Salary Expectations for Development Or Construction Manager?
Looking for help from Development and/or Construction Managers in here. I am currently talking to 3 Developers about a position. I have had 2 interviews and 1 more next week, plus I’m expecting to receive a second round interview from one of them this week or next. If I get asked point blank what my salary expectations are, what do you other Development or Constructions managers think is a good starting point?

I have 6 years experience with a large commercial GC. My undergrad degree is in Civil Engineering. Two of the positions are for a Development Manager position and one is for a Construction Manager position.  The DM roles are for Industrial, and CM is all asset classes but the focus will be a lot of Industrial and some hospitality from the conversation I had today with the Director of Construction. My experience is all in office and Multifamily/mixed use.
[{"id": "hw15hw7", "text": "And FWIW I spent 4.5 years before construction in a different industry as an oil and gas services field engineer. Current location since that makes a difference is Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw1akjj", "text": "Can you provide more info to help narrow this down, such as:\n6 years experience in which roles, exactly? \nAny precon experience?\nNumber of projects at a time, size of projects in new role? \nDifferences in scope between Dev Mgr and CM?", "replies": [{"id": "hw1gjk5", "text": "6 years. First as project engineer then senior project engineer and now assistant Project Manager. No official precon experience but have been there helping with pursuits in between projects off and on. In there now helping review bids and writing scopes of work for subcontractors. Large GC so only one project at a time but managing multiple subs. My last project I managed all skin trades, drywall, paint, ornamental metals, and site paving. Total cost for my subs alone was around $45 million. Prior to that I was on a much smaller job managing all but MEP trades, I\u2019m guessing roughly $12-$15 million. Small project only $25 million total (renovation). In between projects outside of helping with pursuits I spent about 8 months doing strictly close out and punch list, and another couple months churning out submittals for a project that was just starting. During projects we handle all pricing exercises, RCOs/OCOs, and pay app review amongst other typical duties. \n\nThe company I interviewed with (National Developer) they just have a Development manager, no CM. The DMs manage all construction. Involved in project budgeting, permitting, Arch/GC selection as you can imagine. \n\nSecond company DM role. This is a smaller shop. I\u2019m not used to all the terms around here but I believe you would call this a family office as the CEO is the sole General Partner and funds most the projects. They are new to industrial but the Director has a long history of Industrial development prior to moving to this company. From our interview last week he said he wasn\u2019t quite sure how he will structure the group, all will depend on who he ends up hiring. So sounds like I will get to do a little bit of everything from acquisitions, ground up development, and Construction management. Get more involved on the financial matters and front end development with design team, civil engineer, geotech, etc. The company has acquired land and is looking for a DM since they are about to move closer to Construction and have a goal of a couple million square feet to be developed within the first year. \n\nThird company is a CM role. National developer but company is smaller overall than the first, but locally made they are both Top 20 based on SF developed and under development for 2021. All I know is it will be a construction manager role, not as involved in the finances as the DMs are at this company. I applied for a DM position they posted for in Houston and the VP there sent my resume to the Dallas office and I got a call today asking to interview for a CM role so I never read an official job posting. We only talked briefly so I didn\u2019t get much intel other than CM role for all asset classes. From what I have seen I can imagine the position is more construction focused, probably more onsite, some involvement in precon scooping GC bids, reviewing change orders and developing project budgeting.\n\nAll 3 companies will have multiple projects at once going on to manage which I look forward to of I get an offer from one of them. I imagine the DM roles I will have fewer project overall since I will have more duties overall.", "replies": [{"id": "hw1pj8q", "text": "Very helpful, great answers. I don\u2019t know Dallas as well as some of the other Sunbelt and Western states, but we typically hire this kind of position at around $100K base. With several years direct experience we go up to about $145K, this would be a \u201cSr DM\u201d just below Director level. Bonuses range depending on project length and milestones. 20-30% of base per year, fluctuating depending on project delivery milestones. (Some years are bigger than others.)\n\nThe $100K person is probably working on at least one project, total cost ranging from $30-70M. The Sr DM position has several hundred million going in total.", "replies": [{"id": "hw39wpi", "text": "When hiring this position at $100K base, what is the typical experience level of the candidate? Straight out of school/grad school, couple years as analyst or with a GC? \n\nNone of the companies have asked the compensation question yet, although one required it on the online application. I just want to be able to put out a fair/reasonable (one that aligns with the market for my area) number. I don\u2019t want to sell myself short, but I also don\u2019t want to shoot way too high and have them think this guy is absurd and dismiss me.", "replies": [{"id": "hw6ljnv", "text": "Straight out of school, no, not offering $100K for that. Grad school no different if they don\u2019t have real-world experience. Your GC experience is a plus, but no experience in entitlements/development makes your position a little weaker. Nothing wrong with that, just means there are some great learning opportunities!\n\nNot having met you and not getting to dive into your resume makes it a little harder to judge. What do you think you should make?", "replies": [{"id": "hw6sn9o", "text": "The number in my head now based off what I\u2019ve read here and elsewhere is $120K-$140K. My gut tells me $140K is way too high, so I think $115K-$130K would probably be the min and max for someone with my experience as a CM. Bonus I\u2019m going to guess minimum 20%. \n\nI\u2019m also starting to realize the term DM and CM are used quite differently depending on the company. We have some clients who are all title DM, SDM, VP, etc but they manage the construction and the guys who put the deals together are analyst, associate, senior associate. Then both the \u201cdeal\u201d guys and construction guys have a principal. Nobody in their regional office is a DM without having the construction background. We have another client who has a Construction manager, and a Development manager who probably doesn\u2019t know what a hammer is and was seldom present at the OAC meetings.", "replies": [{"id": "hwd0s8a", "text": "I think you\u2019re right on track. Come back and let us know what you end up doing, and for how much!", "replies": [{"id": "hwd7dvq", "text": "I\u2019ll keep you guys posted on if these interviews turn into anything more. I have a pretty good feeling I\u2019ll hear back from company number 2 this week, and my round 1 with company number 3 will be Monday. I\u2019m not so sure about company number 1 anymore. It\u2019s been a couple months and all they have said is we haven\u2019t gotten the internal budget approval for that role yet. I know they are still interviewing for the role and a former coworker of mine who works for them told me his hiring time from interview to offer took 3 months, so I still have a slim sliver of hope.", "replies": [], "depth": 8}, {"id": "hy08p3z", "text": "Well just an update. The third company I interviewed with last week reached back out to me today and said they were going with a different candidate. The hiring manager said I would get an offer should their first choice decline the offer. \n\nThe second company has just ghosted me after the initial interview. I followed up once and heard nothing back so I know that door has closed.\n\nThe first company still hasn\u2019t hired for the position. From what I have gathered they are still waiting for approval on the role but honestly I don\u2019t really care to take that job. The slow moving nature of a big company is just a big turn off to me. I\u2019d probably take the job if I did get an offer but of the three companies they are probably my third choice. \n\nI will say despite not getting any offers at this time, interviewing definitely helps you prepare for when you get to interview for that dream job. Each interview I had I felt much better about my performance than the last one. I was more relaxed, better prepared to answer questions, and was able to come up with better questions to ask the interviewer.", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw1c8vr", "text": "Where?", "replies": [{"id": "hw1dlh2", "text": "Dallas Fort Worth", "replies": [{"id": "hw2mmxb", "text": "I'm not familiar with the DWF market but what the other comment said sounds true. Even in Ohio (where some of my colleagues are based) a DM/CM can be $100k base plus bonus/incentive. But I'm NYC metro so take my advice with a grain of salt, salaries are way higher here.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw1fgid", "text": "If I had to guess in DFW, ~$150k base and 30-100% bonus. Bonus will vary and be tied to starts and milestones.", "replies": [{"id": "hw1gv6k", "text": "You mind if I ask what you are basing this on? Unfortunately Development Manager and Construction manager roles aren\u2019t the most prevalent on Glassdoor so I\u2019ve only got a few to look at from there. This seems to be on the higher end of what I have seen, but from searching through the CRE Reddit and LinkedIn I feel like $140K is probably a good median. But that is based on a very small sample size.", "replies": [{"id": "hw1s7va", "text": "Worked as an Asset management analyst at a developer in DFW for $90k base and 20% bonus. I know the development team made the same base as the AM team but had a larger bonus. So If I had to guess the development career track and comp would be.