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Construction Recruitment

Construction recruitment — from site to the executive floor.

PHM is a specialist construction recruitment agency for Canada and the USA. Our construction recruiters place project managers, superintendents, estimators and preconstruction leads — for general contractors, construction managers, owners and developers. Exclusive, search-led mandates on a fee-on-hire basis.

Why this hire is hard

The rules on getting paid changed, and the job changed with them.

Since January 2026 Ontario has released construction holdback every year on the contract anniversary instead of holding it to the end of the job, and payment disputes now go to an adjudicator on a three-week clock rather than to court. A project manager who ran work under the old rules interviews exactly like one who has run it under the new ones. The difference surfaces at the first anniversary date, which is a long way past the point where you hired.

What it costs while the seat is open

An unfilled site leadership seat is felt in sequencing within weeks. The schedule slips before anyone reports it, and the client attributes it to the builder, not the vacancy.

How we run it instead

We recruit construction leadership who are mid-project and not looking, approached through people who have worked alongside them — and we ask what someone has administered since the rules changed, not how long they have held the job.

Roles we recruit

The people who actually deliver the project.

Construction hiring is judged on delivery, not on resumes — so we assess what someone has actually built, at what value, under what contract. A sample of where we place:

Chief estimatorsConstruction managersContract administratorsDevelopment managersDirectors of ConstructionEstimatorsGeneral managersPreconstruction managersProject coordinatorsProject managersQuantity surveyorsSafety leadershipSchedulersSenior project managersSite supervisorsSuperintendentsVDC & BIM leadsVPs of Construction

Levels from coordinators and intermediate PMs through senior delivery leadership to construction executives and general management.

How we engage

Exclusive contingency.

Retained-level rigour, on an exclusive basis, for a fee paid on the hire — no upfront retainer and the delivery risk on us. We also work standard contingency where a role suits it. How we engage →

Construction hiring moves at the speed of the schedule. Because we don’t run volume, an exclusive mandate gets our full bandwidth — and we’re driven to deliver in less time than industry norms.

The construction disciplines

Five markets that only look like one.

A superintendent on a hospital, a data centre and a subdivision are doing three different jobs under three different contracts. We recruit each as its own market, because the people rarely move freely between them.

Construction Management

Project and site delivery for construction managers and owner’s representatives — PMs, superintendents and delivery leadership.

General Contractor

Self-perform and trade-managed delivery, estimating and preconstruction, through to GM and ownership.

Data Centre & Mission-Critical

Hyperscale and colocation build, commissioning and mission-critical facilities — the fastest-moving corner of the market.

Architecture & Planning

Architects, technologists, job captains and planners — the design side of the built environment.

Real Estate & Land Development

Development managers, land and entitlement, and the owner-side roles that carry the pro forma.

Civil Engineering

The consulting and design side that feeds construction — transportation, land development, municipal and water.

Where we recruit

Headquartered in London, Ontario. Recruiting nationally.

We place construction professionals into Toronto, Ottawa, London, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria — and across the United States. Construction is delivered on site, so we recruit into regional offices, project trailers and travelling roles as readily as into head offices.

A construction hire is judged against the market it is delivered in. Union and open-shop environments, provincial contract law, and what a superintendent is genuinely worth all differ by region — and a shortlist that ignores that is a shortlist of people who will decline.

Market pages for the three we are asked about most: engineering recruiters in Ontario, Toronto and Vancouver.

Common questions

Construction recruitment, answered.

What does a construction recruitment agency do?

A specialist construction recruitment agency finds and assesses the people who deliver projects — rather than forwarding applications. Ours maps the market for a defined role, approaches people directly, verifies delivery track record against a scorecard, and presents a qualified shortlist. We recruit across Canada and the USA.

Which construction roles do you recruit for?

Project managers, senior project managers, superintendents, site supervisors, estimators, preconstruction and VDC leads, project coordinators, contract administrators, schedulers and safety leadership — through to construction directors, general managers and VPs of Construction.

Do you recruit for general contractors, or for owners and developers?

Both, and they are different markets. A general contractor hires for delivery under a fixed contract; an owner or developer hires for program, cost and long-term asset performance. The same job title means different things in each, which is why we treat them as separate practices.

Are you construction recruiters or a construction staffing agency?

Both terms get applied to us, but they describe different work. A construction staffing agency typically supplies trades and labour at volume. We are construction recruiters running exclusive, search-led mandates for salaried, professional and leadership roles — closer to executive search than to staffing.

Do you recruit trades and site labour?

No. Our work is salaried professional and leadership hiring — project management, site leadership, estimating, preconstruction and executive. For trades and hourly labour, a labour-supply firm will serve you better and we will say so.

Where do you recruit construction professionals?

Across Canada and the USA. We are headquartered in London, Ontario, and recruit into Toronto, Ottawa, London, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria — including the project sites and regional operations where construction work is actually delivered.

Do you work on a retained or contingency basis?

We work exclusive contingency. Retained-level research and assessment, no money before a hire, and we carry the cost if the search does not produce one.

How quickly can you fill a construction role?

It depends on the role and the market, but exclusivity is what makes speed possible: one firm accountable, full bandwidth on the search, and no duplicated approaches burning the candidate pool. We are driven to deliver in less time than industry norms.

Related sectors

Explore where else our expertise runs deep.

Get in touch

Hiring for a project? Tell us the role.

An advisory conversation about the construction hire ahead of you — and where the right person is likely to come from. Not a commitment.