# Project Manager Expectations and Salary- Residential



## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

I wanted to get some varying opinions on what expectations you hold your project managers too and what you pay them. Our company is looking to hiring one on but we struggle with what to pay them because we are not exactly sure how much work we expect them to get done (gross revenue or jobs). The only other PM we have is an owner and as many of you know, owners work way more than you could expect a hired PM too. Its hard to use the owner PMs revenue dollars as a basis to go off of. How many jobs at a time do some of your PM's handle? Are these small jobs or big? W2 or 1099? Once some of you made that plunge to hire a PM did you enjoy exponential profits? Did it cause you to have to expand other parts of your work force? Im interested to see what you guys have to say. Please keep in mind this is residential and not commercial. Going to indeed.com and seeing PM jobs for 90K a year almost always is associated with a large commercial contractors. And if 90K a year is the expectation then Im doing something wrong.


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

GAC2013 said:


> The only other PM we have is an owner and as many of you know, owners work way more than you could expect a hired PM too. Its hard to use the owner PMs revenue dollars as a basis to go off of.


Is the owner data useless?


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Seeing as how we have no idea what your company does, where you are located, or anything else, how can anyone give you valid info?


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

Yes.

The less info you give, the more generic (and therefore less useful to you specifically) our answers will be, and must be.


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

Warren said:


> Seeing as how we have no idea what your company does, where you are located, or anything else, how can anyone give you valid info?


I was looking for information pertaining to residential construction. We are a design build company out of Atlanta. Home additions, custom homes, kitchen and bath renos.


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## Fingersmasher (May 28, 2013)

Hey Rick, just an FYI there aren't too many guys from our area on this site, so you might not get too accurate of an answer. 

Also, the guys are pretty abrasive at first, but they ease up when they figure out your not a diyer. 

And 1099's are frowned upon. 

If it's Shay, for what it's worth, I think it's a great idea :thumbsup:


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

http://www.google.com/search?client...uch+work"+employee+workload&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

A NASA Personnel dept. asked two questions of employees:

Do you have too much work to do? 95% said Yes.

Do you have so much work to do that you can't do a good job? 95% said No.

By my count you have asked five questions. 
There is baseline data for each. 
Some of these base rates can be answered by people here.
At least you can put upper and lower bounds on the problem.


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

GettingBy said:


> http://www.google.com/search?client...uch+work"+employee+workload&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
> 
> A NASA Personnel dept. asked two questions of employees:
> 
> ...


I was just trying to start a dialogue. Was not looking for a report on how to improve my company. Apparently your just trying to be rude. That's the nicest way I can put it.


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## CarpenterSFO (Dec 12, 2012)

How much authority do you expect to grant your new PM? Your expectations need to be appropriate for the authority you grant.

Edit: Meaning, will the PM have hire/fire authority, ability to kick an employee off a site, ability to choose materials and methods? Or are you looking for someone to do just the technical part?


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

Fingersmasher said:


> Also, the guys are pretty abrasive at first, but they ease up when they figure out your not a diyer.


Apparently


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

CarpenterSFO said:


> How much authority do you expect to grant your new PM? Your expectations need to be appropriate for the authority you grant.


As long as the project is getting completed in a professional and timely manner we would be fine. Everyone has there methods. We really would only be strict on quality. We will lose money if it means delivering a quality product.


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## CarpenterSFO (Dec 12, 2012)

Do you expect your PM to swing a hammer?


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

Only for small punch items if they come up. That would never be the plan for any area of work.


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## AllanE (Apr 25, 2010)

A top notch PM with 10-15 (or more) years of experience would be in the $70,000-$90,000 range. The very best are in the $120,000 and up range.


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

AllanE said:


> A top notch PM with 10-15 (or more) years of experience would be in the $70,000-$90,000 range. The very best are in the $120,000 and up range.


Really. Is that residential remodeling, new construction, or both? If that's the case, how many jobs would that individual pm at one time?


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## AllanE (Apr 25, 2010)

GAC2013 said:


> Really. Is that residential remodeling, new construction, or both? If that's the case, how many jobs would that individual pm at one time?


Mostly new construction. I think a good PM could produce $2.5-3 million a year in work, the very best can do $4-5 million.

Allan


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

@2013, forum members learn from each other and I can definitely learn from you.:thumbsup:


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

AllanE said:


> Mostly new construction. I think a good PM could produce $2.5-3 million a year in work, the very best can do $4-5 million.
> 
> Allan


Yeah I could see new construction. Unfortunately remodeling is the worst business of construction to be in.


