Residential development tradesperson job description
A residential development tradesperson frames and finishes the houses and townhomes a developer builds to sell, and takes on plumbing and electrical tasks only where the company's licenses allow. They move between phases of a community, keep its stormwater controls intact, and have model homes and buyers' units ready on the dates sales promised.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, residential builders and remodelers · BLS, May 2025
Responsible for performing advanced trade tasks including framing, electrical, and plumbing under direction to support high-quality residential construction projects. Contributes to timely project completions while ensuring adherence to safety and quality standards. Serves as a key support member in a dynamic team setting, enhancing project efficiency and customer satisfaction.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Execute framing, electrical, and plumbing tasks following project specifications and safety guidelines.
Collaborate with team members and supervisor to coordinate and complete assigned job segments.
Assist in the setup and maintenance of job sites ensuring all tools and materials are prepared for daily activities.
Adhere to local building codes and industry standards to maintain quality and compliance.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review project plans and blueprints each morning to understand daily work objectives.
Install, repair, and maintain structural, electrical, and plumbing systems as directed.
Conduct routine inspections to ensure work meets company quality benchmarks and safety regulations.
Communicate progress and potential issues to the supervisor and project management team.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Project Completion Rate: 95% of tasks completed on schedule.
Quality Compliance: Less than 5% rework due to errors or defects.
Safety Incident Rate: 0% reportable incidents per quarter.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: >4.8 stars on post-project surveys.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High school diploma or equivalent with relevant technical certifications.
3+ years of experience in residential construction trades including framing, electrical, and plumbing.
Proficiency in reading blueprints and technical drawings.
Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
Ability to communicate effectively in a team environment.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience working with residential builders and developers on multiple project sites.
Prior training through apprenticeship programs or technical school in construction trades.
Familiarity with local building codes and permitting processes.
A track record of successful project contributions in a fast-paced construction environment.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds consistently.
Capability to perform work in varying weather conditions, including hot, cold, and wet environments.
Frequent requirement to stand, walk, and climb scaffolding and ladders.
Comfortable working in confined spaces and elevated work areas.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
Occasional overtime may be necessary to meet project deadlines.
On-site work with potential travel between different residential project locations.
May be subject to on-call duties during peak project periods or emergencies.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly rate range of $25 - $35 per hour depending on experience and qualifications.
Performance-based bonuses available upon successful project completions.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance benefits.
401(k) plan with company matching options.
Additional fringe benefits such as paid time off and professional development opportunities.
10. Company Culture and Overview
Our company fosters a culture of continual growth, innovation, and teamwork where every employee is valued and supported.
We are committed to excellence in residential construction and pride ourselves on quality, craftsmanship, and exceptional customer service.
Employees enjoy an inclusive environment that encourages professional advancement and actively contributes to community development.
We strive to empower our team to reach new heights in both skill and career opportunities.
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 developer buys raw land, puts in streets and utilities, then builds homes or townhomes to sell, often in phases over several years. The tradesperson works on ground the company controls from the first grading to the last sale.
Stormwater rules can reach every lot
Under the Clean Water Act, construction that disturbs an acre or more needs a stormwater permit. A townhome lot smaller than that can still need one when it belongs to a bigger plan of development or sale that will disturb an acre in all. Every construction permit bars concrete washout water unless a control manages it, and bars stucco, paint and form oil washout outright. On site, the crew rinses tools and chutes only at the marked washout and reports a flattened silt fence. Source: EPA: Stormwater discharges from construction activities.
Holes and stair openings in stacked units
Townhome floors leave stair openings and chase holes on every level. Where someone could fall more than 6 feet through a hole, OSHA requires covers, guardrails or personal fall arrest. Any hole a worker could trip or step into needs a cover. A cover must hold twice the weight of the people, tools and material that could be on it at once. It is secured so wind, equipment or a boot can't shift it, and color coded or marked "HOLE" or "COVER". Source: OSHA: Fall protection systems criteria and practices (29 CFR 1926.502).
Scaffolds on three-story walls
Siding, trim and window work on taller townhome buildings happens from scaffolds. Once a platform is more than 10 feet up, OSHA requires fall protection for the people on it. A competent person checks the scaffold for defects before every shift and directs every setup, move and teardown. Nobody climbs the cross braces to reach the platform. Use the ladder or stair the setup provides. Source: OSHA: Scaffolds, general requirements (29 CFR 1926.451).
Plumbing depends on the company's license
The template asks for plumbing skills, but state law decides who may do the work. In Minnesota, a worker without a license may do plumbing only after registering with the state. A licensed master or journeyworker plumber must supervise directly, and the worker must be a W-2 employee of a licensed plumbing contractor or another employer type the state allows. A developer without that standing sends plumbing to a licensed sub. Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry: Registered unlicensed plumbers.
Model homes set the standard buyers expect
Sales opens the model homes first, and buyers sign contracts based on what they see there. The models get built ahead of the rest and finished with care, and later units have to match them. Buyers often plan a move and a mortgage rate lock around the closing date, so a late punch list on one unit can upset a family's plans.
