How to Hire a Construction Project Manager in Virginia

$57/hr

Hire for budget control, contract decisions and Virginia project compliance.

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About this Guide

Define the authority your manager will hold over schedules, procurement and changes. For Virginia projects, connect that authority to the contracting firm's license and public-contract obligations. Assess how candidates handled owner decisions, subcontractor commitments and incomplete information. Build the offer around the projects and support assigned.

Who's available right now

Virginia · this week
Live on American Recruits

Verified construction project managers are on the market in Virginia this week

Candidate availability moves week to week. What does not move is the screening: the certifications below are what decide whether someone can be badged onto your site at all.

Search candidates
Available candidates
Steady
Profiles in Virginia
With current OSHA cards
Most
Verified against the document
Typical time to fill
2–4 weeks
Verified and ready to badge

Understanding different hiring levels

The levels are separated by what the state allows a person to do unsupervised, not by how good they are. Hiring the wrong level is the most common and most expensive mistake on a trade requisition.

ACheapest to hireApprentice / helper

Productive under supervision and cheap, but they cannot be left on a task the state licenses, and they need someone qualified with them.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Material handling and site preparation
  • ✓Assist a qualified hand on installation
  • ✓Housekeeping and tool staging
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Cannot work unsupervised on licensed work
  • ✕Cannot sign off their own work at inspection
What they need to hold
OSHA 10Apprentice registration where the state requires it
Worth doing
Paying for their certifications is the cheapest retention mechanism you have — the card raises their rate with you rather than with the next employer.
Where recruiters stall
Hiring at this level to save money and then needing licensed work signed off is what blows the schedule.
Only hire when
Use them where a qualified hand is already on site and the work is supervised.
JWhat most requisitions needJourneyman / qualified

Works unsupervised and can carry a helper. This is the level almost every requisition is actually describing.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Runs work without supervision
  • ✓Builds from drawings
  • ✓Carries one to three helpers
  • ✓Handles inspection on their own work
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Usually cannot pull permits in their own name
  • ✕Cannot act as the licence-holder of record
What they need to hold
Journeyman card where the state issues oneOSHA 30Current trade-specific safety training
Worth doing
Ask what they ran on their own and who supervised it. The answer separates a journeyman from a long-serving helper faster than any certificate.
Where recruiters stall
Employers accept "in progress" as though it were held. It is not — and on a licensed scope it stops the job.
Only hire when
Hire here for anything that has to proceed without a supervisor standing over it.
MFor scope and sign-offMaster / lead

Runs crews across sites, owns compliance outcomes, and where the trade allows, pulls permits and qualifies the work.

What they'll actually be doing
  • ✓Runs crews across more than one site
  • ✓Owns compliance and inspection outcomes
  • ✓Estimates and scopes packages
What they can't do yet — legally
  • ✕Cannot trade as a business without a contractor licence, insurance and usually a bond
What they need to hold
Master or supervisor card where the state issues oneContinuing education current
Worth doing
Local permit experience is worth more than generic years. Ask which jurisdictions they have pulled in.
Where recruiters stall
Paying master rates for work a journeyman could run is the other half of the level mistake.
Only hire when
Hire here when the scope needs sign-off, sequencing or several crews.

What a construction project manager costs in Virginia

Budget $57.26 an hour for a qualified construction project manager in Virginia, from $38.43 at entry level to $88.45 at the top. Add a quarter to a third on top for payroll taxes, insurance and equipment, and price overtime at time and a half.

Hourly range
$38.43–$88.45
Virginia · before burden
See the full construction project manager salary guide →

Legal & compliance checklist

Virginia licenses contracting firms, with qualified individuals supporting specialties. The PM need not hold that role. Employers retain duties for safety, worker classification, insurance and covered public-project wage records.

