General contractor operations manager job description
A general contractor's operations manager runs the field on every open job. They own the master schedule, inspections, subs, suppliers, gear and site safety. Each day they check that every remodel, addition or new home has the right people, materials and protection, and they report to the general manager.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, residential builders and remodelers · BLS, May 2025
The Operations Manager will lead and streamline all operational workflows to ensure efficient resource allocation and timely project completion. This role serves as a key liaison between the field teams and upper management, ensuring high-quality standards and operational excellence in all general contracting projects. The position is integral to driving process improvements and maintaining robust communication channels across various departments.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Develop and implement operational strategies that align with the company’s goals.
Oversee general contracting projects ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Coordinate and schedule teams, subcontractors, and vendors to maximize operational efficiency.
Monitor project progress, budgets, and timelines to ensure successful project completion.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review and adjust daily schedules and resource allocation to optimize productivity.
Conduct on-site inspections and quality control checks on ongoing projects.
Collaborate with team leads for resource planning and addressing any project issues.
Communicate with clients and vendors to ensure seamless service delivery and operational clarity.
Budget Variance: Maintain less than 5% variance on project budgets.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: Achieve >4.8 stars across projects.
Resource Utilization Rate: Ensure an efficiency rate of 90% or higher for allocated resources.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
5+ years of relevant experience in operations management within the home services or construction industry.
Strong leadership and team management skills.
Proficiency in project management software and Microsoft Office Suite.
Excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Detail-oriented with a strong focus on quality control.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience as a General Contractor or in a related role within the home services industry.
Familiarity with industry-specific software and tools.
Proven track record in driving operational efficiencies and cost reductions.
Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously with successful outcomes.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to spend extended periods on job sites with variable weather conditions.
Capacity to lift up to 25 pounds as needed.
Occasional travel to job sites and client meetings.
Stand or walk for long periods during on-site inspections and quality assessments.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Occasional evening or weekend work to meet project deadlines.
Moderate travel required between job sites and company headquarters.
Fast-paced and dynamic work environment with an emphasis on safety and quality.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $70,000 - $90,000 USD per year, commensurate with experience.
Performance-based bonuses available.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance benefits.
401(k) plan with company match.
Additional fringe benefits including paid time off and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and growth-oriented environment.
Our culture emphasizes continuous improvement, learning, and innovation.
Employees are encouraged to take ownership and contribute to the company's long-term success.
We invest in our team through comprehensive training programs, career advancement opportunities, and a commitment to work-life balance.
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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What the operations manager watches on a general contractor's sites
A general contractor may have a dozen jobs open in a dozen towns. The operations manager keeps each site safe, inspected, supplied and moving, whoever's crew is on it that day.
A fall protection plan means more paperwork, not less
When framers on a second-story addition can't use guardrails, safety nets or harnesses, OSHA allows a written fall protection plan on residential work, but only after the builder shows the usual systems are infeasible or more dangerous. The plan must be site-specific and prepared by a qualified person. It lists each spot without regular protection as a controlled access zone and names who may enter. After a fall or near miss, the plan gets reviewed. The operations manager settles each job's method before walls go up. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.502(k), fall protection plans.
Slab cutting with other trades in the house
A basement bath or a new kitchen drain often has a plumber sawing or breaking the slab while your carpenters work nearby. OSHA's silica rule lists dust controls for each of those tools. Each employer's written plan must also say how it limits who is in the area, counting dust raised by another company's crew. The operations manager books slab work for days your crew is elsewhere in the house, or keeps the two apart with plastic and a closed door. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.1153, respirable crystalline silica in construction (Table 1).
One calendar for every inspection
A new home or addition can need footing, foundation, framing, rough trade, insulation and final inspections. Each town books them its own way. The operations manager keeps every open job's next inspection on one calendar. Nothing gets covered before it passes, and when a rough inspection fails, the drywall sub moves that same day.
Small lots, big deliveries
A lumber drop, a roll-off dumpster and a portable toilet all need room on a tight suburban lot or a narrow street, and neighbors notice a blocked driveway. The operations manager plans where each delivery lands and when, so trucks don't arrive before the crew or box the homeowner in. Check each town's rule before a dumpster goes in the road.
How much general contractor operations managers make
The closest BLS group for general contractor operations managers is general and operations managers. General and operations managers who work for residential builders and remodelers earned a median of $105,010 a year ($50.48 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $105,770 median for general and operations managers in all industries. About 40,030 of the 3,503,020 general and operations managers in that survey work for residential builders and remodelers.