How much residential development tradespeople make
The closest BLS group for residential development tradespeople is carpenters. Carpenters who work for residential builders and remodelers earned a median of $29.13 an hour ($60,600 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $60,580 median for carpenters in all industries. About 204,290 of the 670,090 carpenters in that survey work for residential builders and remodelers.
Hourly, with a bonus when projects finish well, as the template sets it. A developer without plumbing or electrical licenses hires those trades out, and the BLS figures cover carpenters. A licensed electrician or plumber on your staff would be counted with that trade instead.
Residential builders and remodelers
$60,600$60,600 median Middle half $48,190–$75,740 10th–90th $40,700–$92,230
All industries
$60,580$60,580 median Middle half $48,510–$76,830 10th–90th $40,410–$99,910
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k$100k$110k
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
$40,700
$48,190
$60,600
$75,740
$92,230
All industries
$40,410
$48,510
$60,580
$76,830
$99,910
BLS reports home builders and remodelers 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
Frames multi-story townhomes from plans, including stairs and the walls between units
Reads site plans and unit plans and keeps track of which phase is which
Sets and fastens hole covers and guardrails without being told
Works safely off scaffolds and extension ladders on tall walls
Holds a plumbing or electrical license or registration, if your state and your company's licenses let the crew do that work
Teach these on the job
Your stormwater plan and where the washouts are
The model home finish standard every unit must match
Your phase schedule and closing calendar
Your scaffold setups, under the competent person in charge
Your punch list and photo app
Nail guns, a saw, a chalk line and a rotary laser handle the framing, with plumbing or electrical tools only where licenses allow that work. Developers usually supply scaffolding, cover stock, fall arrest gear and lifts. The posting should say how many stories your buildings run and whether the hire will work off scaffolds.
Residential development tradesperson 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 mismatches
You're told to frame a window opening, but the window delivered is a different size than the plans show. What do you do?
A strong answer: Stops before cutting, tells the supervisor, checks the order and plans, and waits for direction.
Behavioral · Learning on the job
Tell me about a time you learned a new code requirement or building method on the job.
A strong answer: Explains what it was, how they learned it, and how they've applied it since.
Group these by building or phase rather than by month. A block of three-story townhomes takes longer than a single house, so start from what the crew managed on your last phase.
Project Completion Rate
By building, compare the date each unit's framing or finish work was due on the phase schedule with the day it was done. Pull out units held by site work, utility hookups or weather.
Quality Compliance
Items reworked because of this person's errors or defects, counted per unit from inspection reports and the supervisor's pre-drywall walk. Log plan changes apart.
Safety Incident Rate
Reportable injuries each quarter, read next to near misses and site-walk findings on hole covers and scaffolds. OSHA forbids punishing workers for reporting injuries, so a zero should mean a safe site, not a quiet one.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Buyer survey scores on units this person worked, matched by address. Read the comments about the home's build quality, not the sales process, before you count them.
Career path
Laborer / helperMoves material, keeps silt fence standing and learns to frame.
Residential development tradespersonFrames and finishes homes and townhomes across a community's phases.
Field supervisorRuns the crews and subs on a phase or a building.
Project managerRuns a community's budget, phase dates and closing calendar.
Other roles in a residential builders & developers business
Can our crew tear down an old house on land we bought?
Check the asbestos rules first. EPA's asbestos air rule exempts a lone house with four or fewer units. But EPA says houses torn down as part of a private development are covered, and so are several houses on one site under one owner. Then the rule calls for a thorough inspection and notice to the agency that runs it, often a state agency, before demolition. State and local rules may add more. Ask that agency before the crew picks up a bar.
How much does a residential development tradesperson make?
Carpenters who work for residential builders and remodelers earned a median of $29.13 an hour ($60,600 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $48,190 and $75,740 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What is different about framing townhomes?
Units stack and share walls, so one mistake repeats down the building. Find the detail for the walls between units on the plans and build it exactly as drawn, and have trades ask the field supervisor before they cut through one. Stairs, decks and floor heights must line up across units. Ask candidates how many attached buildings they have framed.
How does the work change from one phase to the next?
Early phases mean models, the first buildings and a lot of open ground. Later phases go up beside families who already live there. Then the crew keeps trucks off finished streets, starts noisy work at a sensible hour and picks up debris that blows into yards. Residents' complaints reach sales, and sales still has homes to sell.
When is a developer's tradesperson on call?
The template mentions on-call duty in busy stretches and emergencies. On a development, that is often a storm that knocks down silt fence or lifts a hole cover, a leak in a finished unit nobody lives in yet, or a model home problem the day before a weekend open house. Tell candidates how often the phone rings after hours and what those hours pay.
What should I ask a framer who has only built single houses?
Ask about working off scaffolds, how they handled stair openings and floor holes, and whether they have framed walls that other crews tie into. Single-house framers usually learn townhomes quickly, but the first building goes better with a lead who has built stacked units before.
