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Industries · Construction

Executive search for construction

CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and operations leaders who build what lasts. We know the field, the margins, and the pressure, and the leaders who thrive in it.

The unfinished concrete core of a building under construction, shoring posts and a hanging work light

The challenge

You need a leader who knows construction. So does your search firm.

Hiring an executive for a construction company isn't the same as hiring for a software company or a bank. The leadership profile, the pace, and the way trust gets built on a jobsite and carried into a boardroom are all different, and if the search firm across from you doesn't understand that, you'll know it in the first five minutes. We're not a generalist firm that also does construction. This is what we do.

  • Operators who understand field, finance, and risk in one seat
  • Leaders who scale without losing the culture that built the firm
  • Successors ready before the founder is ready to step back

Roles we place

The seats that decide the company

CEOChief ExecutiveSets the vision and carries the company's reputation, often someone who came up through the field and leads from the front.
COOChief Operating OfficerMakes the machine run; the difference between scaling with discipline and scaling into chaos.
CFOChief Financial OfficerSpeaks construction finance fluently, job costing, bonding capacity, WIP schedules, multi-year cash flow.
VPVP of OperationsThe bridge between the executive suite and the field across multiple projects and geographies.
PresPresidentThe operational leader as a founder transitions to a chairman or board role, a generational-shift hire.
PEProject ExecutiveOversees a portfolio or major program; manages up, manages down, and manages risk at once.
EstChief EstimatorLeads preconstruction, winning the work before it starts through accurate estimating, bid strategy, and early client relationships.
PMProject ManagerRuns the job day to day, owning budget, schedule, subcontractors, and client communication from preconstruction through closeout.

Verticals

The verticals we serve

Construction isn't one industry, it's many operating under one name. The leadership profile for a $200M commercial GC is fundamentally different from a $75M specialty subcontractor. We know the differences because we work inside them.

  • Commercial general contractors, offices, hospitals, schools, retail, and mixed-use, with complex stakeholders and margin discipline across a diverse portfolio.
  • Specialty subcontractors, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, and steel firms with deep technical expertise and thinning leadership benches.
  • Industrial construction, manufacturing facilities, process plants, and energy infrastructure with large capital projects and strict safety environments.
  • Institutional construction, healthcare, higher education, and government work that demands patience with procurement and long approval cycles.
A commercial construction site: steel frame over a poured deck, rebar and forms stacked on muddy ground

Why it matters

Why construction-specific search matters

You can tell in 30 seconds whether someone understands construction. A firm that doesn't know a GC from a CM-at-risk, or a lump-sum bid from a GMP contract, will waste your time sending candidates who look right on paper and fall apart in the first interview.

We understand the hiring triggers, the VP who just left and the project that's behind, the founder doing the work of three people, the PE firm that needs leadership installed in 90 days. And we evaluate every candidate for cultural fit, because in construction culture isn't a soft skill. It's the difference between a leader who builds your company and one who fractures it.

How it works

A search built to stick

Most placements fail in the first 90 days. Our process is designed to prevent that.

STEP 01

The Bullseye Meeting

Every stakeholder in the room, role, comp, success criteria, cultural profile, and decision authority defined before we go to market.

STEP 02

Mapped search

We approach proven leaders directly, including the ones who aren't looking, not a job-board cast.

STEP 03

Mutual-fit assessment

Capability, character, and cultural fit vetted in person, on both sides of the table.

STEP 04

Onboard & follow through

We stay involved through the first 90 days to make the placement land.

FireSeeds made our COO search a seamless and enjoyable experience. They're able to cast a broad net to find candidates who really fit our culture and goals, and were able to find us the needle in the haystack we were looking for.
Dunigan Bros., Inc.
COO search

Ready to find your next builder?

Tell us about the seat you need to fill. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team to fill it.