An Operations Manager manages operations for a specific area within a company or organization. Supervises staff, oversees quality control, process improvement, and budget management for daily work activities. Has significant authority within their area of responsibility such as hiring, training, and managing staff.
The Role in One Paragraph Once a customer signs, sales steps back and this person steps in. From that moment until the final walkthrough, the Operations Manager is Log & Timber Worx to that customer — the voice on the phone, the source of every update, the person who knows where the crew is and what happens next. Internally, they are the connective tissue between ownership, the office, and the field. They own the schedule, the materials, the customer relationship, and the receivables. They do it by earning the trust of the crews who actually do the work. This role does not supervise the field crews. It coordinates them. The team leads run their crews; this person makes sure they have the plan, the materials, and the information to do it well. Service First, Always Every responsibility below is an expression of one idea: the customer and the field teams both deserve to be served well, and served without being asked twice.
In practice that means:
The customer never has to wonder what's happening. Updates go out before they're requested. A crew lead's question gets an answer, not a "let me check on that" that never comes back. Problems get surfaced early and honestly, including the ones that are our fault. No task is beneath this role. If a crew is short a gallon of stain at 7 a.m., this person solves it. We hire for this mindset. We can teach the log restoration trade; we cannot teach someone to care. Core Responsibilities 1. Project Scheduling & Coordination Own the LTW production schedule end to end — sequencing jobs, assigning crews, and adjusting for weather, delays, and change orders. Build the schedule around real field constraints: drive times, crew capacity, cure times, seasonality. Communicate schedule changes to crews, customers, and ownership before they become surprises. Maintain a forward-looking view. Know what next week and next month look like, not just today. 2. Field Team Relationship & Communication This is the part of the job most people underestimate, so we'll be explicit about it. Our crews often leave the shop at 6 a.m. and don't return until 6 or 7 p.m. This role works normal office hours, which means without deliberate effort you could go weeks without meaningful face time with the people you're directing. That is not acceptable here. Be present at crew launch at least once per week — early, in person, before they roll out. Not to inspect. To be there, to hear how yesterday went, and to show the guys you're in it with them. Build a reliable remote communication rhythm for the rest of the week — a channel and cadence the crews will actually use, because it's easy and because they know they'll get a response. Communicate the plan through mutual respect. This role tells team leads where to go and when — and does it in a way that leaves them feeling supported rather than ordered around. Functionally, you serve them as much as they answer to you. Still hold the line where it matters: scope adherence, photo documentation, accurate clock-ins, quality standards. The goal is to be trusted and to be taken seriously. Being liked is not the objective; being relied upon is. Keep information flowing. A crew that tells you about a problem at 9 a.m. instead of 5 p.m. is the single biggest predictor of whether the customer stays happy. 3. Customer Communication & Experience Be the single point of contact for the customer from contract signature through project completion. Set expectations at the start of the job and proactively update throughout — no customer should sit in silence wondering whether we've forgotten them.
Handle the hard conversations directly:
delays, weather, discovered damage, cost changes. Close the loop at completion, confirm satisfaction, and hand off cleanly to maintenance and follow-up. 4. Field Discovery & Change Orders Log restoration reveals surprises. A crew opens a wall and the rot runs three courses deeper than the estimate assumed. Serve as the intake point when the field finds work beyond the original scope. Get the documentation (photos, measurements, crew assessment) before work continues. Coordinate pricing and approval with ownership, then communicate the change to the customer clearly and without hedging. Ensure nothing gets built that isn't documented and nothing gets documented that isn't billable. 5. Materials & Inventory Order project materials against the schedule so nothing stalls a crew. Track lead times on specialty items and plan around them. Maintain and validate shop inventory of consumables, stain, chinking, sealants, and equipment. Know cost and usage well enough to notice when something's off. 6. Accounts Receivable Cash coming in is what lets us pay the crews and take the next job. This role owns the collection side of that. Maintain an accurate, current AR list and work it down consistently. Not a report someone runs monthly — a live list that gets attention every week. Chase open invoices directly, with persistence and without damaging the relationship. Train customers on payment expectations at the front of the project, not the back. Reinforce the "payment while we're in the driveway" standard with crews and customers alike. Generate and send invoices, and manage payment collection through our payment platform (currently Stripe). Steer customers toward lower-cost payment methods where reasonable. What Success Looks Like at 90 Days We'll know this hire worked if: The crews call this person because they want to — and get a real answer when they do. Being liked isn't enough; if the team leads reach out and the answer isn't there, this role hasn't learned the business yet — and the crews will stop asking. When the answer isn't known, the instinct is to go find it independently first, and escalate only after a genuine attempt. The questions coming back to ownership are the right kind. Not "should the guys work tomorrow?" but "here's the situation and here's how I'm thinking about handling it — how would you approach it, with the crew and with the customer, so I know for next time?" We want someone building their own judgment out of every situation, not outsourcing the decision. No customer is in the dark. Clients know someone is always reachable, always giving updates, never leaving them waiting weeks for the next phone call. The AR list is accurate and shrinking. This one requires no trade knowledge — just an organized person who looks at it consistently and refuses to let it drift. Qualifications Required Demonstrated project management and scheduling experience, ideally in construction, trades, or field-services work. Genuinely strong organizational discipline — able to hold dozens of open threads without dropping any. Excellent phone and written communication. Comfortable, warm, and clear with customers; direct and credible with crews. Comfort collecting money. Willingness to make the follow-up call, repeatedly, without being either apologetic or abrasive. Strong technology aptitude. Our internal tools change frequently, and we build a lot of our own. We need someone who adopts a new system quickly and rebuilds their process around it rather than resisting it. Willingness to be on site early — before crews roll out — on a regular basis. Discretion with sensitive company and customer information. Preferred Prior experience in construction, timber, restoration, or a related field trade. Experience owning a receivables list or collections process. History of working closely with field or shop crews rather than only office staff. Conversational Spanish is a bonus.
Note on software:
We use a CRM, a field documentation platform, a payment processor, a scheduling system, and a handful of internally built tools. We do not expect familiarity with our specific stack. We do expect someone who learns tools fast and has opinions about how to use them well. Who Thrives Here Someone who wants to own a process end to end rather than sit in a defined lane. Someone who would rather solve a problem at 6 a.m. in the shop than write a memo about it. Someone who understands that the crew's respect is earned, not assigned, and that the customer's trust is the whole product.
