Framing & carpentry field supervisor job description
A framing field supervisor drives between lots all day, checking that each crew's walls, floors and roofs match the plans and your standard. They catch misses before the frame walk, keep crews supplied and working safely, and tell the project manager where every house stands.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, structure and exterior contractors · BLS, May 2025
The Field Supervisor leads and oversees framing and carpentry operations across job sites, ensuring high-quality workmanship while effectively managing teams and solving on-site challenges.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Monitor carpenters and other site workers to ensure adherence to project specifications and company standards.
Proactively resolve job-site challenges to prevent delays and maintain safety standards.
Conduct regular quality inspections to confirm the integrity of framing and carpentry work.
Communicate daily with project managers and crews to coordinate tasks and maintain schedules.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review work plans and assign tasks to carpentry teams at each job site.
Perform routine site inspections and document progress against project timelines.
Address any quality issues or material shortages promptly by liaising with suppliers and project leads.
Ensure job sites are compliant with safety regulations, conducting briefings as needed.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Job Completion Rate: Achieve a 95% on-time project completion target.
Quality Control Score: Maintain a defect rate of less than 3% per project.
Safety Compliance: Attain a safety incident rate of less than 1% per quarter.
Team Productivity: Ensure a daily labor utilization rate of 90% or higher.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent technical training in construction management or a related field.
Minimum of 3 years of experience in construction supervisory roles, preferably in framing or carpentry.
Strong communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Proficiency in reading blueprints and understanding construction processes.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience supervising framing, carpentry, or similar home services projects.
Familiarity with industry safety standards and construction best practices.
Experience with project management software and digital job site tracking tools.
Background in workforce training and development in a construction setting.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 50 pounds and stand or walk for extended periods.
Work in varying environmental conditions including outdoor weather extremes.
Capacity to navigate uneven terrain and confined spaces on job sites.
Endurance to perform physically demanding tasks throughout the workday.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Regular weekdays from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM with occasional extended hours as needed.
Frequent travel between multiple job sites within the assigned region.
Participation in occasional weekend meetings or on-call duties during peak project periods.
Dynamic work environment requiring adaptability to diverse job site conditions.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly rate range of $25 - $35 per hour or competitive salary starting at $55,000 annually.
Eligibility for performance-based bonuses.
Comprehensive Health, Dental, and Vision insurance packages.
401(k) plan with company match and other fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we foster a collaborative environment where excellence, growth, and innovation are at the forefront. We are committed to cultivating talent and empowering our teams to achieve professional success while delivering top-tier service to our customers. Our culture embraces respect, inclusive teamwork, and a strong dedication to quality workmanship.
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].
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Supervising crews means checking work and clearing problems in any trade. In framing, the work gets covered within days, new floors are full of openings, and crews hop from lot to lot.
Floor openings get covers that stay put
Stair openings and chases appear as soon as the subfloor goes down, and skylight holes once the roof is sheathed. OSHA says a cover over a hole must hold at least twice the load that could be placed on it, be fastened down against wind, equipment and foot traffic, and be labeled with the word COVER or HOLE or color coded. Check every opening on every visit, because other trades lift covers and walk away. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.502, fall protection systems criteria and practices.
Low openings upstairs get a rail
Framers create the openings people fall through: a second-floor patio door, a low window on an upper floor, a gap left for a future balcony. Under OSHA, if the outside bottom of an opening sits 6 or more feet over the floor or ground beneath it and its inside sill is less than 39 inches off the floor, anyone working near it must be protected by guardrails, a net or personal fall arrest. Rail it before the crew moves on. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.501, duty to have fall protection.
Hardware and headers get checked while they're bare
Once sheathing, insulation or drywall goes on, a missed strap or an undersized header is costly to reach. Walk each house with the structural sheets in hand: hold-downs where the sheets put them, header and beam sizes, shear wall nailing at panel edges, and blocking for cabinets, rails and tubs. Mark what you find on the lot so the lead fixes it before the crew moves on.
Fast crews still need a straightedge
When a crew is paid by the house or the square foot, speed pays them and rework costs them. Check walls for plumb and straight, joists for crown direction, and sheathing for nail spacing while the crew is still on the lot. A fix then takes minutes instead of a return trip after the builder's walk.
Plan the route around what gets covered next
A supervisor in a subdivision sees houses at every stage on one drive. Visit first the ones about to be closed up: roof sheathing going on, insulation starting, or a frame walk booked for tomorrow. A house where walls are still going up can wait an hour. One about to be wrapped can't.
How much framing & carpentry field supervisors make
The closest BLS group for framing & carpentry field supervisors is First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers. First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors earned a median of $36.30 an hour ($75,500 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $79,920 median for First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in all industries. About 80,600 of the 812,210 First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers in that survey work for structure and exterior contractors.
