In the maintenance world, it’s crucial to have a proper hierarchy to delegate maintenance tasks effectively. Every single worker, from the common maintenance worker to the maintenance director, plays a key role. This hierarchy helps us understand and justify the average maintenance director salary.
Maintenance director salaries are mostly dependent on the industry and organization. For example, a maintenance director at a manufacturing would be paid more because of the increased maintenance responsibilities.
In this article, we’ll go over the average maintenance director salary, along with their duties, responsibilities, and the path to become the ideal maintenance director.
Let’s get started.
Who is a Maintenance Director, and What Do Maintenance Directors Do?
The maintenance director is a full-time, executive-level position that involves managing and overseeing the entire maintenance department of the organization. The director of maintenance is usually the highest job post in the maintenance chain of command. The primary duties of a director involve controlling, overseeing, monitoring, and optimizing maintenance activities.
However, in smaller organizations, the maintenance director job title may be synonymous with the maintenance manager job title. That’s because the maintenance departments of smaller organizations tend to be smaller with a shorter hierarchy. You may only find maintenance workers, maintenance supervisors, and maintenance directors/managers.
In larger organizations, you see additional maintenance roles, such as the facilities manager, maintenance technicians, director of operations, and more. At that point, the executive director of maintenance is above all the other maintenance positions.
In any case, the primary job description of any maintenance director is to supervise the maintenance managers, oversee maintenance operations, and ensure preventative maintenance measures are put into place.
To be more precise, maintenance directors are also responsible for creating internal policies and strategies to launch the maintenance program – the maintenance program includes all the maintenance tasks and activities on a fixed schedule.
Maintenance directors don’t have to directly get involved in any maintenance duties; however, they may have to do so in some cases. For example, they are expected to listen to any employee concerns and take appropriate action accordingly.
Usually, the maintenance directors rely on the supervisors and managers to ensure maintenance tasks are done properly. Their input includes helping the managers and supervisors devise a preventative maintenance plan to increase maintenance efficiency.
Most importantly, maintenance directors are accountable for the performance of the maintenance department, and they have to report directly to the CEO for it.
Typical Duties and Responsibilities of a Maintenance Director
The typical duties, tasks, and responsibilities of a maintenance director depend on the industry and organization. In turn, the maintenance director salary depends on the level of duties and responsibilities.
On average, a maintenance director has the following responsibilities on the daily.
- Manage the maintenance supervisors and maintenance managers.
- Oversee the maintenance activities and tasks to determine whether the maintenance program is being followed.
- Create, implement, and monitor various maintenance policies for the organization.
- Work with other executives and board members to develop the maintenance budget, operations, and inventory needs.
- Create effective training programs for new maintenance employees.
- Oversee the recruitment, selection, and onboarding of new maintenance professionals.
- Keep a close eye on the core maintenance operations, including facilities management, property management, machinery maintenance, general maintenance, and more.
- Develop preventative maintenance measures and plans with the help of maintenance managers and supervisors.
- Ensure all maintenance employees are updated on the latest objectives and budget allocations.
- Get necessary feedback from employees so you can address their concerns and solve any workplace issues.
- Do performance reviews on the maintenance management team.
- Analyze maintenance reports to make informed decisions on maintenance procedures.
The exact tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a maintenance director vary under different circumstances. However, the responsibilities listed above are usually what the average job alerts ask for in the United States.
What is the Maintenance Director Salary in the United States?
The maintenance director is an executive-level, full-time position, making it an essential position in most organizations. In most cases, maintenance directors get the industry standard; however, some organizations tend to pay more than usual. For example, you’ll find that maintenance directors in the manufacturing industry tend to earn more on average.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has several categories for maintenance workers. That includes maintenance workers of all levels, including general maintenance workers and maintenance directors. The website divides them according to different industries, such as heavy machinery, aircraft, and facility maintenance. You can learn more about each industry’s average salary here.
However, the maintenance professionals working in technical industries like the heavy machinery industry tend to earn more on average.
It’s best to look at a few other sources to understand how much a maintenance director makes, according to individual salary reports.
1. Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a well-known website for finding accurate salary estimates taken from employee reviews. Employees of different organizations and industries can upload their annual salary reports, enter cost of living estimates, review employers, put in benefits information, and total compensation data.
According to Glassdoor, the national average base salary for maintenance directors is $66,525. The average salary range is between $45,000 and $101,000.
You can also check salary estimates according to specific filters. You can add the following filters to make your search more accurate.
- Choose the industry you want to get information on.
- Enter the average overall size of the according to the total of employees.
- Put in the total years of experience relative to the job title.
Adding the filters listed above lets you be more precise with your search. The more filters you add, the more relevant salary estimate you get.
All the compensation data on Glassdoor is extracted from employee reviews and uploads. However, companies can also enter relevant data.
Make sure to add as many filters as you can and get the most precise maintenance director salary on Glassdoor.
2. Indeed
Indeed is a global job-search engine and one of the best place to check out salary estimates, job descriptions, and more.
According to Indeed, the avg annual salary of a maintenance director in the United States is $79,246. Furthermore, maintenance directors get additional compensation in overtime for up to $7,813.
The site also lists common benefits that come along with the maintenance director salary. The most common benefits include complete healthcare (health insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance), senior living assistance, and paid-time-off.
Indeed also shows you the highest-paying areas for maintenance directors. The top-paying cities include Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, New York, and Washington, DC.
Lastly, you can check the maintenance director salary in most currencies other than the USD.
3. PayScale
PayScale is a dedicated website that offers accurate salary estimates, total compensation data, and more. The site also offers gender-based pay estimates, salary estimates on related jobs, and more.
According to PayScale, the average median annual salary for maintenance directors is $60,099. That brings the average hourly rate to $20.66.
Furthermore, maintenance directors can also earn up to $2,479 in bonuses, $7,000 in commission, and up to $1,935 in profit-sharing.
The total pay range for maintenance directors is between $41,000 and $110,000.
PayScale also shows where maintenance director jobs pay the most. According to the website, maintenance director jobs in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston pay the most.
What’s the Roadmap to Becoming a Maintenance Director?
Becoming a maintenance director requires years of experience and training since it’s an executive-level position. You need to have experience with various industries, maintenance procedures, and more.
Becoming a maintenance director usually goes about with the following roadmap:
- Get a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as business management, engineering, or facilities management. A master’s degree is preferred but not necessary.
- Get at least five years of experience in maintenance.
- Have three to five years in maintenance management in any manager/supervisor role.
- Get some maintenance certifications in things, such as maintenance management, people analytics, and more.
Furthermore, work on developing your soft skills, such as interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
Ending Note
The maintenance director salary mostly depends on the organization, industry, and the maintenance director job description. However, your qualifications, skills, and experience play a role too.
Any organization would consider a of factors to determine the maintenance director salary; therefore, it’s best to work on developing your career as much as you can.
It takes time to get to the director position; however, once you reach it, the maintenance director salary is one of the better salaries you can get in the maintenance world.
Josh is a partner at Maintenance Manager HQ.
