Commercial construction executive search

Retained search across commercial construction, from general contracting and interiors through healthcare, education and hospitality projects. Vice president to C‑suite.

Key roles we place ↓

Overview

What we do in commercial construction

Metric Geo places senior and executive leaders across commercial construction, covering general contracting, interiors and tenant improvements, and vertical markets including healthcare, education, hospitality and life sciences facilities. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.

Commercial construction hires on relationships as much as capability. A project executive is valued for the owners and architects who will call them, not only for the buildings they have delivered. That makes reference checking here unusually informative, and it is where we spend more time than most firms do.

Roles

The roles we place in commercial construction

VP Operations Multi-project operational leadership across a region or market.
Project Executive Accountability for a portfolio of projects and the client relationships behind them.
VP Preconstruction Pursuit leadership, estimating and design phase management.
Chief Estimator Bid strategy, pricing and win rate discipline.
Market Leader Vertical market leadership with profit and loss accountability.
Director of Business Development Owner, architect and developer relationships.
Director of Field Operations Superintendent leadership, schedule and site delivery.
Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across offices and markets.
Director of Project Controls Scheduling, cost control and reporting across a project portfolio.

+ many others

Within this sector

What commercial construction covers

Healthcare & Life Sciences Facilities

Hospital, clinical and laboratory building delivery.

Education & Institutional

Schools, higher education and public buildings.

Interiors & Tenant Improvements

Corporate interiors, tenant improvement and fast track delivery.

Hospitality & Mixed Use

Hotel, retail and mixed use construction leadership.

Market

Hiring in commercial construction right now

Commercial construction has split in two. Healthcare, education and anything tied to public funding has stayed busy, while speculative office and parts of retail have not. Contractors weighted toward the second have been trying to hire their way into the first, and that is where most of the competition sits.

The people who move that needle are market leaders with existing client relationships, and they are expensive because they are worth it. A contractor entering healthcare without one can take years to become credible. With one, it happens far faster.

Field leadership is the quieter problem. Superintendents and directors of field operations are harder to find than project executives, get less attention in hiring plans, and are more often the reason a job goes wrong. We would push any client to treat that layer as seriously as the one above it.

Common questions

Commercial construction hiring questions

The questions clients ask most often before briefing a commercial construction search.

How long does a commercial construction search take?

We work to seven days to a shortlist on most briefs. How long the search takes after that depends on the role and on notice periods, so we set out a realistic timeline with you at the start.

Do you work retained or contingent?

Retained. Our commercial construction consultants have spent years building relationships in this market, so most shortlists start from people we already know, and talent mapping, backed by our marketing reach, covers the rest of the market so nobody credible gets missed. Retained is what lets us give that kind of time to one brief.

Do you place below vice president?

Our focus is vice president and above, but we do take on director and senior manager searches where the role is critical, such as a senior project executive on a flagship job, or a director of field operations across a region. What matters is whether it is a hire you cannot afford to get wrong.

We want to enter a new vertical market. Where do we start?

With one credible leader who already has the clients, then build underneath them. Entering healthcare or life sciences on the strength of a good safety record and a competitive price rarely works, because owners in those markets buy on who has done it before. One person with the right relationships shortens that by years.

Sector specialists

Commercial construction team

Matt Phillips

Director

Freddie Hutchinson

Business Development Manager

Jade Trejo

Business Development Lead

Meet the team →

Let's build together

Ready to brief us on a commercial construction search?

Tell us about the role and we'll give you a clear read on the market, the people worth speaking to and how quickly we can move.