Lead Carpenter

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nLead Carpenter — Residential Remodeling\nHicks Home Renovations | Avilla, IN — serving Fort Wayne & Northeast IndianaContract / Independent Contractor | $30–$35 per hour, paid weekly | Two-week trial at $28/hour\n\nAbout Us\nHicks Home Renovations is a licensed residential general contractor based in Avilla, serving Fort Wayne and the surrounding Northeast Indiana communities. We handle interior and exterior renovations along with design work, and we're known for our reputation and the quality of our work.\nWe're looking for a seasoned lead carpenter who can do the work at a high level and bring younger hands along with them. If you're the guy others on site learn from, keep reading.\n\nWhy Work With Us\n\nCraftsmanship over speed. It's why we turn down work we can't do right, and why our punch lists are short.\nWe back you on scope. A homeowner asking for a freebie is ours to handle, not yours to absorb.\nWeekly pay, zero paperwork. No invoices, no timesheets, no waiting a month to get paid.\nWe pay for your certifications and you keep them. Lead-Safe RRP, OSHA, ICC F13, county licensing.\nYour rate moves on skill, not tenure. Show up already doing the work and you can skip steps on our scale.\nYou keep your independence. Your truck, your tools, no logo, no uniform.\nA close-knit team with a direct line to the owner. You call, you get a decision.\nRoom ahead of you. We opened in 2024 and we're building.\n\nOne Rule Above All Others: Don't Lie\nEverything else on this page we can talk through. This is the one that ends a working relationship on the spot. We can work with a mistake. We can work with a delay. We can work with "I don't know how to do that." What we can't work with is being told something that isn't true.\n\nMade a mistake? Tell us the same day. Mistakes get fixed. Hidden ones get expensive and surface with the homeowner standing right there.\nDon't cover work you know isn't right. Don't hang drywall over framing that's off. Don't side over rot you didn't report.\nDon't tell us what we want to hear about the schedule. If Thursday isn't happening, we can move a sub and call the homeowner — but only if we hear it Monday.\nDon't tell a homeowner something you don't know to be true.\nDon't guess when you're stuck. A question costs ten minutes. A wrong guess costs a weekend.\nYour hours are your word.\n\nThis runs both directions: you will not get chewed out for bringing us bad news. We'd rather have the hard conversation early, every time.\n\nFinish Work Is Non-Negotiable\nThe requirement we won't bend on. You have to do finish carpentry at a high level — the work homeowners put their hands on every day.\n\nMiters that stay tight, including on walls that aren't square\nCasing, base, crown, and returns done clean\nDoor hanging — pre-hung and slab\nStair treads, risers, and skirt boards\nCabinet setting, scribing, and built-ins\nFitting to old, out-of-plumb houses — most of what we touch wasn't built yesterday\n\nYou don't have to be the fastest carpenter on the crew. We'd rather you take the extra twenty minutes and have the joint close than leave us a callback. What we won't work with is someone who's both slow and leaves work we have to fix.\n\nThe Work\n\nInterior finish carpentry and trim-out\nFraming, additions, and structural repair\nDecks, railings, and exterior structures\nSiding, trim, soffit, and fascia\nDoors and windows\nPunch list and final walkthrough corrections\n\nLeading the Crew\nYou'll have laborers and less-experienced hands working with you, and we need someone who can:\n\nSet the standard on site — pace, quality, and cleanliness others follow\nTeach as you go — show the right way to cut, hang, flash, and finish instead of fixing it behind them\nDirect the labor on your scope\nBuild people up — we want hands who are better carpenters six months from now\nKeep it safe — call out unsafe work and correct it on the spot\n\nGood finish carpenters who'll train the next one are rare, and we pay for it.\n\nEyes on the Trades\nWe sub out roofing and a few other specialty trades. When it comes up, we want somebody on site who knows what good work looks like — not to run their crew, but to confirm the install matches what we sold the homeowner. Check it against spec before they leave, watch the details that get skipped, make sure condensers and landscaping get protected, shoot photos as work goes in, and flag problems the same day. You don't need to be a roofer — just know enough to tell when something's wrong and say so out loud.