Role family
Construction and Real Estate Accounting Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: We find accounting professionals who know how to build WIP schedules and joint venture distribution models rather than only recording general ledger entries.
This is what we do all day: recruit accounting, finance, banking and insurance professionals.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- Controller
- CFO
- VP Finance
- FP&A Director
- Accounting Manager
- Director of Accounting
- Assistant Controller
- Tax Director
- Treasury Manager
- Internal Audit Director
- Senior Accountant
- Financial Analyst
- Head of Financial Reporting
- Commercial Lender
- Chief Credit Officer
- Business Systems Finance Lead
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Accounting, finance, banking and insurance
- We reach people who aren’t on job boards
- Replacement terms on standard searches
How long did your last search take?
How much did the empty seat cost while you waited?
Every week a finance seat stays empty costs you in overtime, late closes and work that waits. We go straight to people already doing the job.
Every title in this family
Construction Controller
Construction Accounting Manager
Project Accounting Manager
Senior Project Accountant
Project Accountant
Job Cost Accountant
Construction Payroll Manager (certified payroll)
Real Estate Controller
Property Accounting Manager
Senior Property Accountant
Property Accountant
Development Accountant
Director of Development Finance
Homebuilder / Land Accountant
Lease and CAM Accountant
Real Estate Financial Analyst
Senior Development Accountant
Construction CFO
01
What does this hire really come down to?
In construction and real estate, your accounting function links daily project spending to executive financial statements. You need a person who translates site progress into cash draws and manages the legal documentation for lien waivers. An accountant with only general corporate experience often fails when tasked with reconciling job cost coding or calculating multi-entity distributions during a deadline.
Effective hires in this sector treat accounting as a mix of contract law and cash management. They calculate percentage-of-completion revenue and identify risks when billings lag behind actual costs. Do they produce cash draw reconciliations? They evaluate project health to confirm your revenue matches physical site activity and your profit margins remain intact.
A contractor's payroll desk and a property owner's accounting desk need different experience. We ask a construction candidate how they handle a certified payroll correction. For a property role, we ask which lease terms they check before a CAM reconciliation goes to the tenant. Then we compare those answers with the work you need this person to own.
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01We ask how they determine earned revenue from the latest cost-to-complete estimate and how they reconcile it to the WIP schedule. Who checks the estimate with the project manager?
- 02We ask them to describe the specific screens they use in Sage 300 CRE, Yardi Voyager, or Viewpoint Vista to run a project budget report.
- 03We ask them to walk through the calculation steps for a waterfall distribution to see if they know how to split cash between different project partners.
- 04We ask them how they verify Davis-Bacon or prevailing wage rates on a weekly payroll run and what they do when a subcontractor submits incorrect hours.
- 05We ask them to explain how they match a payment application to the contract terms to decide if an AIA billing is ready for approval.
- 06We ask them to name a time they identified a code error on an invoice and how they convinced the project manager to fix the charge.
03
Where do we find them?
We source candidates from commercial contractors, property management firms, and developers. These people are currently performing job cost or property accounting. We avoid job boards and contact these practitioners directly, identifying those who are ready to change jobs because their current employer does not offer them room to manage larger project scopes or more complex tax entities.
Employed candidates start looking for new roles when they hit a wall in their ability to manage complex reporting or gain oversight of entire project lifecycles. We approach professionals at regional audit firms or specialty trade shops who have reached the limit of their current responsibilities and want to manage full financial sets. They move when they find a firm that allows them to apply their construction finance knowledge to active project dilemmas.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Hiring managers often select candidates with broad general ledger experience who have never managed a WIP schedule, which forces them to train the person on basic job costing for months.
- 02Firms often assume someone who knows a software brand can automatically handle project accounting, failing to see that a property accountant may not know how to bill a progress-based construction contract.
- 03Hiring managers often overlook whether an accountant can handle conflict, failing to check if the candidate can actually tell a project manager that their requested budget coding is incorrect.
05
The search in three steps
- 01We start by mapping your project types and current ERP setup so we define the exact cost-tracking hurdles the person must resolve on their first day.
- 02We perform outreach to passive professionals in your niche, screening for the specific regulatory and project accounting skills that verify they can handle your reporting cycle immediately.
- 03We interview candidates about their history with complex projects and how they make technical decisions, verifying they have the practical habits to handle your reporting deadlines.
How your search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
One sequence, from a well-defined seat to a shortlist you can judge.
Search Calibration
We start with a call about the seat, the books, the owners and the people the hire will work with. We learn what the role must fix in the first year and what would make a candidate wrong even if the resume looks right.
You get: A written search brief: scope, must-haves, deal-breakers and the pay range, agreed with you.
Market Mapping
We map the companies and institutions where the right people already work: similar size, similar ownership, similar complexity, in your market and in others.
You get: The target list of companies and institutions we will search, reviewed with you before outreach.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We find direct ways to reach the people on the map. Most are employed and not reading job boards, so reaching them takes real research.
You get: Direct routes to people who are not on job boards, researched for your search.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We call and write to people individually and follow up. Interest varies, so we discuss the actual opportunity rather than promising a particular response.
You get: One-to-one conversations about your actual role, followed up, never a mass email blast.
Live Candidate Qualification
We speak with every candidate before you do. We check scope, systems, reporting lines, compensation expectations, location and why they would move.
You get: Only candidates we have spoken with, checked on scope, systems, pay, location and motive.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a short written brief on each finalist covering what they have done, where they are thin and what they want. Then we help with interviews, references and the offer.
You get: A short written brief on each finalist, plus help with interviews, references, counteroffer risk and the offer.
Questions people ask
What is the realistic timeline for receiving a vetted shortlist given the current market?
We need several weeks to locate and screen candidates who possess your specific technical project experience. We provide a shortlist only after we have verified their history with your type of financial reporting.
How do you manage the risk of a candidate rejecting our offer in favor of a counter-offer?
We manage communication early to find potential conflicts that could cause a candidate to decline an offer. If a current employer makes a counter-offer, we discuss the candidate's actual reasons for wanting to leave so you can confirm their commitment to your firm.
How do you mask my firm's identity during the initial outreach stages?
We control when your firm's name is revealed based on your instructions for the search. We reach out to prospects as an anonymous contact and only disclose your firm once we reach a point where both sides are ready to talk.
Are your recruitment services strictly contingency-based?
Yes. We bill our search fees only after you successfully hire one of our presented candidates. You owe no payment unless you choose to hire someone per our signed agreement terms.
Is it a requirement that the candidate has held the identical job title previously?
No. Titles vary between firms and do not define the work a person has performed. We prioritize their actual history with WIP schedules or joint venture calculations over the specific labels listed on a resume.
What is the fee for a finance search?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. The fee and terms are agreed in writing before we start.
What is your guarantee?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do?
We do not post your finance job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
Start a search
Tell us about the seat.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.