Industries · Construction
Construction recruiters who know the field
We recruit CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and the operations leaders who run the work. It's retained executive search, done by people who know how a contractor makes and loses money.
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.
- 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.Chief Executive searchesCOOChief Operating OfficerMakes the machine run; the difference between scaling with discipline and scaling into chaos.Chief Operating Officer searchesCFOChief Financial OfficerSpeaks construction finance fluently, job costing, bonding capacity, WIP schedules, multi-year cash flow.Chief Financial Officer searchesVPVP of OperationsThe bridge between the executive suite and the field across multiple projects and geographies.VP of Operations searchesPresPresidentThe 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.Project Manager searches
Verticals
The verticals we serve
Construction is many industries 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.
Commercial construction
Commercial construction recruiters
A commercial GC's margin gets set by the people between the bid and the closeout. Your precon leader decides which work you chase and what you price it at. Your project executives keep the owner's trust when a schedule slips.
We recruit for those seats, plus the president and COO above them.
And we vet for capability and character. Can they read a GMP contract and manage subs without burning them? Will the field follow them when a job goes bad?
Project leadership
Construction project manager recruiters
A strong project manager protects the margin on every job they run. A weak one can give it away before it shows up on the WIP report.
Superintendents and estimators carry the same weight, so we recruit for all three with the process we use for executives. That means a Bullseye Meeting to define the role before we go to market, then direct outreach to people who aren't job hunting.
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 decides whether a leader builds your company or 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.
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.