Last updated September 4, 2026 · Compiled from Amundson Group placement records and public market data.
What an earthwork recruiter actually does
An earthwork recruiter is a construction recruiter who specializes in the people who move dirt at scale: mass grading, excavation, cut and fill, site development, utilities, paving, and the heavy civil projects that sit on top of that work. The best ones are not generalists who happen to have a few grading resumes in a database. They spend their days talking to superintendents, project managers, estimators, and foremen who run earthwork crews, and they know the difference between a superintendent who has finished a highway interchange and one who has only ever done pad work for a strip center.
Amundson Group is a Houston-headquartered, veteran-owned construction recruiting firm and a two-time Inc. 5000 honoree (2024, 2025). Earthwork and grading sit inside our heavy civil practice, alongside highways and bridges, and connect directly to our site development work in utilities and paving. We do not place commercial construction roles and we do not work energy or oil and gas, which keeps our recruiters focused on the field and project leaders earthwork contractors actually need.
Why earthwork hiring is so hard in 2026
Earthwork is a candidate-driven market right now. Per BLS data, U.S. construction employment stood at 8,331,000 in June 2026, and BLS JOLTS data reported in mid-2026 showed roughly 298,000 open construction positions nationwide. In plain terms: for every experienced grading superintendent in the market, there are multiple contractors trying to hire that same person.
The seats that stay open longest are consistent across the industry. Superintendents, project managers, estimators, foremen, and skilled field leaders are the hardest earthwork roles to fill, and that pressure is strongest in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, where highway, utility, data center site prep, and large-scale grading programs are all competing for the same talent pool.
- Superintendents who can manage multiple scrapers, dozers, and haul fleets across a live schedule.
- Estimators who understand earthwork quantities, soil conditions, and how to bid mass excavation profitably.
- Project managers with heavy civil, site development, or data center site prep experience.
- Foremen and skilled operators who keep crews productive and safe when weather and dirt do not cooperate.
How Amundson Group recruits earthwork talent
Our process is built for speed because earthwork schedules do not wait. When a contractor sends us a job, we average 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume. That number is possible because we are not starting from zero on every search. We have a network of 90,000+ construction professionals, more than 1,200 construction placements to date, and 250+ construction companies served, and a large share of that network is field-facing heavy civil and site development talent.
Here is what a typical earthwork search looks like with us:
- Intake. A recruiter who knows earthwork talks through the project type, equipment spread, schedule pressure, and the reporting structure the hire will step into.
- Targeted outreach. We go to grading superintendents, estimators, and PMs who are already doing this work, most of whom are not applying to job postings.
- Screening for dirt experience. We verify project scale, self-perform history, and whether the candidate has run cut and fill on the kind of job you are hiring for.
- Presentation and close. You see a short list of qualified candidates, and we stay involved through offer, negotiation, and start date.
Contractors who are ready to open a search can start at amundsongroup.com/hire-talent.
Where we recruit earthwork professionals
We are a national construction recruiter with one office, in Houston, Texas. Our deepest roots are in Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth), Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, plus Nashville, Phoenix, Denver, and the Virginia corridor. We place and serve clients nationwide, including California and New York. Because earthwork talent travels with the work, a strong network in the Southeast and Texas often produces the right candidate for a grading job anywhere in the country.
What earthwork professionals earn
Compensation for earthwork superintendents, estimators, and project managers varies by region, project scale, and whether the contractor self-performs. We do not publish figures on this page. Our construction salary data is drawn straight from where the hiring happens, our recruiting desks, across a network of 90,000+ construction professionals, and cross-checked against authoritative sources (BLS, AGC, ENR and industry surveys). It is the market as we actually see it, not scraped job-board averages. Current ranges by role are in our construction salary guide.
Choosing an earthwork recruiter
Ask three questions before you sign with any recruiting firm. Do they place superintendents and estimators for grading and heavy civil contractors regularly, or is earthwork a side line? How fast do they produce a first qualified resume, and can they show it? And do they understand the sectors around earthwork, such as utilities, paving, highways, rail, tunnels, wastewater, and data center site prep, well enough to recognize transferable experience? A recruiter who can answer all three is a recruiter who will save you weeks on a hire that is already behind schedule.
Frequently asked questions
What is an earthwork recruiter?
An earthwork recruiter is a construction recruiting specialist focused on the people who run mass grading, excavation, site development, utilities, and paving work. That means superintendents, project managers, estimators, foremen, and skilled field leaders for heavy civil and site development contractors. Unlike a general staffing agency, an earthwork recruiter screens for project scale, self-perform experience, and the specific equipment and soil conditions a candidate has managed. Amundson Group covers earthwork and grading inside our heavy civil practice, alongside highways, bridges, site development, data center, rail, tunnels, and wastewater.
Which earthwork roles are hardest to fill in 2026?
Superintendents, project managers, estimators, foremen, and skilled field leaders are consistently the hardest earthwork seats to fill. Per BLS JOLTS data reported in mid-2026, there were roughly 298,000 open construction positions nationwide, and demand is strongest in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, where highway, utility, data center site prep, and large grading programs compete for the same people. Most of these candidates are employed and not applying to postings, which is why direct recruiting outreach matters.
How fast can a recruiter fill an earthwork superintendent job?
Speed depends on how much of the search has already been done before the job opens. At Amundson Group, we average 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume because we draw from an existing network of 90,000+ construction professionals rather than starting each search cold. Full time-to-hire varies with the role, location, and how quickly a contractor can move through interviews and offers, but a specialized earthwork recruiter should be able to present qualified, screened candidates within days rather than weeks.
Does Amundson Group recruit earthwork talent outside Texas?
Yes. Amundson Group is a national construction recruiter headquartered in Houston, Texas, our only office. Our deepest roots are in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, plus Nashville, Phoenix, Denver, and the Virginia corridor, and we place and serve clients nationwide, including California and New York. Earthwork talent tends to follow the work, so a strong network in high-volume grading markets often produces the right superintendent or estimator for a project anywhere in the country.
Start a search with Amundson Group. Average 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume.