In a construction job offer, base salary is usually the least flexible line, because it has to fit the firm’s pay bands. Bonus terms, vehicle, start date, title, the first project and severance move more easily. Compare total annual pay on both sides before you ask for anything, and ask once, in one conversation.
The offer is $165,000 and you earn $150,000. A ten percent raise, a bigger firm, a better title: you are ready to say yes in the parking lot. Then you do the arithmetic you should have done first. Your current bonus has averaged $25,000 and you drive a company truck. The new firm targets a smaller bonus and pays a vehicle allowance instead. Line by line, the job offer that looked like $15,000 more is worth about $2,000 more, and you have not yet counted the commute.
How do you compare a job offer with what you earn now?
Add up total annual pay on each side: base, realistic bonus, vehicle, retirement match and any per diem. Use what the bonus has paid, not its ceiling. Then set the difference against what changes in your week: commute, travel, and the size of the job you will carry.
Take the example above. Today you earn $150,000 in base, a bonus that has averaged $25,000, and a company truck worth about $12,000 a year to you, for a total of $187,000. The offer is $165,000 in base, a target bonus of $15,000, and a vehicle allowance of $9,000, for a total of $189,000. The raise in base is $15,000. The raise in total pay is $2,000. The same arithmetic can also show a pay cut in base to be the better offer.
Two details change the sum. A company truck with fuel is generally worth more than an allowance of the same face value, because personal use of an employer vehicle and a cash allowance are taxed differently. The IRS guide to fringe benefits sets out the rules. And a bonus quoted as “up to 30 percent” tells you its ceiling. Ask what the plan paid people in your seat in each of the last three years. Getting that answer can take a few days, and a short offer deadline is usually a negotiating tactic, so ask for the time in writing.
Check the market as well as your own history. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes metro wage data for construction managers and estimators, and a number that is strong in San Antonio may be ordinary in Austin. Our notes on project manager compensation and on incentive pay explain how contractors build these packages. If you hold two letters at once, our note on comparing offers sets them side by side on five lines.
With the totals side by side, you know how big the gap is, and can look for the lines where the firm has room to close it.
What is negotiable in a construction job offer?
More than most candidates ask about. Base pay is constrained by what the firm pays the people beside you. One-time and structural terms are easier for a president to approve: a signing bonus, a guaranteed first-year bonus, a vehicle, the start date, title, severance and the review date.
| Element | How flexible | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Low to moderate | The top of the band, with the band named |
| Signing bonus | High | The bonus you forfeit by leaving, made whole |
| First-year bonus | High | A guaranteed minimum for year one |
| Bonus plan | Low | The written plan and its payment history |
| Vehicle | Moderate | Truck or allowance, fuel card, personal use |
| Start date | High | Time to hand over your current project |
| Title | Moderate | The title that matches the authority |
| Severance | Moderate at senior levels | Months of base if terminated without cause |
| Six-month review | High | A written review date with a pay discussion |
| Relocation or per diem | High where relevant | Itemized, and grossed up for tax |
A guaranteed first-year bonus deserves a second look. You will join partway through a bonus year, on projects you did not start, and a plan based on results may pay you little through no fault of your own. Asking for a floor in year one is reasonable, and firms that want you tend to agree.
If the job involves travel, compare the per diem with the federal per diem rates for that city, which are a neutral benchmark for lodging and meals.
Authority is negotiable too, and it outlasts the money. Which project you start on, how many people report to you, and what you can approve without a signature will shape your first two years more than $5,000 will.
When should you raise each point in a construction job offer?
After the verbal offer and before the written one, in a single conversation. Thank them, say you want to accept, and list everything at once. Three requests on Tuesday followed by two more on Thursday reads as bad faith, and the firm will stop moving.
A sequence that works:
- Before any offer: give a range for total pay, not your current salary. Our note on salary expectations covers how to answer when you are asked.
- At the verbal offer: ask for it in writing, with the bonus plan, and take a day.
- One call: “I’d like to accept. Three things would get me there.” Name them in order of importance.
- Trade, don’t stack. If base cannot move, ask for the signing bonus or the review date instead.
- Get the result in the offer letter. A promise from a president who retires next year is worth what is written down.
Give reasons that are about the job. “My current bonus pays in March and I would be leaving $25,000 behind” is a fact the firm can solve. “I was hoping for more” is not. The employer’s side of this conversation is described in our note on offer negotiation, and it shows that a firm’s main fear at this stage is losing you to a counteroffer. That fear is your leverage, and it is also a reason to be quick.
A recruiter can carry most of this for you. Saying a hard number through a third party is easier on both sides, and a recruiter who holds the search knows where the firm’s limits are. What the final paper should contain is covered in our note on the employment agreement. Hold your resignation until that paper is signed and every contingency in it has cleared: an offer rescinded after you give notice leaves you nothing to negotiate with.
What not to negotiate
- Anything you do not care about. Every request uses goodwill.
- Terms that single you out from peers in ways they will discover, such as an extra week of vacation in a small office.
- The same point twice. Once it is settled, leave it settled.
- An offer you plan to decline. Negotiating only to produce a counter at your current firm damages two relationships.
Selah Talent Partners carries out confidential executive search for mandates that cannot be publicly posted, for contractors across the United States. The pay conversation belongs in the first call, so that an offer does not arrive as a surprise to either side. If you would like a plain view of what a seat pays in your market, the candidates page is where to ask, and it costs a candidate nothing.
Do the arithmetic before you get to the parking lot.
Sources and further reading
- Fringe benefits, Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15-B
- Metro wage data, Bureau of Labor Statistics, metropolitan wage estimates
- Per diem rates, US General Services Administration