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 920 of the 220,660 human resources managers in that survey work for building equipment contractors.
Salaried, with a performance bonus. The template's salary range sits well below the BLS figures for HR managers at building equipment contractors, so at that pay expect an HR generalist growing into the role. Part of the bonus can ride on how many of last fall's installers come back.
Building equipment contractors
$133,780$133,780 median Middle half $105,930–$166,430 10th–90th $86,180–$209,100
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 equipment contractors
$86,180
$105,930
$133,780
$166,430
$209,100
All industries
$88,200
$111,110
$149,280
$199,290
$267,810
BLS counts too few human resources managers at other building equipment contractors for a steady figure, so these figures cover building equipment 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 hired seasonal staff for a business with one main busy season
Knows how benefits and sick leave rules apply to seasonal and part-time hires
Writes clear travel, time-off and training pay policies
Helps showroom and install managers write up problems the same way every time
Keeps I-9s and personnel files clean through a fall hiring rush
Teach these on the job
Each maker's training calendar and class locations
NFI certification and the gas license rules where you work
Your HR, payroll and benefits systems
The fall staffing plan from the operations manager
The jobs in a hearth company, from showroom to service van
HR needs a payroll and HR system that tracks hours by job and pay type, an applicant tracking system that gets busy each summer, and a training record for each employee showing fuels, brands and certifications. Pair those with a time-off calendar the operations manager can read.
Fireplace and stove 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 · Responding to a lifting injury
An installer hurts their back carrying a stove. What does HR do?
A strong answer: Makes sure they get care, reports to the workers' comp carrier, records it on the OSHA log if required, looks for causes like missing lifting equipment without blame, plans return to work within medical restrictions, and allows no retaliation.
Tell me about a time an installer said their crew lead was treating them unfairly, such as in overtime or job assignments during the fall rush. How did you reach a fair decision?
A strong answer: Met promptly, protected them from retaliation, checked schedules and overtime records, interviewed the lead and crew, documented, decided on the evidence and applied the same standard as for anyone else.
Set each target from last year's files, then split every one by role family: installers, service techs, showroom and office. A fall that fills the showroom fast and the crews slowly needs both numbers to show.
Recruitment cycle time
Count days from the day operations asks for a hire to that person's first shift, by role. For fall openings, also note whether the person started before the date operations set, since an installer who arrives in November misses part of the rush.
Employee turnover rate
For year-round staff, count quits and dismissals by role and by month. For fall hires, report the return rate instead: of those you asked back, how many came. Read installers and service techs first, since they take longest to train.
New hire onboarding satisfaction
Survey each new hire twice, after the first week and after the first busy month, with one question per promise in the offer: training, tools, hours and pay plan. A low score names the promise that slipped.
HR compliance audit results
Each quarter, test a sample of employee files on the items that trip up a seasonal business: I-9s, sick time accruals, paid travel hours and benefits offers. Any file that fails gets a fix date.
Career path
Payroll and benefits specialistRuns payroll, benefits enrollment and new-hire forms.
HR managerTimes seasonal hiring and benefits, and writes time-off and travel rules.
HR directorSets hiring, pay and benefits plans as the company adds showrooms.
Other roles in a fireplace & stove installation business
Can a hearth company hire high school students for the summer?
Yes, for showroom, office and yard work, within federal and state limits. Don't put a teen of 16 or 17 on the forklift that moves pellet pallets, or have them help with its lifts; a federal hazardous occupations order covers both. Keep them off install jobs that cap a chimney or flash a vent pipe, too, since another order covers jobs on a roof or close to one, with a narrow exception for qualifying apprentices and student-learners. Rules for 14- and 15-year-olds are tighter. Your state may add more.
How much does a fireplace and stove HR manager make?
Human resources managers who work for building equipment contractors earned a median of $133,780 a year ($64.32 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $105,930 and $166,430 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Who decides an installer can work alone on a new unit type?
The lead installer, after watching them do it. HR files that sign-off with the factory class, any NFI certification and any gas license, each with its date. The operations manager's skills grid adds a name only once the file shows it, so the grid and the files never disagree. When a sign-off or license lapses, HR tells operations the same day.
Can long fall weeks be evened out against short summer weeks?
Not for overtime. Under federal law, nonexempt staff such as hourly installers and techs get overtime at time and a half or more for each hour past 40 in a workweek, and the Labor Department's overtime fact sheet says hours can't be averaged over two or more weeks. A 52-hour week in November owes 12 overtime hours, however short the July weeks were. Build fall overtime into the budget with the CFO, and check your state's rules, which can add more.
Why does an HR job list lifting and temperature changes?
Because hearth HR spends time outside the office. Lifting within the template's 25-pound limit might mean a carton of new-hire binders or a case of work gloves for the warehouse. Temperature changes come with crew visits: a frosty driveway where a crew is unloading a stove, or a summer service day in a hot garage. Put those visits in the posting, and talk through any accommodation a candidate asks for.
