Project Manager

Duet; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid vacation + holidays

401k match (4%)

Health care stipend

Paid parental leave

Disability and life insurance

Mileage and phone stipends

Job summary

Duet Build in Denver seeks an experienced Project Manager to own estimates, budgets and client communications from initial pricing to 11-month warranty walk. You report to the President and collaborate with design and field teams on custom homes and high-end renovations.

You will implement a streamlined process, manage bid packages, tracking, and ensure clarity in client updates, with a focus on cost control and timely delivery.

Qualifications

• Five+ years running custom residential builds or high-end renovations.
• Experience pricing work from trade bids and owning that number through closeout.
• Strong writing and client-facing communication skills.
• Ability to read drawings and identify conflicts before trades.
• Familiarity with JobTread, Adaptive and QuickBooks Online.

Responsibilities

• Price and stage the budget for each design phase using JobTread.
• Manage contracts, approvals and setup after awards.
• Lead project setup with drawings, contract and budget before kickoff.
• Oversee construction budgeting, RFIs and submittals; track changes.
• Review change orders with the President and ensure invoices align with the work.

Skills

Project management

Budgeting

Client communication

Estimating

Scheduling

Tools

JobTread

Adaptive

QuickBooks Online

Job description

You're the person who opens a returned bid, sees the tile sub priced the tile but not the waterproofing, and calls them before lunch. You're the one who notices a sub invoice doesn't match the work order and codes it as a scope change instead of letting it ride. You send the Friday update on Friday, and clients read it because it tells them something.

Maybe you've been the PM who also chased W-9s, ordered materials and ran the schedule because nobody else would. This job doesn't ask that of you.

We're hiring a Project Manager for Duet Build, the general contractor inside Duet, our design-build group in Denver. You'll own the estimate, the budget and the client on custom homes and high-end renovations, from first pricing to the 11-month warranty walk. You report to the President.

Why this role exists

This fall we rewrote how Duet Build runs a project. We went line by line through every task from the first phone call to the last warranty walk, and we found the Project Manager seat carrying 62 percent of all of it. Work nobody reassigned landed on the PM by default. That's how good PMs burn out.

So we fixed the structure before we hired. Every task now has one owner and a deadline. Our two Superintendents own the site, the schedule and the trades. Our Procurement and Estimating Manager owns bid packages, cost coding, sub paperwork, submittals and materials. Accounting owns invoicing and payables. The President owns contracts, sub selection and payment release. What's left is the work that needs a PM's judgment: what the job costs, where the money stands, and what the client hears.

You're walking into active projects with a written process behind them, not a pile.

How we run a project here:

We don't make it up as we go. Here's the system you'd be running.

• One owner per line. A task with two names gets done by neither, so every line carries one seat. If it's yours, it's yours.
• A deadline on everything. Bids are due 15 business days after the scope goes out. OAC minutes go out within a business day. Warranty requests get a response within 24 hours. A request with no date isn't a request.
• The Friday update. Every client, every Friday, by end of day. What we finished this week, open items with an owner and a date, what changed, next week by day, and what we need from them. Completed means completed. Nothing in progress hides under that heading.
• Item numbers stick. A number on the OAC agenda follows that item into the minutes and the weekly update until it closes. Nothing closes silently.
• Slips get named. If a date moves, the client hears it from you the week it moves, with the reason. A slip the client finds on their own is a credibility problem.
• Page turns with Design and Forma. Build walks every Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Documents package with our architecture and interior design teams. You see the drawings before they become a bid.
• JobTread is the record. Budget, schedule, daily logs, work orders, RFIs and submittals all live there.

What you'll own, stage by stage:

Our process runs in stages, and so does your work. This is the job, in the order a project moves.

