Salary for construction site foreman

J

johnnycash

Registered User
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Hi,
A friend of mine has been offered a job as a site foreman. He is 36 years of age and has worked in the building indusrty all his working life, initially with his father's business and then on his own. He was asked what salary he was expecting, but since he was always self employed, he has'nt a clue what the average salary for a site foreman is in the industry nowdays - and therefore does'nt know what to ask for. He does'nt want to sell himself short. Does anybody know what kind of salary (ballpark figure) a foreman of his age would currently earn (say..50-60K ?) ?? What salary would a foreman normally expect to start on (assuming several years experience) ?? Thanks a lot for any advice. He will be talking to the company at the weekend so he wants to have an idea by then.
Cheers...
 
It depends on the type of experience he has and the size of the project that he will be looking after. The bigger the project the more responsiblity the larger the salary nad were the project is located still a big difference in salaries between Dublin and the rest of the country. For normal jobs up to say 5-6million in Dublin he would be looking anywere between 55-70K and transport. He should consider how long the project runs for and if there is any more work after. During this down turn security is great and people will reduce their salary for the right company. In the country salary will start close to 50K upwards

Regards

Dinny
 
It's very tough to give a ball park figure on the 'role' without knowing details of the site (how large, how many people under his control, responsibilities, [rough] working hours, etc. etc.).

His best bet is to review a few of the job websites and try and find roles with details matching his current skillset and in a similiar environment.

Having a quick look on the [broken link removed] (Hays are a recruitment consultant who specialise in the construction industry) the roles range from €23 to €35 / hour, with very few giving a salary figures (the one salaried figure in the search above is for a very large site [+100] so I'd disregard the €100k mentioned).

It might even be worth having a quick chat with one or two consultants to see if they can assist with a figure for similiar roles.

It's a very tough one to give general details on as many 'site foreman' roles require a qualification (such as a degree in engineering) while others require very specific experience (something which can't easily be bought).

If he didn't take the role, what sort of take home figure would he expect with his current role? Given the benefits of a salary (guaranteed income etc.) and possible additional benefits (pension, insurance, further training etc.), what figure would he accept in place of the expected income?
 
Thanks for the quick response Dinny. The work is based in the midlands. He said that the company has a lot of work planned (at least for the next two years anyway) and includes a new school extension. I think his experience is mainly with residential developments, but I'm not sure. He would be have worked in the trade for almost 20 years now.
I'll let him know your feedback...
Thanks.
 
johnnycash said:
I think his experience is mainly with residential developments, but I'm not sure. He would be have worked in the trade for almost 20 years now.
Click to expand...
This is one of the areas being hit hardest with the current change in market conditions (Civil work, for example, being hit to a far lesser extent). In such a case, the (relative) security of a salary rather than self employment would be a big bonus.
 
Yeah, while he was self employed, he never had problem getting work, but in addition to the recent downturn meaning it is increasingly harder to get the work, in the past few months has had some problems/delays getting paid by clients. With a wife and 3 young kids he wants the security of a salary, which is why he is interested in taking this job.
 
Nearly al foreman have a good basic, and 60-90k would be normal, but the bonus for coming in on time or ahead, and keeping snagging and problems down for the developer can double that.

transport would be the norm

however the down side
min 7-7 and weekends
needs a neck like a jockeys bolli!!!
and must be have selective memory:D
and nowadays multilingual
 
The time of the big bonus is now gone for foremen. It was only the guys who were doing private housing developments that got large bonuses and very few if any getting 100% bonus.
It looks like the company is doing government work like social housing and schools were the margins are tight but money is guaranteed. This is the safest market at present but salaries are not as high. The hours are not as long in building projects as they would be in road projects were you do work 7-7.
 
Fair point I was been fairly light hearted.

if the man is right for the job, bonuses are still out there.

In my early day, the site foreman used get one house in 100 as a bonuses

as he retired it totalled up to about 5 properties around Dublin

But he was a wicked taskmaster to work for!

Now a days site foreman have to be so much more than before

Accountants, QS, Safety, project manager, engineer,HR, all in one.

and worse still may be surrounded by people with these titles but little experience so he may end been their mentor as well!
 
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