How to hire a restoration crew lead: requirements, pay to offer, where to find them and how to screen

You are hiring the person who runs the job site when you are not on it. A crew lead takes the loss your project manager assigns and turns it into a crew's day: the setup order, the monitoring visits, the equipment moves, the daily log, and the conversation with the customer standing in the doorway. When the hire works, the babysitting comes off your PMs and the jobs start managing themselves.

Before you write the posting, decide what the role carries in your operation:

• Running the job, not just working it. Setup sequencing, monitoring visits, repositioning equipment and teardown calls — made on the job's own readings, not on habit.
• Documentation discipline. Photos, moisture readings and daily logs are what your estimators bill from. The lead sets that standard for the whole crew, for better or worse.
• Drying judgment. Reading meters, deciding when a chamber is done and what to move next — the judgment a drying credential exists to back.
• Crew direction. Assigning work, pacing the day, ramping the new tech. Leadership is something you can watch, not something you have to take on faith.
• Customer and adjuster contact. Plain-language updates on site, and the photos and notes your PM sends the adjuster often start with the lead's work.
• Availability. On-call rotations and storm surges are part of this role. When the after-hours phone rings, the lead rolls.

Draw the escalation line before day one. Your policies decide when the lead calls the office: suspected asbestos behind a wall, a scope the customer contests, a water category nobody budgeted for. A lead who escalates early is a profit-saver; a lead who improvises is a claim you have not received yet.

The worker-side view of the role — what a restoration crew lead does day to day and how the title relates to lead tech and crew chief — is the career guide to what a restoration crew lead does. This page stays on your side of the hire. If you are still building the team around this role — first hire, org chart, storm coverage — start from hiring for your restoration company, then come back for the role-specific screen.

Start with the split every restoration hire turns on: certifications, which are credentials your company sets, and licenses, which are state law attached to specific work.

The certifications below are IICRC certifications. The IICRC is a certifying body, not a school and not a licensing agency — it approves independent schools and instructors that meet board criteria rather than teaching its own classes. Certification means an IICRC-approved course, a passed written exam and documented skills in the subject. The IICRC certification guide covers the credential system in depth.

For a lead, build the bench in this order:

• WRT (Water Damage Restoration Technician) — the base. It has no prerequisites, so you can require it or sponsor it. IICRC describes the course as 3 days and 19 hours, not counting exam time, lunch and breaks, offered live-stream and in person, including in Spanish. IICRC says a WRT holder can handle a residential water loss, explain Category 2 versus Category 3 water to an adjuster, and adjust a drying plan based on the science of drying.
• ASD (Applied Structural Drying) — the drying-leadership credential. It requires the WRT first. As of October 2026, IICRC lists ASD as in-person only, so book it around your season rather than in the middle of it.
• AMRT (Applied Microbial Remediation Technician) — for crews that take mold and sewage jobs. It covers mold and sewage remediation and requires the WRT first. It is also in-person only as of October 2026.
• FSRT (Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration Technician) — the fire-side credential. It has no prerequisites, and IICRC says it covers scoping, mitigation, cleaning, deodorization, subrogation, spoliation and documentation of fire- and smoke-damaged structures and contents.

Set the requirement rung by rung: certified on hire, hired for leadership and sponsored through the certification within a window you set, or a mix — WRT required on day one, the rest sponsored. Whatever you choose, name it in the posting.

An OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 card on a lead's resume is voluntary outreach training, not a certification. OSHA's own Outreach Training Program page says the courses are a voluntary program, do not meet the training requirements of any OSHA standard, and are not a certification, as of October 2026. Require one as a company preference if you want it — describe it accurately in the posting. The OSHA 10 versus OSHA 30 guide covers the difference.

Licenses follow the work your crews take, and the person running the job is the one to check. For mold, the states this page's research verified include:

• Texas — mold assessment and remediation licensing moved to the Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) on November 1, 2017.
• Florida — the Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses mold assessors (MRSA) and mold remediators (MRSR), and the license covers growth greater than 10 square feet.
• New York — mold work is licensed under Labor Law Article 32 through the Department of Labor.
• Louisiana — the State Licensing Board for Contractors requires a Mold Remediation license for projects valued at $7,500 or more.
• Washington, D.C. — residential indoor mold assessment and remediation require certification and a license under rules issued by the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE).

