Purchasing & Estimating Lead

Position Overview

We are a growing, family-owned new home builder seeking an experienced Purchasing & Estimating Lead to provide leadership & oversight to our purchasing and estimating functions.

This position is responsible for overseeing purchasing and estimating operations, managing vendor and trade relationships, negotiating pricing and agreements, auditing costs and processes, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and ensuring accurate estimating and job costing.

The Purchasing & Estimating Lead will oversee and support our existing purchasing and estimating team while taking ownership of the systems, processes, vendor relationships, and cost controls that drive profitability.

The ideal candidate combines strong residential construction knowledge with analytical ability, negotiation skills, leadership, and a continuous-improvement mindset.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Oversight

• Provide day to day leadership and oversight to the performance of the Purchasing and Estimating functions.
• Mentor and develop team members while serving as a resource for complex pricing, estimating, and purchasing issues.
• Establish processes, expectations, and accountability for purchasing, estimating, pricing, and job-cost accuracy.
• Review workloads and priorities to ensure pricing, purchasing, and estimating needs are completed accurately and on schedule.
• Develop and improve purchasing and estimating procedures as the company grows.

Cost Auditing & Financial Controls

• Conduct regular audits of estimates, purchase orders, vendor pricing, job costs, and cost variances.
• Identify discrepancies, pricing errors, cost leakage, and opportunities for improved profitability.
• Monitor actual construction costs against estimates and budgets and investigate significant variances.
• Establish and maintain cost-variance reporting and corrective-action processes.
• Verify negotiated vendor and trade pricing is accurately reflected in purchase orders and job costs.
• Develop reporting and key performance indicators to measure estimating accuracy, purchasing performance, cost savings, and vendor performance.

Vendor & Trade Management

• Lead negotiations with suppliers, manufacturers, and trade contractors for pricing, terms, rebates, programs, and agreements.
• Proactively identify and evaluate new suppliers, manufacturers, products, and trade partners.
• Maintain a competitive and reliable vendor and trade base to reduce dependency and improve pricing and service.
• Develop and maintain strong, mutually beneficial relationships with key suppliers and trade partners.
• Regularly benchmark and competitively bid major material and labor categories.
• Evaluate vendor and trade performance based on cost, quality, reliability, service, and capacity.
• Ensure required vendor and trade documentation and agreements are current and complete.

Estimating & Pricing Oversight

• Oversee the accuracy and consistency of construction estimates, option pricing, assemblies, and sales pricing.
• Review estimating assumptions, scopes, quantities, and pricing to identify errors or opportunities for improvement.
• Ensure standard plans, specifications, options, and assemblies remain current as costs and products change.
• Support special pricing requests and unique construction requirements when needed.
• Partner with Sales to provide accurate pricing and technical support.
• Establish processes for communicating material, labor, specification, and pricing changes across departments.

Cost Reduction & Value Engineering

• Lead ongoing cost-reduction and value-engineering initiatives without compromising quality, design intent, or customer experience.
• Work with Operations, Construction, Design, and other departments to identify alternative materials, products, construction methods, and suppliers.
• Identify repetitive construction issues or design conditions that create unnecessary cost and recommend solutions.
• Evaluate proposed product or specification changes based on total cost, quality, availability, warranty, and field performance.
• Track and report savings generated through negotiations, sourcing, value engineering, and process improvements.

Cross-Functional & Field Support

• Partner closely with Construction, Sales, Design, Accounting, and leadership to ensure purchasing and estimating decisions support company objectives.
• Work with field personnel to investigate and resolve job-cost variances and purchasing issues.
• Identify recurring field variances and implement changes that address their root causes.
• Support new community, plan, product, and specification rollouts from a purchasing and estimating perspective.
• Provide leadership with visibility into significant cost trends, vendor risks, market changes, and savings opportunities.

Qualifications

• Purchasing, estimating, procurement, or related experience required.
• Residential construction experience required.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating with suppliers, manufacturers, subcontractors, or trade partners.
• Strong understanding of construction costs, estimating, purchasing, and job costing.
• Experience leading or supervising employees preferred.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify cost discrepancies and opportunities for improvement.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and relationship-management skills.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced and changing environment.
• Comfortable holding team members and business partners accountable while maintaining positive working relationships.
• Proficiency with spreadsheets, construction management software, and purchasing/estimating systems.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this position means:

• Estimates and job costs are accurate and dependable.
• Cost variances are identified quickly and their root causes are addressed.
• Purchasing processes are consistently followed and regularly audited.
• Vendor and trade pricing remains competitive.
• New vendors and trade partners are continually evaluated.
• Negotiated savings and rebates are captured and tracked.
• Purchasing and estimating team members have clear expectations and accountability.
• Leadership has reliable visibility into construction costs and cost trends.
• Cost-saving opportunities are continuously identified without sacrificing quality or reliability.

Compensation is dependent on experience.

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan

Experience:

• Leadership: 3 years (Required)
• Construction: 5 years (Required)
• Purchasing: 5 years (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $70,000 - $100,000