Decide whether this role is hourly with overtime or salaried. Tie any bonus to inspection results and on-time frames, rather than to how few injuries get logged, since that can make crews hide them. The template's hourly range tops out a little below the BLS median for supervisors at structure contractors, so check your local market before you post.
Structure and exterior contractors
$75,500$75,500 median Middle half $60,990–$93,270 10th–90th $50,310–$116,070
All industries
$79,920$79,920 median Middle half $63,400–$101,460 10th–90th $53,280–$128,260
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Structure and exterior contractors
$50,310
$60,990
$75,500
$93,270
$116,070
All industries
$53,280
$63,400
$79,920
$101,460
$128,260
BLS doesn’t publish pay for framing contractors on their own. These figures cover foundation, structure and building exterior contractors, 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
Reads framing plans and structural sheets without help
Spots a bowed wall or an undersized header on a walk-through
Tells a lead about a mistake plainly and gets it fixed that day
Knows OSHA's hole cover, wall opening and fall protection rules for framing
Keeps short, dated notes on every house
Teach these on the job
Your company's check sheets and daily log
Your project management or field app
Each builder's walk habits and site rules
Truss and wall panel set plans for crane days
Calling short material in through your yard accounts
A framing field supervisor works from a truck and a phone or tablet: plan sets in a PDF viewer, a field app such as Buildertrend or Procore for daily logs, and each builder's scheduling portal. On the lot it's a tape, a framing square, a laser and a moisture meter.
Framing & carpentry field supervisor 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 · Field changes
The builder's superintendent tells your crew to move a wall a few inches off plan. What do you do?
A strong answer: Gets the change signed, checks whether it affects anything structural, tells the project manager, and then moves it.
Behavioral · Fall protection
Tell me about a time a crew member wasn't using fall protection. What did you do?
A strong answer: Stopped the work right away, explained why, and followed up with discipline if it happened again.
Start from the template's targets, then replace them with numbers drawn from last season's walks, inspections and crew logs. Look them over with the supervisor once a month.
Job Completion Rate
Count the houses whose frame was ready for the builder's walk or inspection on the scheduled day, out of every house the supervisor covered that month. Use the builder's date, not your own.
Quality Control Score
Log each item a builder's walk, an inspector or another trade flags on a frame this supervisor covered, then divide by houses framed. Sort the items by type so repeat misses stand out.
Safety Compliance
Count each quarter's injuries and near misses across the lots this supervisor covers, plus missing hole covers or unguarded openings the production manager finds on spot visits.
Team Productivity
Compare paid crew hours with hours actually spent framing, so time lost to late lumber, late trusses or an unready lot shows up. Match time cards against the daily log.
When does a framing company need its first field supervisor?
Usually once nobody in the office can get to every frame before it's covered. If builders keep finding misses on their walks, or leads call the office all day with plan questions, a person who visits each lot daily earns the cost. Start with one supervisor covering crews that work near each other, so the drive doesn't eat the day.
How much does a framing & carpentry field supervisor make?
First-Line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers who work for foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors earned a median of $36.30 an hour ($75,500 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $60,990 and $93,270 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What goes in a framing field supervisor's daily log?
One line per house: lot and plan, the stage it reached, the crew and head count, any material short or damaged, the hole covers and opening rails checked, and what the next trade needs. Add anything the superintendent asked for, with the time. A plain log like this settles arguments with builders and shows which crews need help.
Can a framing crew swap in a different beam or header when the right one is late?
Not on its own. A header or beam on the structural sheets was sized by the designer or engineer, and a swap can fail inspection or worse. The supervisor calls the yard for the exact item, tells the project manager, and has the crew frame around the opening or move to another wall until it arrives. Any approved change should come back in writing.
Does a framing field supervisor need the bachelor's degree the template lists?
The template also accepts equal technical training, and most framing supervisors come up by running a crew. Weigh plan reading, past inspection results and how their crews' houses looked. A construction management degree helps with schedules and reports, but it doesn't replace years of squaring and plumbing walls. If you keep the degree line, say what you'll accept in its place.
Which parts of a framing field supervisor's day match the template's physical lines?
Walking muddy lots and stepping over plates on open floor decks. Climbing ladders and stairs to check top plates, trusses and roof sheathing, tied off where your plan calls for it. Carrying a box of hangers, a few studs or a nail gun to a crew that's short. Working outside in sun, wind, rain or cold, and crawling into attics or crawl spaces to look at blocking and hold-downs. List them in the posting, along with how applicants can ask for an accommodation.