Where your lead runs mold jobs in a state like these, check what the state names for the licensed person performing or supervising the work. The state-by-state detail lives in the state mold licensing series. Asbestos runs on similar logic: EPA's Model Accreditation Plan, issued under AHERA, sets five accredited disciplines — worker, contractor/supervisor, inspector, management planner and project designer. Not every state runs its own registration or licensure program for the trade: Wyoming has none for asbestos companies or individuals, though its DEQ Air Quality Division still enforces state asbestos regulations for inspections and abatement projects. The asbestos abatement licensing series keeps the state detail.

Rules change. License, accreditation and certification requirements move. Confirm the current requirements with the agency named for your state before you build a lead requirement for mold, sewage or asbestos-heavy work.

The BLS occupational data this page draws on has no restoration crew lead occupation, so the closest available group is first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (SOC 47-1011) — a broader group covering every construction-trade and extraction foreman, restoration included. In May 2025 the group's median was $38.42 an hour, or $79,920 a year, with a 10th percentile of $53,280 and a 90th percentile of $128,260 (BLS OEWS, all industries, wage-and-salary jobs). The industry row BLS publishes for remediation work — NAICS 562900, remediation and other waste management services — shows a lower median for the same SOC: $70,020 a year ($33.66 an hour) on 10,930 jobs. Read those as brackets, not answers. The restoration crew lead pay data page holds the full tables.

Set the actual number from your market. The postings you compete against for the same leads, the credential depth you require, and your own job costing — what a lead's production supports after overhead, equipment and vehicle cost — decide the number you can defend.

Then structure the package so it survives the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces:

• Overtime. FLSA overtime is paid at not less than 1.5 times the employee's regular rate, and the extra half-time is owed for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Budget storm weeks on that math, not on flat rates that ignore it.
• On-call time. Under 29 CFR 785.17, on-call time is hours worked when the lead must stay on the premises or so close that they cannot use the time for their own purposes; leaving word where they can be reached is not working time.
• Travel time. Job-site-to-job-site travel during the workday is hours worked, and so is travel from a required shop or meeting point to the first job.
• Bonuses. Promised production, attendance, retention or hiring-agreement bonuses are not discretionary — they must be included in the regular rate for overtime. A production bonus plan for a lead is an overtime cost, not a flat line.
• Salaried leads. The federal salary level for the FLSA's executive, administrative and professional exemptions currently reads $684 per week. Salary alone does not exempt anyone — the duties tests apply too. Put a lead on salary only after the classification is confirmed with counsel, who can also check any state-level thresholds.

The posting itself has legal content requirements in the states below. California employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting. New York requires businesses with four or more employees to list a compensation range and say whether the job is commission-based. Washington employers with 15 or more employees must disclose the wage scale or salary range plus a general description of benefits. Illinois employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale and benefits, which a hyperlink can satisfy. Colorado requires compensation, benefits and how to apply in all job postings. That is where this page's research verified a rule, not an exhaustive list — check your own state labor agency before you post.

Compete on more than the number. Sponsor the ASD for a strong internal candidate, publish the on-call rotation before the offer, and pay storm weeks honestly. A crew lead who walks out takes the crew's standards with them.

Work these pools before you spend anything on reach:

• Your own bench. The techs you have already trained know your documentation standards, your customers and your on-call reality. Promotion also gives your best tech a reason to stay — a visible ladder is cheaper than a recruiting cycle. Screen an internal candidate on the same competencies as an external one; seniority is not the screen.
• Referrals. Your crews know which leads they would work for, and which ones they would not. A referral program with a defined payout turns that knowledge into a pipeline.
• Adjacent trades. Working foremen from remodeling, flooring and construction bring the crew-direction skills on day one. The restoration-specific documentation is trainable; the leadership usually is not.
• Storm markets. A surge multiplies how many job sites need someone running them. If you staff storm work, plan lead coverage the way you plan equipment — the storm surge staffing guide is built for that problem.

