When to Hire a Site Manager, Project Manager or Operations Manager

Most owners hire their first manager too late, after a year of 70-hour weeks. Or they hire the wrong one: a project manager when they needed someone on site, or a "general manager" with no clear job. The result is the same. Another salary, and you still get every call.

Here is when to hire a site manager, PM or operations manager. You also get the hiring order and how to hire one who takes work off you. To plan your own first hire, book a free strategy call.

Three roles, three different problems

Small firms often start with a working site lead (a senior trade who also runs the job) before a dedicated site manager. Already have one who isn't coping? See foreman not managing the site properly.

The signs you need a site manager

Tick the ones that are true today:

• You are on site most days, and pricing happens at night.
• The team calls you for decisions every day.
• Snagging and handover only happen properly if you are there.
• If you are off for a week, jobs slow down or stop.
• Quotes go out late because you are busy on site.

Two or more ticks and your next hire is someone who runs the site. Your freed time goes to sales and pricing, not more site visits.

The signs you need a project manager

• You run three or more jobs at once and lose track of who is where.
• Clients phone you directly for updates.
• Subbies turn up on the wrong day.
• Variations get done before they are agreed in writing.
• You only know a job's margin when it is finished.

A project manager owns the routine every job needs: programme, daily reports, Friday client update, signed variations, materials two weeks ahead. See how to manage multiple building projects.

The signs you need an operations manager

• Jobs run without you on site, but every problem still reaches you.
• Your managers bring you questions, not decisions.
• Standards differ from job to job depending on who runs it.
• You spend your week on delivery issues instead of sales, pricing and the numbers.
• You cannot take two weeks off without the phone exploding.

An operations manager is a senior, expensive hire. Many growing contractors start with part-time senior help instead: our fractional COO service is built for contractors typically turning over £1M–£10M.

Hire in the right order

1. Admin or virtual assistant. Takes the office work off you.
2. Site lead or site manager. Takes the site off you.
3. Estimator. Takes the pricing off you; you check the big quotes.
4. Project manager. Takes the running of several jobs off you.
5. Sales. Grows the pipeline.

The operations manager comes once there are managers to manage. Every hire has to take work off you, and your margins have to pay for it. If a job only makes money because you run it yourself for free, fix your prices first.

Free guide, 13 pages

The Business That Runs Without You

The bottleneck test, the order to hire in and the owner's weekly meeting. Free PDF.

Get the free guide

How to hire a manager who works

• Write a one-page role card first. What they own, what they can decide alone (including a spend limit), what "good" looks like in numbers.
• Have your systems ready. Programme template, daily report, variation form, checklists. A manager without them becomes another person asking you questions.
• Hire for jobs of your size and type. A site manager from big commercial sites may struggle on a £60K refurbishment with the client living upstairs.
• Test with a real scenario. Give them a live problem from one of your jobs in the interview and ask what they would do on Monday morning.
• Review weekly against numbers. Jobs on programme, margin against budget, client complaints, variations signed.

Help planning your management layer

Sviat Jay runs Craftex, a London design and build company, without being on site every day, and mentors owners one-to-one himself. The Main Contractor Accelerator covers hiring an estimator and a project manager and running the company remotely. He looks at where you are strong and where the business still needs you, and plans the hires around it.

The flagship is one-to-one, by application; smaller firms start in small groups (max 10–20) with regular one-to-ones. Built for results in about 4 months. Book a free strategy call, or start with the 4-minute Construction Business Scorecard.