Happe Commercial LLC - Commercial Construction Operations Manager
Department: Happe Commercial, LLC
Employment Type: Full-Time
Supervisory Responsibilities: Project Managers, Superintendents, field personnel, and other assigned commercial construction staff
Position Summary
The Commercial Construction Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the people, projects, processes, and overall construction operations of Happe Commercial. This position provides leadership and accountability for the successful execution of commercial construction projects from preconstruction and project handoff through final completion and warranty.
The Commercial Construction Operations Manager is a member of the leadership team and is responsible for promoting the company’s mission and core values throughout the commercial division. This individual works closely with the CEO, Integrator/Chief Operations Officer, Financial Manager, project managers, superintendents, estimating personnel, trade partners, vendors, clients, and other company departments to ensure that commercial projects are completed safely, on schedule, within budget, and according to established quality standards.
Success in this position requires strong construction knowledge, financial awareness, personnel leadership, process development, problem-solving ability, and a consistent commitment to accountability and continuous improvement.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
- Lead the planning, organization, execution, and continuous improvement of Happe Commercial’s construction operations.
- Establish clear operational goals, priorities, expectations, and accountability standards for the commercial division.
- Develop and implement standardized processes and procedures that improve project consistency, efficiency, communication, and profitability.
- Ensure that company resources, personnel, equipment, and trade partners are effectively allocated across all active projects.
- Identify operational issues, develop practical solutions, and ensure corrective actions are completed.
- Promote collaboration between commercial operations, estimating, accounting, finance, sales, and company leadership.
- Participate as an active member of the Happe Commercial Leadership Team and contribute to company-wide planning, problem-solving, and strategic decision-making.
- Promote and model the mission, core values, professionalism, and leadership expectations of Happe Companies.
Project Oversight and Execution
- Maintain executive-level oversight of all active Happe Commercial construction projects.
- Ensure projects are completed in accordance with contracts, construction drawings, specifications, building codes, schedules, budgets, and client expectations.
- Review project plans, scopes of work, schedules, budgets, contracts, and other project requirements before construction begins.
- Oversee the transition of projects from estimating and preconstruction to project management and field operations.
- Monitor project schedules, critical paths, milestone dates, long-lead items, subcontractor performance, and material delivery requirements.
- Identify potential schedule delays, cost overruns, scope conflicts, and operational risks before they materially affect a project.
- Work with project managers and superintendents to develop recovery plans when projects fall behind schedule, exceed budget, or fail to meet quality expectations.
- Conduct regular project reviews to evaluate schedule, cost, quality, safety, staffing, procurement, client communication, and outstanding risks.
- Ensure projects are properly closed out, including final inspections, punch-list completion, warranties, owner documentation, and financial reconciliation.
Personnel Leadership and Accountability
- Directly lead, manage, coach, and hold accountable project managers, superintendents, and assigned commercial construction personnel.
- Clearly define responsibilities, performance expectations, decision-making authority, and reporting requirements for each team member.
- Conduct regular individual and team meetings to review project performance, priorities, challenges, and required follow-up.
- Provide ongoing training, mentoring, and professional development to improve the performance and capabilities of the commercial construction team.
- Delegate responsibilities effectively while maintaining appropriate oversight and accountability.
- Evaluate employee performance and provide timely coaching, recognition, corrective action, or disciplinary recommendations when appropriate.
- Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, promotion, and termination decisions involving commercial division personnel.
- Develop staffing and succession plans that support the anticipated growth and workload of Happe Commercial.
- Create a culture of ownership in which team members are expected to identify problems early, communicate clearly, and follow issues through resolution.
Scheduling and Production Management
- Establish and maintain consistent scheduling standards for all commercial projects.
- Review master construction schedules and confirm that schedules are realistic, properly sequenced, and adequately supported by labor, materials, and trade partners.
- Monitor critical project milestones and require timely action when work is delayed or incomplete.
- Coordinate staffing and company resources across projects to reduce bottlenecks and maintain production.
- Ensure project managers and superintendents maintain accurate short-term schedules, look-ahead schedules, and trade contractor coordination plans.
- Work with the project team to address long-lead materials, permitting issues, inspections, design conflicts, and other matters that could affect completion dates.