Per the template, the role is salaried with performance bonuses. Field measures the operations manager controls, such as budget variance, schedule and how often inspections pass the first time, make a fairer bonus base than total revenue.
Residential builders and remodelers
$105,010$105,010 median Middle half $72,790–$156,380 10th–90th $52,000–$210,110
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
Residential builders and remodelers
$52,000
$72,790
$105,010
$156,380
$210,110
All industries
$50,090
$72,320
$105,770
$167,280
$253,390
BLS doesn’t publish pay for general contractors on their own. These figures cover residential building construction, 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 managed crews and subs across many sites for a residential remodeler or builder
Has sorted out the order of trades on additions and new homes from footings to final
Knows OSHA's residential fall protection and silica rules as they work on a real site
Keeps subs and suppliers on time without burning the relationship
Walks a site and sees what's missing in a few minutes
Teach these on the job
Your subcontractors and suppliers
How each town books inspections
Your project management app and schedule board
Your safety program and training records
Your equipment, trailers and yard
A schedule board in the project management app, supplier portals for orders and delivery times, and the inspection calendar. The safety kit the operations manager answers for includes guardrail systems, harnesses and roof anchors, plus wet saws and dust-collecting tools with HEPA vacuums for concrete and tile work.
General contractor operations 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 · Fixing idle time from selections and materials
Three remodels are over budget because crews keep waiting on late client selections and missing materials. What do you do?
A strong answer: Confirms the pattern with PMs, sets selection deadlines tied to the schedule, orders long-lead items before start, adds a material check before each phase, applies the contract's delay terms fairly and tracks idle crew hours.
Behavioral · Sales-to-production handoff
Tell me about a time you changed how projects were handed from sales to production. What improved?
A strong answer: Added a handoff meeting or checklist covering scope, allowances, selections and client expectations, and shows fewer surprises or change disputes.
Track the first two each week and the last two each month. Replace the template's goals with ones drawn from how your crews and subs actually did this past year.
Project Completion Rate
Phases done by their schedule date across every open job, such as framing, rough inspections and drywall, so a slipping job shows up weeks before its finish date.
Budget Variance
Field costs to date on each open job, split into labor, subs and materials, against the budget for the work completed, reviewed weekly with each project manager.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Homeowner scores on how the site was run: start times, daily cleanup, notice of schedule changes and how fast punch items closed.
Resource Utilization Rate
Each week, compare crew days booked on jobs with crew days on payroll, and do the same for the company's lifts, trailers and dumpsters, so idle people and gear show up early.
Career path
Lead carpenterRuns one site and learns how the trades fit together.
Field supervisorCovers several sites and their leads, crews and subs.
Operations managerRuns the whole field: schedule, inspections, subs, suppliers and safety.
General managerTakes on sales, estimating and the office as well as the field.
Does a builder need a production manager as well as an operations manager?
Not at first; at many smaller builders one person covers both. When crews, subs and open jobs outgrow one calendar, split the work. The production manager decides which crew and lead carpenter go to which job each week. The operations manager sets the master schedule around that: sub and supplier commitments across jobs, inspection dates, equipment and site safety. Project managers and leads fill in each job's daily sub dates. When two jobs collide, the operations manager decides.
How much does a general contractor operations manager make?
General and operations managers who work for residential builders and remodelers earned a median of $105,010 a year ($50.48 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $72,790 and $156,380 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should an operations manager do when a sub doesn't show?
Call the sub within the hour and get a real date, not a promise. Move your own crew to other work on that job or another one. Tell the project manager that morning, so the homeowner gets the news from the company first. Keep a second sub for each trade you rely on, and log every no-show so the pattern is clear when it's time to drop someone.
Does fall training from a new hire's last builder count?
It can, if someone checks it. OSHA lets an employer rely on training another employer gave, but the written record then shows the date you judged it adequate, not the date of the class. Ask what gear the new hire trained on. If your crews use roof anchors and harnesses and they learned on guardrails, train them on yours. OSHA also requires retraining when changes on the site or in the equipment leave someone's training behind, or when their work shows it didn't stick.
What do the template's site time and lifting lines mean for an operations manager?
Most days include a few site visits. That can mean walking a framed second floor, checking a basement before the slab is poured, or looking at the guardrails at a roof edge. The manager carries a level, a camera or a box of fittings, up to 25 pounds. The weather is whatever the day brings. Describe these tasks in your ad. Say you're open to talking about reasonable accommodation.