\n\nPay — Weekly, and It Goes Up\nNo invoicing, no paperwork chase. We provide the time app and set you up before day one — log in on site, log out when you leave, log daily. Hours get confirmed by the head subcontractor on site, so you don't build an invoice, submit a timesheet, or wait 30 days. Your daily log and progress photos go through the same place.\n\nWeeks 1–2 — $28/hr. A two-week look, both directions. If it's not a fit either way, we shake hands and part clean.\nAfter trial — $30/hr\n$32 → $33 → $34 → $35 earned on finish quality at walkthrough, callback rate, punch lists staying closed, completion windows hit, daily logs turned in, crew visibly improving, and clean safe sites\n\nThese are markers, not seniority grades. Show up already doing all of it and you can move several steps at once. We're not going to make a good carpenter wait a year to get paid for what he already knows.\nIf you're licensed, that's a different conversation. The scale above is built for an unlicensed lead carpenter. Hold a residential contractor or superintendent license and there's room above it — bring it up and we'll talk seriously.\n\nTraining and Equipment — We'll Back You\nTraining and certifications. If there's schooling or a certification we need for the work — EPA Lead-Safe RRP, OSHA 10/30, fall protection, manufacturer certs, or the ICC F13 exam and county licensing — we reimburse the cost once you pass. You keep the credential.\nTools and equipment. Bring your hand tools. If a job calls for specialized equipment you don't own, we'll reimburse or supply it rather than expect you to buy your way into a project. We're small, so it's a conversation and not an unlimited budget — but a carpenter who wants to get better won't hear no on principle.\n\nWhat You Bring\n\n5+ years residential carpentry running your own scopes\nDemonstrated finish carpentry skill — the first thing we evaluate\nExperience leading and training crews\nAbility to read blueprints, permits, and construction documents\nYour own hand tools — belt, hammer, squares, chalk line, tape, levels, chisels, drills and impacts\nGeneral liability insurance and an Indiana Worker's Comp Certificate of Exemption (or coverage for yourself and any helpers)\nW-9, valid driver's license, 18 or older, legally eligible to work in the US\nA smartphone — daily logs and progress photos are part of every job\nProfessional references from GCs, builders, or homeowners\nReachable within two hours when we call or text, during and after hours. We don't call at midnight for no reason, but when we need an answer we need it that day.\nPatience, and straight communication on schedule, materials, and problems — early\n\nA plus: Allen County Residential Contractor or Superintendent license, or a passed ICC F13 exam (Indiana licenses county by county, not statewide). Also EPA Lead-Safe RRP, OSHA 10/30, deck and railing systems, Allen and Noble County permit experience, and Spanish.\n\nExpect to Drive\nThere is a lot of travel and you need to be genuinely okay with it. We work across Fort Wayne, Allen County, Noble County, and the surrounding communities. Some weeks you're twenty minutes out, some an hour. We keep work as local as we can, but the work is where the work is.\n\nTravel time and mileage are not reimbursed — your rate accounts for it\nRate may be adjusted for jobs requiring significant travel, set before the job starts\nOn the rare job far enough out to justify it, we cover a hotel\n\nThis Is Hard Work — Know That Going In\nWe work in the weather. Rain, snow, wind, mud, heat, cold. The job doesn't stop because it's miserable outside. We pull off for lightning and unsafe conditions, not a cold drizzle in November.\nYou need to lift and carry heavy material regularly, work from ladders and at heights, stay on your feet all day, and run power tools safely for extended stretches.\nDays run as long as the work requires. Most are normal. But when a job has to be dried in before rain, or a homeowner moves back in Monday, you stay until it's handled.\n\nCarry Yourself Like a Professional\n\nYour vehicle — clean and presentable. It sits in a customer's driveway all day. Not asking for a new truck, just that it not be full of last month's trash.\nShirt stays on, no matter how hot it gets. Families are around and homeowners are watching.\nWork boots every day — sturdy, closed-toe. Safety, not style. Eye protection when the work calls for it.\nShow up clean. Clean work clothes, nothing with offensive graphics, basic daily hygiene. You'll get dirty on the job — just don't arrive that way.