Residential Construction Project Manager

Residential Construction Project Manager, Process, Systems and Handover

The Gabor Design Group · Short-term contract · Greater Los Angeles

The Engagement

• Role: Residential Construction Project Manager, brought in to define our processes and build the system that runs them
• Type: Independent contract, 3-4 weeks, with the option to extend
• Start: Immediate. We are short a project manager now.
• Location: Greater Los Angeles preferred, with time in our office during the first week. Remote considered for the right person.
• Commitment: Full-time equivalent across the contract, weighted to the first week while you capture how we work
• Reports to: Stephen Gabor, Owner
• Fee: Hourly or fixed fee. State your terms and what they cover.
• Software: We pay for any licenses the recommended system needs
• Completion: The contract is complete when the system is live, loaded with current projects, documented, and our team has been trained on it

The Role

Build the operating system, not a schedule. We do not need someone to run our jobs. We need someone to define how work moves from inquiry through design, permitting, construction and closeout, and then build the system that holds it.

Start from a clear owner picture. The principal has planned work the same way for twenty years on a wall calendar: every day of the month, each job site, and which trade is working there. It works visually and nobody else can keep it current. Your first job is to capture that thinking and write it down.

Choose the tool last. Processes, roles, cadence and records come first. The platform is the wrapper. We would rather you short list two or three and justify one than arrive with a favorite.

One decision maker. You work directly with the principal. No committee, no procurement cycle, no waiting weeks for a yes.

Make it stick after you leave. The measure of this contract is whether the team still uses the system a month later without you. Training and written procedures are part of the job, not an extra.

Use AI where it saves time. Drafting procedures, converting the wall calendar into a live schedule, building trackers and client update formats. We care that it is correct and usable, not how it was produced.

Room to continue. If the system lands well, there is further work here: subcontractor compliance, closeout, and the tracking that sits behind both.

Scope and Deliverables

Week 1, Capture the current state.

• Sit with the principal, the design lead, the office manager and the field to record how work actually comes in and gets managed today
• Map the full job lifecycle: inquiry, proposal, design, permitting, subcontractor buyout, construction, punch list, closeout
• Deliverable: a written process map and a requirements list, approved by the principal before anything is built

Week 2, Design the system.

• Define who does what at each step, the meeting and reporting cadence, the records that must exist, and file naming and folder structure
• Short list two or three platforms against the requirements; recommend one with reasons and cost
• Deliverable: written procedures and a platform recommendation, approved before build

Week 3, Build and load.

• Configure the chosen platform and load current live projects
• Daily job calendar: which crew is at which site, doing which trade, on which day, visible to everyone
• Look-ahead schedule, punch lists, and a client update format with a set frequency
• Subcontractor register holding license number, office contact, trade, insurance certificate and expiry
• Tracking for signed subcontractor agreements, certificates of insurance, and California conditional and unconditional lien releases against payments

Week 4, Hand over.

• Written procedures plus short screen recordings for anything repeated
• Train the principal, the design lead, the office manager and the project manager separately, on their own parts
• A written list of what is live, what is outstanding, and what should be reviewed in 90 days

What You Will Be Working With

• A small design-build firm doing residential architecture and landscape, with several projects live at once
• A core team of four in the office, plus field crew and subcontractors
• Google Workspace throughout, CompanyCam for site records, and a lapsed Asana subscription
• The daily plan lives on a whiteboard in the owner's office. Nothing in it is wrong. It is just not shared, searchable or durable.
• Subcontractor records are partial. License numbers and office numbers are missing on current entries.
• Nobody here is technical, and the owner says so plainly. Whatever you build has to survive that, or it will not be used.

Must-Haves

• Five or more years managing residential construction projects from the office side: scope, contracts, files, schedule and client communication. We are not hiring a boots-on-the-ground superintendent.
• You have set up a project management system at a small contractor or design-build firm before, from blank page to team using it
• Working command of subcontractor agreements, certificates of insurance, contractor license verification, California conditional and unconditional lien releases, punch lists and closeout
• You write clear procedures and can teach people who do not like software
• You work without direction or chasing. You make reasonable calls yourself and raise only what genuinely needs a decision.
• One short written update per week, and early warning when something slips
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Available to start within a week and to finish inside four

Nice-to-Haves

• Strong plus: a track record of getting non-technical construction teams to adopt a system and keep using it after handover
• Based in Greater Los Angeles and able to work from our office
• Procore experience, including setup and administration rather than use alone
• Fluent with AI tools for drafting documentation, trackers and reporting
• CompanyCam, Buildertrend, Asana, Trello or Google Workspace administration
• Residential architecture or landscape background