\n\nAnalyst $90k \n\nAssociate $110k \n\nDevelopment Manager $130-150k\n\nAnd bonus for development would probably vary based off the firm, but would be anywhere from 30-100% (assuming they get more than the 20% that asset management gets) and I feel like it would be more than 30% because we work 40 hrs a week in AM while the development guys are pulling 60hr weeks.", "replies": [{"id": "hw3acpd", "text": "Is that the progression to DM at your previous company? Analyst, associate, then DM? Just asking because I\u2019ve seen some guys go straight from my company to a DM role, a lot of others I\u2019ve worked for had GC background, while some had finance background. A couple others had a less typical path, so it seems like there are a multitude of ways to the DM role. Just trying to figure what the experience level is of the DMs you referenced.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw1gdc0", "text": "Edit- Meant to reply to somebody and created a new reply.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw2zfl7", "text": "Dev managers at my multi family firm in Denver are pulling 150-250k plus 1-3% of the GP promote valued at 100-200k when the property sells 3-7 years later.", "replies": [{"id": "hw34xh7", "text": "So I\u2019m trying to familiarize myself with some of the language used here. What is GP promote value? Is there a sticky in this thread with all of the common industry terms?", "replies": [{"id": "hw45t7f", "text": "GP promote is the profit the general partner receives. Limited partners bring the money to the deal, general partner manages the deal. The general partner typically gets a higher amount of the profits as the deal does better and passes certain hurdles.", "replies": [{"id": "hw498af", "text": "So at your firm the DMs receive a portion of the General Partners profit from the deal? Did I understand that correctly?", "replies": [{"id": "hw4a3tb", "text": "Yup about 1-3% of the general partners promote (profit share). Typically our promotes are valued somewhere around 2-3m. This is on institutional grade assets, 200+ unit communities.", "replies": [{"id": "hw5gtsu", "text": "FYI promote does not equal profit. Promote is the marginal distribution to the GP above their Pari Passu share, which is typically based on certain performance/return hurdles. \n\nLike if a GP is 10% of the total equity stack, and, for simplicity, there\u2019s only one promote hurdle at 20% above a 18% IRR, the GP gets 10% of all distributions until the project achieves an 18% IRR. And then gets \u201cpromoted\u201d to 20% of all the CF from the project in excess of the amount required to get the project to an 18% IRR.  \n\n3% of the value of the promote isn\u2019t 3% of the GP\u2019s total profit, it\u2019s typically much less.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw35794", "text": "Y1 MBA grads are looking at around 120k base +30% bonus +5-10k signing for Sunbelt markets for MF. Roles are a little nebulous from DM to Associate, industrial devs making slightly more.\n\nSome roles have \"Development\" being more CM-ey which might be an easier transition. If you could get a DM to stick it has way higher upside and has higher barrier to entry. I was a CM that tried to get Dev roles and had issues before grad school.", "replies": [{"id": "hw36mhy", "text": "Yea I am most interested in company number 2. Development manager role. Smaller company and just getting started with the industrial group. They have done Multifamily for 12 years so they aren\u2019t brand new to development. I feel like getting in on the ground floor with a slimmer staff will expose me to things the other companies won\u2019t. The MD has a good resume and track record for industrial which is another big draw for me. I know I\u2019m not up to speed on the financial side but I feel it\u2019s something I could learn if given the opportunity. Just have to get the offer first then put in the work. \n\nI wouldn\u2019t be opposed to going back for a masters. I always told myself I would but that\u2019s easy to say and I\u2019m sure everyone probably tells themself that. I just don\u2019t see it being wise to do that in my current role at a GC.", "replies": [{"id": "hw39gqf", "text": "Absolutely don't go back to school if you can make it over without it. Truthfully, you could get all the financial knowledge needed in a couple month online REFM or A.CRE course and have enough for your job. Most grad school is more holistic and unnecessary while being 2 years and expensive. I'm assuming you have some engineering background and if so, learning finance will be easier than any of your classes in undergrad.