\nLanguage — keep the profanity off the job site. Homeowners are home. Kids are home.\nConduct — no smoking or vaping inside a home or in the doorway, music at a reasonable volume, and treat their property like your mother's.\n\nOur Clients Stay Our Clients\nEvery client question comes back to HHR. Scope, pricing, change orders, schedule — all of it routes through our office. You don't quote, promise a completion date, or agree to add work on the spot. That protects you too: you'll never get cornered in a kitchen for a number you don't have, or blamed for a promise you had no authority to make.\nDo not solicit our clients for side work. Not during the job, not after we pack up, not six months later. If a homeowner approaches you, send them to us. Taking a client ends the relationship permanently, and this is a small industry — Northeast Indiana contractors talk.\n\nNothing Gets Built Without a Change Order\nIf it isn't in the approved scope or a signed change order, it doesn't happen. "While you're here, could you just..." is the most expensive sentence in this business. Move an outlet, add a shelf, shift a wall two inches — every one is time and material nobody paid for.\nDon't make concessions on our behalf. The instinct to say yes is a good instinct in a carpenter, it's just not yours to spend here. A favor today becomes an expectation tomorrow. The answer is easy: "Let me call the office and we'll get that written up." Then it gets priced, documented, and you get paid for building it.\n\nFriendly, Not the Salesman\nSay good morning, be polite to homeowners and neighbors, answer a simple question about what you're doing. But this isn't a sales position and you shouldn't spend your day on the porch. Don't give advice or opinions on design, materials, or cost — an offhand comment from you becomes a quote in the homeowner's mind. Don't get pulled into long conversations. Neighbors asking about their own projects get a friendly hello and our office number.\nSend work our way and it turns into a job, we take care of you. This is also a full-time position — side work of your own is your business, but it happens on your own time, not with our tools, crew, or clients.\n\nAttendance, Drug Screen, and Background\nLife happens. Give us prior notice and it's an excused absence — we plan around it and move on. What we can't work with is no notice at all. We keep a written handbook covering attendance, and you'll get a copy before day one.\nOur job sites are drug-free. A screen is required before you start, and again after any accident or if there's reasonable cause.\nWe also run a background check, and here's how we actually look at it. We're not looking for a spotless piece of paper. An old charge, or a mistake you made when you were younger and have already dealt with, is not by itself going to end the conversation. What we care about is that you tell us up front instead of letting us find it later, and that it isn't something that puts homeowners or your crew at risk. If you're wondering whether something is a dealbreaker, apply anyway and bring it up — we'd rather have the conversation than lose a good carpenter over an assumption.\n\nHow to Apply\nApply through ZipRecruiter with your work history and the types of scopes you take on.\nSend photos of your finish work. Close-ups of trim, miters, stair work, or built-ins tell us more in ten seconds than a resume does in ten minutes. Tell us about a green hand you brought up to speed, too.\nWe read every application and will reach out if your work looks like a fit.\nHicks Home Renovations contracts with qualified independent trade contractors without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.\n\nCompany Description:\n\nHicks Home Renovations is a licensed residential general contractor based in Avilla, Indiana, serving Fort Wayne and the surrounding Northeast Indiana communities. We handle interior and exterior renovations along with design work, taking projects from plan to finish. We're known for our reputation and the quality of our work — honest communication, craftsmanship over shortcuts, and treating homeowners the way our neighbors deserve.

Company Description

Hicks Home Renovations is a licensed residential general contractor based in Avilla, Indiana, serving Fort Wayne and the surrounding Northeast Indiana communities. We handle interior and exterior renovations along with design work, taking projects from plan to finish. We're known for our reputation and the quality of our work — honest communication, craftsmanship over shortcuts, and treating homeowners the way our neighbors deserve.