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## CarpenterSFO (Dec 12, 2012)

GAC2013 said:


> Yeah I could see new construction. Unfortunately remodeling is the worst business of construction to be in.


In your market, perhaps.


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## AllanE (Apr 25, 2010)

I do 95% new construction but have done a fair amount of remodeling over the years. Margins are higher in remodeling than new construction, but new construction is usually higher volume, and of course remodeling is more management intensive, thus job overhead costs higher in remodeling. Good remodelers can do very well.


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

Jaws said:


> Thats commercial though. Resi there is rarely both, at least here.


Yes, you are correct.

I do not recall seeing a PM in residential other than on large tracts.

Generally a Superintendent or Foreman do the duties.


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## MDjim (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm about 2 months into being a PM for my father in laws company. I started as a laborer right out of HS in 06. Worked my way up to lead carpenter, and now to PM. 

46k, take home truck, company card, hire/fire authority, although I'd run it past the boss anyways, it's his company. 

We do mostly insurance restoration, but a good amount of remodels also. Once the job is signed and the scope of work is complete, the file is passed to me. I have to schedule our 5 guys and subs, order any materials, get selections, everything from the beginning to getting the sign off and the checks. I do no field work unless it's something quick or the guys need a hand while I'm there. Right now I have about 15 jobs in various stages of production, ranging from 1k-100k+. The boss or my brother in law who's learning the estimating side will jump in and give me a hand with something when I need it. A lot of times we're starting 2 jobs on the same day, and obviously I can't take 2 crews to both of them. I'm learning a lot, and I have a lot more respect for my father in law. For over 10 years he did it all. And I can't imagine that.


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

GAC2013?

I found part of your post [#8] interesting, and possibly unique. 

Are you up to having a little chat about it? If so, I can block out some time for you. :thumbsup:


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

griz said:


> Yes, you are correct.
> 
> I do not recall seeing a PM in residential other than on large tracts.
> 
> Generally a Superintendent or Foreman do the duties.


When i say PM i mean what i described in my post, which is what i see hired mostly here over what i described as a super, but if you mean a dude in a trailer :no: In residential, especially for a smaller custom company, a good PM should be able to run 5 jobs at a time or bag up and do good work when work is slow, and does not view him/her self above unloading a flat of 1 1/8 to the second story when necessary.


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

Ya dat.

It seems like the trend is on rest work to call a foreman or superintendent a PM and act like he just got a raise, but don't give him any more money.

Just got back from a craning job I was supposed to work on, the super was running thirteen jobs and the subs do what they think they need to do. Of coarse there was no place to set up the crane, so off we went.


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## GAC2013 (May 15, 2015)

MDjim said:


> I'm about 2 months into being a PM for my father in laws company. I started as a laborer right out of HS in 06. Worked my way up to lead carpenter, and now to PM.
> 
> 46k, take home truck, company card, hire/fire authority, although I'd run it past the boss anyways, it's his company.
> 
> We do mostly insurance restoration, but a good amount of remodels also. Once the job is signed and the scope of work is complete, the file is passed to me. I have to schedule our 5 guys and subs, order any materials, get selections, everything from the beginning to getting the sign off and the checks. I do no field work unless it's something quick or the guys need a hand while I'm there. Right now I have about 15 jobs in various stages of production, ranging from 1k-100k+. The boss or my brother in law who's learning the estimating side will jump in and give me a hand with something when I need it. A lot of times we're starting 2 jobs on the same day, and obviously I can't take 2 crews to both of them. I'm learning a lot, and I have a lot more respect for my father in law. For over 10 years he did it all. And I can't imagine that.


That's great stuff thanks. Good luck as you grow in your job. Does your company have it's own crews or do you sub everything out? I'm starting to learn that the small things that I'm have my current PM do are preventing him from handling more work. It's really only punch items that pop up that we don't have a specific person to perform.


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## MDjim (Mar 15, 2011)

GAC2013 said:


> That's great stuff thanks. Good luck as you grow in your job. Does your company have it's own crews or do you sub everything out? I'm starting to learn that the small things that I'm have my current PM do are preventing him from handling more work. It's really only punch items that pop up that we don't have a specific person to perform.



We have 5 field employees. We sub flooring, roofing, big siding jobs, big tile jobs, and have a few subs that we'll turn key entire jobs to. Usually simpler ones, when the client doesn't seem to fussy.


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