Licence & verificationMust haveVerify against the issuing board, not the résumé.0 / 3
0 / 3
Safety & site accessMust haveWithout these they cannot be badged onto most sites.0 / 3
0 / 3
Employment & insuranceMust haveGetting the status wrong is the expensive mistake here.0 / 3
0 / 3
Practical & schedulingSite-drivenDriven by the site rather than by law, but they still stop a start date.0 / 3
0 / 3

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Where to find them in Virginia

Contact Laurel Ridge employer services, AGCVA training and UVA SCPS about reaching learners and alumni.

Construction Credential

Laurel Ridge Workforce Solutions

Post through its employer service to reach construction management learners. Assess field coordination and estimating experience.
Typical length22 class sessions
What it costs$3,297 full price
Contractor Network

AGCVA PMDP

Discuss employer connections through Glen Allen training. Assess contract experience and ask about future cohorts.
Typical length40 hours
What it costs$2,525 nonmember
Graduate Study

UVA SCPS

Ask SCPS about reaching certificate alumni. Assess construction experience alongside their scheduling and leadership study.
Typical length2–3 semesters
What it costs$11,898 estimated total

Screen them properly

Certificates get a candidate past the first filter. These are the questions that separate the ones who can do the work from the ones who have the paperwork, and they change by level.

Interview questions that actually filter

01What did you do on your last site, task by task?
Why it matters: A specific answer tells you what they have actually held in their hands. A vague one usually means they watched.
02Who signed your hours, and can we call them?
Why it matters: Undocumented hours are the single most common problem at this level, and it is the employer who discovers it later.
03Which tools do you own?
Why it matters: It is a proxy for commitment to the trade, and it tells you what you will be supplying on day one.

Red flags on the résumé

!

Certifications listed with no issuing body or date

!

A license described as 'in progress'

!

No supervisor anyone can call

!

Three or four employers inside a year

!

Long gaps with no explanation offered

!

Cards that lapsed and were never renewed

How long the hire takes

A realistic schedule for a certified construction project manager, from writing the requisition to a badged start. The screening steps are where time is actually lost.

Day 0

Scope and post the role

Day 2–7

Shortlist and verify cards

Day 7–10

Interview and reference

Day 10–14

Offer and drug screen

Day 14–21

Site orientation and badging

Rates by sector

Budget Virginia roles around contract responsibility, with national wages as context.

01 / 03$60.91/hr

Nonresidential Building Construction

Test how candidates resolve owner changes across building packages. Define purchasing authority and reporting support for commercial or institutional work.

+ Broad coordination
+ Client continuity
– Approval delays
– Scope changes
02 / 03$62.10/hr

Highway and Bridge Construction

Review roadwork sequencing around traffic access. Assign responsibility clearly for Virginia public-contract wage records and subcontractor reporting.

+ Staged milestones
+ Infrastructure focus
– Access restrictions
– Weather disruption
03 / 03$52.88/hr

Building Equipment Contractors

Evaluate mechanical or electrical forecasts against installation progress. Assign commissioning coordination and general-contractor schedule updates in Virginia.

+ Focused budgets
+ Technical coordination
– Trade dependencies
– Handover pressure

Questions employers ask

Can we engage the PM as an independent contractor?▾
Yes, if IRS guidelines support independent status, since Virginia Tax otherwise presumes paid workers are employees. Paid independent construction management also falls within DPOR's contractor definition, so review business licensing separately.
Must permit applications show our DPOR license?▾
Yes. Virginia Code § 54.1-1111 bars local building officials from issuing covered permits until the applicant furnishes a DPOR license number or proof of exemption.
Who handles public-project payroll compliance?▾
Your company does, though many contractors assign it to the PM. Covered state work requires certified craft pay scales and wage records, and federal Davis-Bacon work requires weekly certified payrolls. Test candidates on collecting complete subcontractor records.

Hire a Construction Project Manager in Virginia

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Current BLS Virginia employee wages for Construction Managers, SOC 11-9021; broad occupation, not a project-manager-only survey; excludes premium pay and benefits; employee wages, not consulting or construction-management fees.

Last updated October 29, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.