- Hold project teams and trade partners accountable for agreed-upon schedules and completion requirements.
Financial Performance and Cost Control
- Maintain operational accountability for the financial performance and profitability of Happe Commercial projects.
- Work closely with the CEO, Financial Manager and Integrator/Chief Operations Officer to develop annual goals, operating budgets, forecasts, staffing plans, and profitability targets.
- Monitor project budgets, committed costs, labor expenses, purchase orders, subcontract agreements, change orders, allowances, billing status, and projected final costs.
- Review job-cost reports and project forecasts with project managers and accounting personnel.
- Require timely corrective action when project costs, schedules, or projected margins vary from established expectations.
- Ensure that change orders are identified, documented, priced, approved, and billed promptly.
- Help prevent unauthorized work, unapproved scope changes, duplicate charges, inaccurate invoices, and other cost-control failures.
- Review subcontractor and supplier pricing to support competitive purchasing and appropriate project margins.
- Assist leadership in evaluating project profitability, division overhead, staffing levels, backlog, cash-flow needs, and future operational capacity.
- Protect company profit margins while maintaining appropriate quality, safety, contractual, and client-service standards.
Preconstruction, Estimating, and Project Handoff
- Collaborate with estimating, sales, and leadership personnel during the preconstruction phase to evaluate project feasibility, schedule, staffing, constructability, and operational risk.
- Assist with subcontractor and supplier outreach when needed to support complete and competitive project pricing.
- Review estimates, scopes, assumptions, allowances, exclusions, schedules, and contract requirements before projects are turned over to operations.
- Identify scope gaps, unclear responsibilities, constructability issues, long-lead materials, and project-specific risks before construction begins.
- Ensure a complete and organized handoff from estimating and sales to the assigned project manager and superintendent.
- Provide operational input regarding project selection, workload capacity, proposed schedules, and anticipated staffing needs.
Quality Control
- Establish, communicate, and enforce Happe Commercial’s quality-control standards.
- Promote a zero-defect mindset and require work to be completed correctly the first time whenever reasonably possible.
- Conduct periodic project and job-site inspections to evaluate workmanship, plan compliance, site conditions, and overall project quality.
- Ensure project managers and superintendents conduct appropriate quality inspections throughout construction rather than relying solely on final punch-list inspections.
- Require deficient work to be documented, corrected, and verified in a timely manner.
- Monitor recurring quality issues and implement training, process changes, or trade partner corrective actions when necessary.
- Ensure completed work meets contractual requirements, applicable codes, manufacturer requirements, construction documents, and company standards.
- Maintain accountability for timely punch-list completion and project closeout.
Safety and Regulatory Compliance
- Promote a strong safety culture throughout Happe Commercial.
- Communicate and enforce company safety policies, project-specific safety requirements, and applicable regulatory standards.
- Ensure project managers, superintendents, employees, subcontractors, and site visitors comply with established safety procedures.
- Require job sites to be maintained in an orderly, secure, and reasonably safe condition.
- Monitor safety documentation, inspections, incident reporting, corrective actions, and subcontractor compliance.
- Ensure accidents, injuries, property damage, and significant near-miss events are promptly reported, investigated, and addressed.
- Work with company leadership and safety resources to reduce risk and improve safety performance.
- Ensure projects comply with applicable permits, inspections, building codes, environmental requirements, and contractual obligations.
Trade Partner, Vendor, and Supplier Management
- Develop and maintain strong, productive relationships with subcontractors, suppliers, vendors, design professionals, and other project partners.
- Clearly communicate Happe Commercial’s quality, safety, scheduling, documentation, communication, and performance expectations.
- Meet regularly with key trade partners and suppliers to review performance, capacity, upcoming work, pricing, and relationship concerns.
- Evaluate trade partner performance based on quality, reliability, schedule compliance, communication, safety, pricing, and responsiveness.
- Hold trade partners accountable for incomplete, deficient, late, or noncompliant work.
- Assist with resolving subcontractor disputes, scope disagreements, schedule conflicts, and performance issues.
- Develop relationships with additional qualified trade partners and suppliers to support company growth, competitive pricing, and project capacity.
- Participate in negotiating subcontractor and supplier terms when appropriate.
