Day 30
Satisfaction, or your money back
Not satisfied with how we're running the search in the first 30 days? We refund the search fees you've paid to date.
Services · Retained search for construction leaders
Run the search
properly.
The first time.
Full-scope retained search, scorecard rigor end to end. We'll tell you if we're not the right fit.
270+ Leadership matches ◆ 15 Years ◆ Construction only ◆ 9 American west states ◆ $10M to $250M Companies ◆ 1 Founder, every search ◆ 270+ Leadership matches ◆ 15 Years ◆ Construction only ◆ 9 American west states ◆ $10M to $250M Companies ◆ 1 Founder, every search ◆
The risk you're underwriting
What a wrong hire costs.
1
Eighteen months of cleanup
The role underperforms while the work falls back to the people you were trying to free up. The team learns to route around it.
2
2× to 5× base salary in true replacement cost
Severance, lost efficiency, second-search fees, team morale, customer confidence, brand reputation, and lost margin on the projects this role was supposed to own.
3
Cultural drag
Your trades, PMs, and clients all read the role. So do your other leaders. Every hire after this one gets harder.
The work is not just finding more candidates. The work is also making sure we filter and decide correctly.
One service, one operating system
Search with discipline
Intensive Search
Starts at $875 / week
Full-scope retained search. Joint discovery, scorecard, custom outreach, structured interviews, reference work, offer choreography.
Best for
Superintendent, PM, PX, Director, Executive Leadership
Timeline
3 to 14 weeks
Fee
$875 / week search fee + 24% match fee
Discovery
1 to 3 working sessions · signed-off hiring strategy
Find & filter
Custom research & market mapping, job boards, our network, then structured interviews against a full rubric
Fit
On-list + backchannel + pattern check
Finish
Choreographed offer + 90-day landing plan
Replacement policy
6 months pro-rated
Fits when
- The role's outcome compounds for years
- The market for the candidate is thin or hidden
- The internal scorecard isn't fully formed yet
- Onboarding will require choreography
The relationship
Spool up when you need us.
Spool down when you don't.
Three-year relationship
Your hiring demand Ambassador capacity
1
Spool up on demand
Your BD team wins work and you need leaders. We're already warm on your culture, your team, and your standards.
2
Pause without losing ground
Between searches your account stays active. No fees, and no rebuilding context when the next role opens.
3
Compound the knowledge
Every search deepens how well we understand who thrives on your team and what predicts retention.
Where we work
Client types.
1
Commercial
2
High-end residential
3
Specialty trades
4
Owners' reps & developers
The plan
How a search runs:
Find, Fit, Finish.
Stage 1
Find
- Role definition up front. You avoid the most expensive hiring mistake: filling a poorly defined role. Alignment among your stakeholders happens before candidates show up, not during final interviews.
- Active + passive market coverage. Your candidate pool isn't limited to people who happen to be job-hunting this month. You see the talent your competitors employ.
- Screening against the success profile. Your leadership team's hours go to decisions, not triage. No reading 80 resumes.
- Fewer, better people. Faster time-to-decision and higher confidence in it. Every interview slot is spent on a viable candidate.
Stage 2
Fit
- Structured interviews. Apples-to-apples comparison reduces bias and bad-day noise. You can defend the decision to your board, partners, or team.
- PXT Select + Kolbe. You learn how the person will operate in the role and on your team before you commit a salary to finding out.
- Reference and background checks. No surprises after the start date. The downside risk is checked before the offer.
- Evidence-based decision. You stop second-guessing. And candidates you don't hire still speak well of your company. Your reputation in the market stays intact.
Stage 3
Finish
- Offer strategy and negotiation support. You don't lose your first choice over a mishandled close, and you don't overpay out of panic.
- First-year onboarding support. The hire reaches full productivity faster, and problems get caught at month two instead of month eleven.
- Replacement policy. Your downside is capped. If it doesn't work, you're not paying twice.
- "We carry the risk with you." The fee buys an outcome, not an effort. Incentives stay aligned through the first year, not just to the invoice.
What lands in your inbox
Deliverables.
Find
Updated Job Description
Rewritten in plain language against the scorecard. Mission, outcomes, competencies, dealbreakers, signed off before outreach begins.
Find
Job Ads
Sales-grade narrative for the role. Candidates see the same brief leadership signed.
Find
Weekly Updates
Where the search is, what we're hearing, what's next. Always in writing.
Find
Structured Interview Strategy
Per-candidate question set, evaluation rubric, and reflection sheet for each interviewer at each interview.
Fit
References Dossier
References synthesized into pattern findings, with what the references didn't say flagged alongside what they did.
Fit
Post-Interview Fit Analysis
Interview data analyzed by our proprietary AI to catch interview blindspots, evaluate risk & fit, and recommend next steps.
