On Time. Under Budget. Satisfied Clients.
At Zen Contracting, those are the three primary measures of a successful Project Manager.
We are a growing residential construction company based in Asheville, NC, specializing in custom homes, additions, and major renovations throughout Western North Carolina.
Our Project Managers are responsible for three things above everything else:
1. Financial Performance
Know the budget, protect the budget, and look for opportunities to outperform it without sacrificing quality. You should be comfortable with numbers, construction math, estimates, invoices, change orders, and understanding where your projects stand financially.
2. Schedule & Production
Build the plan, communicate the plan, and keep the project moving. Construction rarely goes exactly as expected. Subcontractors get delayed, inspections fail, materials don't arrive, and priorities change. A successful PM anticipates problems, adjusts quickly, communicates clearly, and holds subcontractors accountable to keep production moving efficiently.
3. Client Satisfaction
Our clients are trusting us with their homes and significant amounts of money. They deserve excellent communication, professionalism, honesty, and follow-through. A successful PM keeps clients informed, manages expectations, addresses concerns directly, and delivers an experience and finished product they are satisfied with.
What You'll Be Managing
Our Project Managers oversee residential renovations, additions, and custom homes from pre-construction through completion. We service all of WNC up to approximately 1 hour of downtown Asheville.
The position is approximately 50% field and 50% office. You'll coordinate clients, subcontractors, suppliers, inspectors, schedules, budgets, selections, documentation, quality control, and closeout.
You will not personally perform the construction. Your job is to make sure the right people have the right information and materials at the right time—and then verify that the work was completed correctly.
Construction Experience Matters
You do not need previous Project Manager experience. You DO need to understand residential construction.
You should understand how a house is built from the ground up and have meaningful exposure to major residential renovations. You don't need to have personally performed every trade, but you should understand the major phases of construction from site work and foundations through framing, rough-ins, drywall, finishes, inspections, and punch.
If you're an experienced carpenter, lead carpenter, assistant PM, remodeler, or other residential construction professional who wants to move into management, we want to hear from you. If construction has traditionally been a past time or hobby or you have adjacent intimate experience with the field and a strong understanding of how systems work, this could be you too.
We have systems for managing schedules, budgets, documentation, client communication, and project controls. We can teach you how we manage construction. We need you to arrive with enough construction knowledge to understand what you're managing.
Who Does Well Here
The right person is organized without being rigid, confident without having a big ego, and comfortable taking ownership.
When something goes wrong, you should be able to walk onto the project, determine what happened, communicate with the people involved, make a plan, and move the project forward.
You must be comfortable both taking care of homeowners and holding subcontractors accountable. This position requires both. You should also be comfortable with computers, email, schedules, budgets, documentation, and basic math. Managing construction requires more than simply knowing how to build.
And you don't need to know everything. We value someone who can say “I don't know, but I'll find out” far more than someone who pretends to have every answer.
This Probably Isn't the Right Position If...
This probably isn't the right fit if you're looking for a desk job and don't want to spend significant time on active construction sites; if you're great with customers but uncomfortable holding subcontractors accountable; if you're an excellent tradesperson but dislike computers, documentation, schedules, budgets, or numbers; or if you thrive on putting out fires but don't enjoy the planning and follow-through required to prevent them. Likewise, if your background is primarily production or spec construction and you don't enjoy the customer-service side of building someone's personal home, this may not be the right environment for you.
Compensation & Benefits
$65,000–$80,000+ annually, depending on experience
Benefits include performance bonuses, company vehicle and gas card, paid time off, and employer-subsidized health, dental, and vision insurance after applicable eligibility periods, with employer contributions increasing based on tenure.
There is significant opportunity for long-term advancement and compensation growth as you demonstrate the ability to independently manage larger projects and greater responsibility.
We're looking for someone who wants to build a career here in WNC. If you understand residential construction, communicate well, take ownership, and like the challenge of delivering projects on time, under budget, and with satisfied clients, we'd like to hear from you.
Interested?
To apply, please send an email with why you are interested and why you feel that you would be a good fit to [email protected]
Applications without the requested email and introduction will not be considered.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Company truck
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Opportunities for advancement
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
