Director of Building

The Director of Building is a key member of CO Adaptive's management team, working at the same leadership level as other Directors and reporting directly to the Principals. This role carries high-level accountability for construction operations across both the Architecture and Build entities, ensuring quality, efficiency, profitability, and alignment with CO Adaptive's mission and values.

While the Project Manager serves as the primary client contact during construction, the Director of Building ensures client satisfaction remains central to all decisions. They attend client meetings, support PMs on critical communication, and take accountability for difficult conversations such as budget or schedule impacts. Acting as both mentor and leader, they help refine client-facing communication while setting the tone for construction excellence across teams.

This is a pivotal role for an experienced construction leader who thrives in a design-build environment, understands the complexity of managing diverse projects concurrently, and can integrate construction strategy into the earliest stages of design.

Requirements

Core Responsibilities

Client + Stakeholder Management

• Support Project Managers in maintaining client satisfaction through proactive communication, transparency, and resolution of challenges related to budget or schedule.
• Attend client meetings and mentor PMs on effective client communication, ensuring trust, professionalism, and alignment with CO Adaptive's standards.

Staffing + Scheduling

• Oversee and forecast staffing, trade partner sequencing, and cross-project scheduling for all active work, optimizing for quality, efficiency, and profitability.
• Coordinate with Project Managers and the Director of Architecture to ensure alignment across disciplines.
• Establish robust scheduling protocols, including milestones, submittal schedules, scope look-aheads, and material ordering, providing guidance for PMs to maintain schedule adherence.

Procurement + Vendor Management

• Oversee bidding, negotiation, and procurement processes for trade partners and materials, ensuring alignment with budgets, schedules, and project strategy.
• Provide strategic oversight and management of material procurement across all active projects.
• Establish standards for forecasting, specification, and purchasing to ensure cost-effectiveness, schedule alignment, and adherence to CO Adaptive's sustainability goals.
• Cultivate strong trade partner and vendor relationships, set clear expectations, and monitor performance across all projects.

Construction Standards + Quality Oversight

• Uphold CO Adaptive's construction standards and ensure consistency across projects.
• Develop and maintain CO Adaptive guidelines for construction and carpentry techniques, protocols, and procedures in Confluence, ensuring documentation evolves with field insights and team feedback.
• Partner with the Director of Architecture and Integration Lead to review site quality, address persistent issues, and document best practices for ongoing improvement.
• Partner closely with Lead Carpenters to integrate construction knowledge early in design and ensure smooth handoff into construction execution.

Project Financial Oversight

• Oversee project financial tracking and support Project Managers with weekly updates, change orders, and site-driven adjustments.
• Take accountability for addressing discrepancies or challenging situations with the team or client, escalating to Principals as needed.

Mentorship + Team Development

• Mentor Project Managers and Build team members, ensuring compliance with OSHA certifications and continuing education.
• Lead monthly Build staff meetings to align the team and share best practices.

Issue Anticipation + Problem Solving

• Anticipate issues, address client concerns early, and track persistent issues in Confluence for COA Best Practices.
• Support project teams in developing practical, high-quality solutions across all active projects.

Project Closeout

• Oversee project closeout, including punchlist tracking and warranty documentation.
• Ensure all items are completed, recorded, and communicated clearly to clients.

Process-Specific Responsibilities

Schematic Design

• Review and support project feasibility, systems, schedules, and pricing estimates.
• Align with Principals on project fit for Build delivery.

Design Development

• Review assemblies, products, schedules, and pricing for potential Build delivery.
• Identify bidding strategies and prepare bid packages where appropriate.
• Delegate methodologies for baseline estimate setup by Project Managers for take-offs, and review in-house construction scopes for best practices, accuracy, scope gaps, sequencing, and general requirements for staging and setup. Delegate detailed estimates such as millwork to the appropriate Leads.

Construction Documentation

• Advise on trade partner relationships, material procurement, schedules, and QA/QC for Build projects.
• Integrate the appropriate Lead Carpenter early into design to incorporate their perspective into construction…