Carpenter

Rippling; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Path to employee ownership (ESOP)

Competitive compensation

High-craft custom residential work

Job summary

Rippling is seeking an experienced carpenter to join our team in Los Angeles. You will lead the site during the framing phase, ensuring that the work is done to the highest standards. The ideal candidate has 3-5 years of experience in residential construction, with a strong background in framing and building envelopes.

Your role will include leading the site, supporting fellow crew members, and ensuring that every phase is handed off cleanly. If you care about the craft and take pride in your work, we want to hear from you!

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of field experience in residential building from foundation to roof.
• Proficient in framing, waterproofing, and building envelope construction.
• Ability to communicate effectively and ask relevant questions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the site during the framing phase, ensuring high standards.
• Support team members effectively without undermining authority.
• Ensure successful handoff phases to subsequent roles.

Skills

Framing and building envelope expertise

Ability to read plans

Precise layout and measurement skills

Leadership and teamwork abilities

Detail-oriented mindset

Job description

Each member of this crew takes the lead at their phase of the build — and steps back to support when the baton passes. During structure and envelope, that lead is you. The Foreman, the Systems Builder, the Finish carpenter, the Junior — they are behind you. The site is yours to run.

When your phase closes and the baton passes, your job shifts. You become the support. You help whoever is leading the next phase do their best work, because you built the foundation that makes it possible. The right person for this crew will recognize that model immediately — and want it.

Mission of the Role

You are here to build the shell of the house the way it was meant to be built — plumb, square, tight, and ready for everything that follows. Framing that holds dimension through finish. An envelope that doesn't let water in anywhere, ever. You're not just executing — you're setting up every other trade to do their best work. When you hand off this phase, you hand it off complete.

Focus of the Role

• During structure, you lead the site. You own framing and rough structure from layout through inspection — walls, floors, roofs, headers, openings. You know what a well-framed house looks and feels like, and you don't leave until it's that.
• You are the person on this crew the Foreman trusts with the envelope. Windows, doors, waterproofing, flashing details — you understand what you're defending against and you build accordingly. You've seen what happens when this work isn't done right.
• When your phase closes, you step into support. You help the Systems Builder. You help the Finish carpenter. You are a capable set of hands and a knowledgeable pair of eyes for whoever is leading — without undermining their authority or second-guessing their decisions.
• When something in the drawings doesn't work in the field, you say so immediately — not after you've framed around it.

What Success Looks Like

By the time you close out your first build with Riley Projects, the following things are true:

• The framing is clean. Every trade that came in after you had room to do their work. Inspections passed. Nothing had to be torn out and redone.
• The envelope held up to scrutiny. The Foreman, the PM, and the designer all felt confident signing off on it — because you flagged every questionable detail before it was covered up.
• The phase transition was clean. When you handed off to the Systems Builder, the site was ready. No loose ends, no missing information, no surprises waiting in the walls.
• You were a good crew member during every phase you weren't leading. You supported without stepping on anyone's toes. The person leading trusted you behind them.
• You've started to develop opinions about the kit. What works, what could be better, where the drawings could be sharper. And you're telling us.

Our Part

You will not arrive to a job site that isn't ready for you. Materials will be staged. Drawings will be resolved. We will give you the information and support to do the work well — and we'll listen when you tell us something isn't right.

Core Competencies

• 3–5 years of field experience with real depth in framing and building envelope. You've done residential from foundation to roof and you understand how the pieces depend on each other.
• You read plans well and you ask good questions early. You are precise — in your layout, in your measurements, in your communication.
• You know how to lead when it's your phase and follow when it's not. Both require skill. Both matter here.
• You care about the craft. Not in an abstract way. In the way that means you won't cover up work you're not satisfied with.

Compensation & Ownership

We pay competitively for the right person. Riley Projects is on a structured path to employee ownership (ESOP). The people who help build this company will own a piece of it. We'll talk through what that looks like in detail when we meet.

Multi-trade Full build cycle

This isn't the job for everyone. But for the right person, it's more than a job.

If you're the kind of carpenter who takes the time to think through a flashing detail before you touch it — because you know what happens three years later when someone didn't — we want to hear from you.

About Riley Projects

We're a small design-build firm doing high-craft custom residential work in Los Angeles. Designer, project manager, and field crew under one roof — so the work that reaches you is resolved, not dumped on you to figure out. We're building toward employee ownership, which means the people who build this company have a real stake in what it becomes.