Maintenance management is crucial to the operational efficiency of any organization. Ensuring maintenance is done correctly requires you to hire the right people, such as maintenance supervisors. However, most maintenance workers have little idea about the market salaries, such as the maintenance supervisor salary.
Whether you’re a recruiter, an aspiring maintenance supervisor, or just someone looking at different career prospects, it helps to understand how much the job pays.
In this article, we’ll go over the average maintenance supervisor salary, along with their duties, responsibilities, and the path to become the ideal maintenance supervisor.
Let’s get started.
Who is a Maintenance Supervisor, and What Do Maintenance Supervisors Do?
A maintenance supervisor, as the job title suggests, is responsible for the planning, directing, and leading of maintenance activities in a facility or organization.
Normally, maintenance supervisors are part of the middle-management and handle general maintenance workers and maintenance technicians.
In larger organizations, maintenance supervisors have more defined roles; for example, you’ll find maintenance supervisors for building maintenance, facility maintenance, industrial maintenance, and general maintenance. You’ll even find job roles such as maintenance mechanics, field supervisors, and apartment maintenance supervisors.
The typical maintenance supervisor job description includes the basic duties of all maintenance supervisor jobs. It can include things like allocating tasks to maintenance staff, overseeing repair work, and directing equipment maintenance, among other things.
Depending on the organization, maintenance supervisors typically work with senior maintenance technicians and report to maintenance managers.
Typical Duties and Responsibilities of a Maintenance Supervisor
The duties and responsibilities of maintenance supervisors vary greatly depending on the industry and the size and type of organization.
However, on average, a maintenance supervisor has the following responsibilities.
- Plan, supervise, and report various maintenance activities in the facility.
- Create and manage maintenance schedules, and ensure the longevity of equipment and assets.
- Oversee repairers, electricians, installers, and other staff.
- Assist in the installation of air conditioning, HVAC, and heating systems.
- Conduct safety inspections and ensure all personnel are using safety equipment and are OSHA compliant.
- Work with maintenance managers to develop training programs for new maintenance technicians.
- Help the HR department with new job alerts, job openings, and recruitment.
- Implement internal policies crafted by the management department.
- Make sure of the CMMS software to manage maintenance work.
While the exact duties and responsibilities vary according to the industry and organization, you can expect the requirements mentioned above in most maintenance supervisor jobs.
What is the Maintenance Supervisor Salary in the United States?
Most maintenance supervisor jobs in the US are full-time; however, you can find part-time or contractual opportunities. The maintenance supervisor salaries usually depend on the job type, industry, and company size.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lists several industries under the maintenance supervisor job title. Each industry has varying average salaries; however, maintenance supervisors make around $68,120 on average, according to BLS. On average, approximately 460,000 people are doing maintenance supervisor or related jobs.
However, it’s best to look at a few other sources to understand how much a maintenance supervisor makes, according to people’s salary reports.
1. Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a platform where employees can share their salary reports and salary estimates, and also share employer reviews.
According to Glassdoor, the national average base salary for maintenance supervisors is $65,158. The average pay range is between $43,000 and $95,000.
You can check the salary estimates according to different company sizes and the years of experience you have.
All the average salary estimates on Glassdoor are calculated using the reports received from employees of different companies, working in several industries.
It’s best to search your salary estimate according to the industry you work in.
2. Indeed
Indeed is a search engine for jobs where you can find countless job posts; however, it also doubles as a salary estimator.
According to Indeed, the average salary for a maintenance supervisor in the United States is $66,233. The average overtime per year amounts to $7,500.
The website also lists the common benefits found in most organizations. For maintenance supervisors, the common benefits include vision insurance, disability insurance, dental insurance, 401k matching, and paid-time-off (PTO).
According to Indeed, the highest paying cities for maintenance supervisors are Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, and St. Louis, respectively.
3. PayScale
PayScale comes among the most trusted sites for getting salary information; it provides a complete overlook of salary and compensation information, along with details on things like the average cost of living.
According to PayScale, the average salary for maintenance supervisors is $62,018. That brings the average hourly rate at $20.53.
Furthermore, maintenance supervisors can also earn up to $2,007 in bonuses, $1,179 in commissions, and $1,800 in profit-sharing.
The total compensation range for maintenance supervisors averages between $33,000 and $81,000.
PayScale shows that the highest-paid maintenance supervisors can be found in Houston, New York, and Maryland cities.
What’s the Roadmap to Becoming a Maintenance Supervisor?
The maintenance supervisor job isn’t an entry-level position; it requires a certain amount of experience.
Becoming a maintenance supervisor usually goes about with the following roadmap:
- Get a high school diploma or a general education degree (GED). If you have a bachelor’s degree or a technical degree, that also helps.
- You spend at least three years as a general maintenance worker, or more preferably, as a maintenance technician.
- Get certified for managing maintenance personnel.
- Get hands-on experience with CMMS systems.
As for passive skills, you need to have excellent communication skills, leadership abilities, decision-making skills, and the ability to manage time effectively. It’s also preferable that you have excellent problem-solving skills and a keen eye for detail.
After spending some years as a maintenance supervisor, you can move on to becoming a maintenance manager.
Ending Note
Depending on your organization and industry, you may find varying maintenance supervisor salaries. The salary primarily depends on your overall duties and responsibilities, and how many people and tasks you’re supervising.
In any case, becoming a maintenance supervisor requires years of experience; however, you’re well-compensated once you get the position. The future roadmap of the job leads to becoming the senior maintenance supervisor or the maintenance manager.
Josh is a partner at Maintenance Manager HQ.
