Carpenter

Mission

The mission of this role is to build, set, and strip the concrete form work that keeps a major Atlanta-metro Master Site on schedule. Vertical and horizontal forms, gang forms, Johnny-clamp forms, blocking, scaffolding, and temporary framing. The Carpenter is the craftsman whose work the rest of the site depends on.

Beyond the daily craft, this is a career hire, not a project hire. The client is building long-tenure people. The founders have been with the company 30 and 20-plus years. The expectation in the hiring manager’s own words: start as a Carpenter, build the craft for two to three years, then run a crew, then run a whole job, then move into a six-figure superintendent seat.

What the Hiring Manager Is Actually Looking For

This is a character-first, trainable-skills-second search. A high-performing transitioning service member with the right disposition and a willingness to learn the craft is more valuable to this hiring manager than a journeyman Carpenter who is technically proficient but brings a bad attitude to the site at 6:30 in the morning.

Performance Objectives

Measured against the hiring manager’s stated career path. Not a skills list.

First 30 days. Show up on time, every day, ready to work. Be the person on the crew others want to be around. Learn the site, the foreman, the crew, the tools, and the client’s safety standards. Follow direction without being told twice.

First 60 days. Demonstrate reliable execution of basic formwork — vertical and horizontal concrete forms, blocking, basic gang-form setup — under foreman direction. Carry a complete personal tool kit every day. Produce work that does not require rework.

First 90 days. Operate with growing independence on assigned formwork scopes — gang forms, Johnny-clamp forms, scaffolds, temporary framing, bridge or tunnel supports as assigned. Hold a clean safety record. Begin contributing to crew decisions.

Months 4–12. Master the craft across the range of form types on a Master Site. Earn trust as the person the foreman can hand a sketch to and walk away from. Start helping onboard newer laborers and apprentices.

Year 2–3. Run a carpentry crew. Own layout, sequencing, and quality on assigned scopes. Develop the craft knowledge that qualifies for the move toward running a whole job.

Long horizon. Superintendent. Six-figure compensation. This is the stated career path from the hiring manager — not a marketing promise.

Fit Traits

Good to spend ten hours with. Hiring Manager said: “I want to work with a guy that says good morning, what are we doing today. I am going to enjoy spending ten hours with him. That is the people I am looking for.” This is the tone test.

Passionate about building — intelligent, hardworking, driven. Exact words: “I want somebody that is passionate about building and that can be passionate about building teams.” And: “I want somebody who is intelligent, hardworking, driven.” Intelligence is a stated fit trait for craft-level hiring — unusual, and important for sourcing.

Willing to start as a Carpenter, not a leader. The client has been burned by putting transitioning veterans into leadership too fast. Candidates must accept that the path runs through the craft first, then leadership — not the other way around.

Career-minded, not project-minded. The client is hiring for the next 20 or 30 years, not the next 20 or 30 months. Candidates who have jumped from job to job every two years will not match the culture.

Family-aware. He understands transitioning veterans are often rejoining their families. He has learned, the hard way, that loading a senior transitioning veteran with all the night shifts is a retention risk. Candidates who need that understood should find it here.


Requirements

• Must have served in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Reserves, or U.S. National Guard.
  

Experience and Craft (preferred, not required)

• Commercial construction Carpenter experience with vertical and horizontal concrete forms, gang forms preferred. Military equivalents called out by name on the call: Navy Seabees (“we need to attack the Seabees right out of the gate”). Also strong: Army 12W Carpentry and Masonry Specialist, 12N Horizontal Construction Engineer, 12R Interior Electrician in a construction-battalion context; Air Force 3E3 Structural; Marine Corps 1371 Combat Engineer with vertical-construction experience; Coast Guard Damage Controlman with shoreside construction.
  

• Ability to read sketches, blueprints, and verbal instruction. Military equivalents: any service member who has built from a TM, FM, site survey, or verbal tasking. The hiring manager’s phrase — “take a list and do everything on the list and get that stuff done” — is how he described what veterans do well.
  

• Own tools required, including hammer, speed square, tape measure, chalk box, pliers, and tool pouch. Military equivalents: tradesmen who carried and maintained personal and issued hand tools in a deployed construction environment.
  

Physical and Environmental

• Able to work at elevated heights.
  

• Able to frequently lift materials weighing up to 50 lbs.
  

• Able to work outdoors in all weather conditions.
  

• Able to maintain a drug-free status per site safety policy.
  

• Long hours. Field crews earn overtime. Stated up front, in the hiring manager’s own words. Not negotiable.
  

  
  
  
  

Benefits

Base pay. $26.00–$30.00 per hour.

Overtime. Paid for field personnel.

Health coverage. Medical, dental, and vision — effective day one.

Life insurance. Company-provided — effective day one.

Retirement. 401(k), eligible day one.

Career economics. Carpenter → crew lead → superintendent, at six-figure compensation. “It is an industry that pays very well if you are good at your job.”