- Make recommendations regarding preferred trade partners, corrective action, suspension, or removal from future projects.
Client Relationships and Issue Resolution
- Ensure clients receive clear, timely, accurate, and professional communication throughout the construction process.
- Train and support project managers and superintendents in managing routine client questions, expectations, concerns, and project updates.
- Serve as the operational point of escalation for client issues that cannot be effectively resolved by the assigned project team.
- Evaluate client concerns objectively and develop solutions that appropriately balance contractual obligations, client relationships, project schedules, quality standards, and financial impact.
- Ensure client commitments are documented, communicated, and completed.
- Participate in important client meetings when leadership involvement is appropriate.
- Protect the company’s reputation by responding to significant concerns promptly, professionally, and consistently.
- Support repeat business and referrals by maintaining strong professional relationships with clients, design professionals, and project stakeholders.
Systems, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement
- Ensure project teams consistently and accurately use company-approved construction management, accounting, scheduling, and documentation systems.
- Establish reporting standards for project schedules, budgets, forecasts, change orders, meeting notes, daily reports, safety records, and closeout documentation.
- Provide company leadership with accurate and timely updates regarding project status, financial performance, staffing, risks, client concerns, and operational issues.
- Develop dashboards, scorecards, and key performance indicators that provide visibility into commercial division performance.
- Review completed projects to identify lessons learned, recurring issues, and opportunities for improvement.
- Develop corrective processes and verify that agreed-upon improvements are implemented.
- Research and recommend technology, tools, equipment, and operational practices that improve productivity, quality, safety, and profitability.
Decision-Making Authority
Within approved company policies, budgets, contracts, and strategic direction, the Commercial Construction Operations Manager is expected to exercise independent judgment and make day-to-day operational decisions regarding:
- Project staffing and allocation of commercial construction personnel.
- Construction sequencing, scheduling, and operational priorities.
- Assignment and direction of project managers, superintendents, and field personnel.
- Enforcement of company quality, safety, documentation, and performance standards.
- Corrective actions involving project schedules, quality issues, and trade partner performance.
- Selection and recommendation of subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers.
- Approval of routine project-related purchases and commitments within established authority limits.
- Escalation of significant financial, contractual, legal, personnel, safety, or client-related matters to the appropriate company leader.
The Commercial Construction Operations Manager must obtain appropriate leadership approval before making decisions involving material changes to company strategy, unbudgeted financial commitments, contract terms, litigation, employee compensation, company-wide policies, or other matters outside established authority limits.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, architecture, business, or a related field is preferred.
- Significant commercial construction management experience may be considered in place of a degree.
- Five or more years of progressively responsible commercial construction experience is preferred.
- Proven experience managing multiple commercial construction projects, project managers, superintendents, field personnel, and subcontractors.
- Demonstrated experience with construction scheduling, job costing, budgeting, forecasting, change orders, subcontractor management, and project closeout.
- Strong knowledge of commercial construction procedures, building systems, materials, construction documents, and project-management principles.
- Working knowledge of applicable quality, safety, permitting, inspection, and regulatory requirements.
- Experience with construction management, scheduling, accounting, and project documentation software.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Excel, Word, and Teams.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to establish expectations and hold people accountable.
- Ability to train, coach, motivate, and delegate effectively.
- Excellent organizational, planning, scheduling, and time-management skills.
- Strong financial awareness and understanding of project costs, budgets, forecasts, and profit margins.
- Ability to read and interpret contracts, plans, specifications, scopes of work, schedules, and project reports.
- Effective negotiation, conflict-resolution, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to identify risks, evaluate alternatives, and make timely, practical decisions.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to communicate clearly and respectfully with employees, clients, subcontractors, suppliers, design professionals, and company leadership.
- Ability to balance client needs, contractual obligations, construction schedules, quality requirements, and financial impact.
- High level of integrity, professionalism, confidentiality, and personal accountability.
- Strong attention to detail without losing sight of overall project and company objectives.
- Ability to work independently and accurately represent the values, standards, and interests of Happe Commercial and Happe Companies.
- Ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, personnel issues, and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Commitment to safety, quality, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $90,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company truck
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Education:
- High school or equivalent (Required)
Experience:
- Commercial construction: 10 years (Required)
- Construction management: 5 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