• Estimating and pricing. After the internal kick-off, you review everything and return a written question list within five business days, and you research the city's permitting requirements. At each page turn with Design and Forma, you build the budget for that stage in JobTread, allowances included. When the Procurement and Estimating Manager hands you leveled bids, you price the estimate to our estimating guidelines and historical data, take it through QC, and bring it to the President for final approval. Pricing sits with you and the President. It doesn't move to the field or to procurement.
• Award. When the contract is signed, you move the job to Awarded in JobTread and send the project and contract to accounting for setup.
• Project setup. You send drawings, budget and contract to the Superintendent a week before the internal kick-off, and load the contract and budget into JobTread. You run the internal kick-off and the external kick-off with the client, architect and design team, with the agenda out ahead and minutes within two business days. You prepare and submit the permit application. Before any work starts, you walk the client through our Communication Plan.
• Construction. You know where the budget stands at all times. You raise RFIs to the design team within a business day of finding the gap, review submittals before they go out, and issue OAC minutes. You set up the box walk with the architect and designer, write its agenda and issue its minutes.
• Money. You review every change order with the President, present it to the client together, and confirm JobTread matches once it's signed. You review sub bills against the work order, confirm the work with the Superintendent, and code them by end of day Wednesday. You code Ramp purchases weekly and review client invoices on the 2nd and 16th. Every month you issue the schedule of values, audit JobTread against Adaptive, and track retainage by sub.
• Closeout. You turn the Superintendent's field list into a punch list, record completion dates at the client walk, and issue a dated punch list weekly until it's clear. You assemble the warranty box with hanging folders by trade and drawing type and the Welcome Home letter, and you present it at the final walk. Within ten business days, the as-builts are scanned and the project folders are closed. You complete the post-project assessment with the Superintendent.
• Warranty. You check the warranty inbox daily and answer every request within 24 hours. You prepare the 30-day, 6-month and 11-month walks with the client, issue the punch list after each one, and update the homeowner weekly until every item is complete.
• The weekly rhythm. Every morning, you reset the team's priorities with the President as needed. Monday, weekly priorities and project statuses go out. Wednesday, you run the prep meeting with both Superintendents. Thursday, you lead the weekly project meeting. Friday, every client gets their update.

A week in the life:

• Monday, 7:45am. Priorities and project statuses go out. One site has cabinets going in. Another is in tile. A third is waiting on a design answer that's now four days old, so it goes on Thursday's agenda.
• Monday, 10am. Estimate review. The Procurement and Estimating Manager has the bids leveled and the gaps flagged. Two trades excluded the same item, and you know which allowance it belongs in.
• Wednesday, 9am. Prep meeting with both Superintendents in one room, so a conflict between two sites surfaces at the table instead of on the job. Schedules updated, upcoming change orders reviewed, Thursday's agenda written.
• Wednesday, 4pm. Sub bills coded in Adaptive. One came in for work the Superintendent hasn't signed off on, so it waits.
• Thursday, 9am. Weekly project meeting. The four-day-old design question gets an owner and a date.
• Thursday, 1pm. Box walk with the architect, the designer and the electrician. You set it up five days ago and sent the agenda yesterday.
• Friday, 2pm. The Superintendent's field notes landed Thursday night. You build every client update from the daily log, not from memory.
• Friday, 5pm. Out. We mean that.

Your first 90 days:

• By day 30, you've walked every active site with the Superintendents, met every client in person, sent your first Friday updates and issued your first OAC minutes.
• By day 60, you've priced an estimate from leveled bids through QC and approval, and seen a change order through from pricing to signature. Your budgets match Adaptive.
• By day 90, every budget you own is one you'd defend in front of the client today. You've found at least two places our process should get better, and we've adopted them.

Evidence we're looking for:

• Five or more years running custom residential builds or high-end renovations. Depth matters more to us than square footage.
• You've priced work from trade bids and owned that number through closeout. You know where estimates go wrong because you've watched one do it.
• You write well, and you write often. You have a story about a slip you named early that the client thanked you for.
• You read a drawing set and see the conflicts before the trades do.
• You're steady with clients, fair with trade partners, and a strong teammate to the field. You don't need to run the site to respect the person who does.
• JobTread experience is a plus, or proof you pick up software fast.
• Familiarity with Adaptive and QuickBooks Online helps.
• Field experience as a tradesperson is a strong signal.

What we pay, what you get:

• Base salary of $78,500 to $100,000, based on experience.
• Three weeks of paid vacation on top of Colorado sick leave and 11 paid holidays.
• In years the schedule allows, Holiday R+R from Christmas through New Year's.
• A 401k with a 4% match, a health care stipend and paid parental leave.
• Disability and life insurance, plus mileage and a phone stipend.
• Full time, at our Bellaire office and on site.

Who we are, honestly

Our principals came up in big rooms: large commercial firms, hospitality groups, national architecture and construction practices. We chose residential because of the personal connection with homeowners and what it feels like to build the spaces people live in.

Duet Design has been here since 2011. Duet Build is its sister firm, and Duet Forma is our architecture practice. Together we cover the full path from architecture to interior to built. We do livable luxury for clients who care about the difference between done and well done.

We're a small team that doesn't believe in hierarchy theater. We work hard, and we leave in time for our kids' games. You'll work hard here. You won't sacrifice your life for it.

We read every application. We respond to every application. We move fast when we like what we see.

Duet Build is an equal opportunity employer.