Fit
Bilateral Fit Assessment
We leverage the Wiley PXTS assessment with the leader and candidate to evaluate relational and role fit.
Finish
90-Day Landing Plan
Joint plan delivered with the offer so onboarding doesn't drift, derived from interview data.
Finish
One-Year Retention & Integration Check-ins
Structured check-ins across the first year, when most hires succeed or fail, so integration is managed as a system rather than left to chance.
Sample artifacts
Example deliverables.
Sample Hiring Strategy Excerpt
Mission
Stand up a precon function that wins work the firm should win and walks away from work it shouldn't.
Outcomes (12 months)
- Pursuit hit-rate ≥ 35% on targeted segment
- Estimating turnaround ≤ 3 weeks on standard scope
- Two senior estimators recruited and retained
Competencies
Strategic precon · estimator development · client-facing pursuit narrative · margin discipline.
Sample Candidate Introduction Excerpt
Senior Project Manager
[Candidate] is a high-end residential PM with 14 years running high-end custom builds in the $5M to $25M range across the region. He's exploring a move because his current employer has pivoted toward production multi-family and he wants to return to craft-driven custom work. We recommend an interview, with one caveat: his last two years skew commercial-adjacent, so we should pressure-test how recent his hands-on high-end-residential muscle memory is.
Show full report
Executive summary
- Sector: High-end custom residential, with a recent stretch into mixed-use multi-family
- Current: [Current Employer], Sr. PM (4 years)
- Signature work: ~$18M custom estate (3-year build, marquee architect)
- Motivation: Wants back into craft-first, design-led residential
- Timing: Current project closes in ~2 months
- Location: [Region]; open to nearby markets
Motivations (make-or-break)
- Returning to design-driven custom work; cited a 5-year stretch with two top-tier residential architecture firms as the most rewarding of his career
- Wants ownership of the full build cycle, not segmented PM scope
- Values a disciplined operations culture over entrepreneurial chaos
Compensation target
- ~$185K base + bonus (~$210K all-in target)
- Vehicle allowance expected (~$750/mo)
Track record
Where we've matched people.
Preconstruction & Estimating
Preconstruction Managers · Estimators · Bid Coordinators
Executive & Operations Leadership
Directors of Construction · Project Directors · Regional Principals · COOs · VPs · Project Executives · General Managers · Project Managers · Superintendents · Safety Managers · Business Development
Design, Safety & Specialty Trades
Architects · Architectural PMs · Designers · CAD/Drafters · Safety · QC · Electrical & Plumbing Division Managers · Millwork Managers · Cabinet Makers
Business Operations
Controllers · Accounting Managers · Bookkeepers · Office Managers · Administrative Positions
Proof
See how the process actually ran.
Two searches in full: one where the process stopped a polished front-runner before he landed, and one where it re-scoped a role before a single candidate was contacted. Plus a long-form conversation with a client leadership team about the searches we ran together.
Read the case studies →Common questions
Frequently asked.
Do you do contingency?
No. Contingency creates the wrong incentives at exactly the moment judgment matters most. When we know a strong candidate who is available outside a retained search, we will tell you.
What's your replacement policy?
Six months prorated (Guided Interview Process must be used). If the matched candidate leaves, we credit the match fee toward a replacement search or another search. And the first 30 days of any search are money-back: if you're not satisfied with how we're running it, we refund the search fees you've paid to date.
Do you work outside construction?
Rarely. The methodology travels but our network is deepest in construction. We'll tell you if we're not the right fit.
Who runs my search?
TJ Kastning and our specialized US based team, no off-shore or AI driven recruiting. Every interview, every scorecard, every reference call is one of us. It's why we cap the number of searches we take.
What we underwrite
One retainer. Three guarantees.
A hire that lasts.
Month 6
Pro-rated replacement credit
If the matched leader leaves voluntarily or is released for performance, we credit the match fee toward the replacement search.
Year 1
Retention & integration coaching
Structured check-ins across the first year, when most hires succeed or fail, so misalignment surfaces while it's still fixable.
These hold when the search runs on our full process: discovery, structured interviews, assessment, and the check-ins. Shortcuts break the guarantee.
The working manual
Hire in 4K.
A field manual for the leaders doing the hiring.
Forty-some pages on running a structured search yourself: scorecards, interview rubrics, reference protocols, the seven dimensions of fit. The same operating system we use on Intensive engagements, written for in-house use.
- Scorecard template + worked example
- Structured-interview question bank by competency
- Reference-call protocol & pattern-finding worksheet
- 90-day landing plan format
Tell us about the role.
Not every search is public. Some are quiet, some develop over time, some are designed inside our network. If you're carrying a role you can't afford to get wrong, start a conversation.