\n\nIf I had bites on my resume before grad school I would have never went, it's crazy expensive and losing 2 years in your twenties to being broke again is no fun imo.", "replies": [{"id": "hw3b4a0", "text": "Thanks for the advice. Yes I did Civil Engineering for my undergrad. Even passed the EIT/FE exam but went into oil/gas before construction so never needed the PE. I didn\u2019t want to sound arrogant but yes from what I\u2019ve heard, an MBA or non engineering masters is way easier than an engineering undergrad. My first year of college I did take a couple of accounting classes (changed degree plans after) and found those relatively easy. I know it gets more convoluted than accounting 101, but if I can handle structural analysis/design, hydraulic design, cal 1-3 and differential equations I feel like I could handle financial courses. But I would prefer a certificate of some sort so I can just get the necessary knowledge and not all the fluff class colleges require in undergrad and I\u2019m assuming graduate level courses as well. I\u2019m just not sure how much weight a certificate holds and if employers really care about that, or if they just look for undergrad and graduate degree.", "replies": [{"id": "hw3bnpq", "text": "Once you're in the industry, you're in. Especially if you can make it to a national dev, you'd have better branding and could easily move around the industry. I don't regret grad school since it got me where I want to go, but with hindsight I would have just chosen a different undergrad/major. It's 120k and 2 years of your life so you gotta make sure it's worth it. \n\nI probably put in 20% of the effort in grad school vs my undergrad, and it's only not 10% because I have a CE background instead of a finance background. I've also got my EIT and chose not to pursue further.", "replies": [{"id": "hw3irhy", "text": "Yea I feel what you\u2019re saying about a different undergrad. My university had a 5 year masters in finance program. Looking back I wish I would of done that, but can\u2019t do anything about it now. \n\nWhat is your take on getting in the industry as a CM then transitioning to a DM role? Is that a hard leap? I feel since my foundation is construction, strengthening that will only make me better in the long run, but I have the desire to take on a bigger role from the DM side eventually. And yes, even though I\u2019m really enthused about the DM opportunity with the smaller family office, I feel the other DM and CM role with national developers will be better from a branding perspective which I feel is more important in your earlier career. I feel I have a better shot at the CM role than the DM role with the two national developers.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw3o2zr", "text": "Development managers with 5 years of experience where I work get 130-150 plus 6K per project bonus. Close on 2-5 projects a year", "replies": [{"id": "hw9kbpl", "text": "Is that 5 years experience as a DM, or 5 years experience prior to becoming a DM?", "replies": [{"id": "hwa7syb", "text": "5 prior", "replies": [{"id": "hwag4tx", "text": "Where do you work (area region, not company name)? \n\nAre the DMs at your company more just the financial side, or are they heavily involved in the CM process? Or does your company have a separate construction manager?", "replies": [{"id": "hwbgmd9", "text": "Midwest low cost of living. Mostly development very little finance. There is a separate construction manager. These are big projects 100+ unit apartments", "replies": [{"id": "hwbir0w", "text": "Good to know. Cost of living in Texas is low as well but has gone up significantly the past few years. My experience is in large commercial construction so I would say equivalent to what you are describing. My last project was a Multifamily tower with around 400 units. \n\nI guess the best way to answer what are your salary expectations if asked or given an offer is to say \u201cBased on my understanding of compensation for this role, the range is $120K-$150K, so I would expect to be within that range depending on the total compensation and benefits package\u201d.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hw5xqfy", "text": "The 125k-150k number sounds in the ballpark given the current market (Id guess lower end), but honestly the bonus numbers people are throwing out are a little crazy.  I\u2019d guess a bonus more in the 20-30 percent range.  Your biggest challenge will be your background.  Most people with a construction background tend to have an easier time getting a CM role than DM role because it\u2019s a better fit for experience.  If you haven\u2019t - Id check out the CEL &amp; Associates salary survey (comp summary is free), it tends to be pretty accurate on salary ranges from what I\u2019ve seen. \n\nYou are smart to be looking at a smaller firm - you\u2019ll\nGain a ton of experience in the short term with the trade off of a maybe slightly lower starting salary.", "replies": [{"id": "hw6giw7", "text": "Thanks for the advice. I saw the survey you referenced a few days ago. Didn\u2019t seem like it was averaged for specific regions so that\u2019s why I wanted to check out what people are saying for DFW. Just want to have a solid number if asked that is align with market value. To me it sounds like $120k-$130k is the minimum.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]