Post where restoration candidates already look. A general board buries the opening among unrelated trades; a restoration-focused board keeps it next to the work. You can browse the restoration crew lead jobs page to see how the role reads to candidates there before you write yours, and the cross-role guide to where to post the job compares the options. On this board, postings for crew chief, lead technician and restoration field supervisor all resolve to the same restoration crew lead role — use the title your market searches for.

Whatever the title, make the posting carry the load. List the pay range (required in the states covered above, at the employee counts each law sets), the on-call rotation, travel and storm expectations, the certifications you require versus sponsor, and a license line where your state requires one for the work. Then check the wording. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) bars help-wanted ads that show a preference for or discourage applicants based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 and up), disability or genetic information. The EEOC's own example is an ad seeking 'females' or 'recent college graduates', which may discourage men and people over 40 from applying.

A crew lead screen is a field screen and a leadership screen in one. Run it in one order, and keep it lawful at every step:

1. Phone screen. Loss types run, jobs led end to end, crew sizes directed, certifications and license status, availability for the on-call rotation. Ten minutes here saves a week later.
2. Structured interview. Same questions for every candidate, so you can compare answers. Ask about jobs they ran, not worked on. Walk through a water loss you were responsible for: what did you set first, what did you log each day, when did you decide the structure was dry, and what did you tell the customer when the timeline slipped? Add leadership probes: a crew conflict they resolved, a new tech they ramped, an after-hours call-out that went sideways.
3. Job file review. The file is the deliverable. Have them walk through the photos, moisture readings and daily log from a job they ran — redacted or from memory — and judge whether you could bill from it. A lead who documents is the hire; a lead who only demos is a tech with a better title.
4. Ride-along or working interview. Half a day on a live job. Watch them direct a crew, set equipment, log a reading and talk to a customer. One legal note first: under 29 CFR 785.11, work the employer suffers or permits is work time, even work it did not request — the rule applies where the employer knows or has reason to believe the work is happening. Whether a candidate's ride-along or working-interview time is employment under the FLSA is fact-specific, and this page's research holds no DOL source saying it must always be paid. Where the candidate is doing the job's work, pay for the time and confirm the treatment with the Wage and Hour Division.
5. Checks. Background, driving record and references, run in the order the law requires (below).
6. Offer. Conditional on the checks, with pay, on-call terms and the escalation rules in writing.

The interview itself has edges. Under the ADA, as the EEOC reads it, an employer may not ask medical or disability questions or require a medical exam before a job offer — but may ask whether and how a candidate can perform the job. Phrase the physical requirements as functions — crawl spaces, attics, ladders, equipment handling, driving — and leave medical questions until after a conditional offer, where the EEOC allows them only if every new employee in the same job gets them.

Criminal history is another edge. The EEOC says employers can consider criminal records in hiring but may not treat applicants differently by race or national origin when doing so. The agency's page also notes that some states restrict when criminal history may be asked during the hiring process. Check your state's rule before you put the question on the application.

Background reports and driving records are consumer reports when you buy them from a screening company. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires, before you order one, a written disclosure that stands alone — it cannot live inside the application — and the applicant's written permission. Before rejecting an applicant based on the report, the FTC requires a pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of the applicant's rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For the driving record itself, set your criteria with your insurance agent: this page's research did not establish an industry-wide standard. The background checks guide walks the full sequence.

Pay history is a third edge. California generally bars employers from seeking an applicant's salary history but allows questions about salary expectations. Illinois bars asking about or screening applicants on wage or salary history, and also allows expectation questions. Colorado bars asking about or relying on an applicant's pay history. Ask what the candidate is looking for rather than what they made, and check your own state before the interview script is final.

Order matters. Disclosure and consent before the report; the report and the rights summary before any rejection. Run the sequence past counsel or your state labor agency once — it is the same sequence for every hire after this one.

The hire is made — or lost — in the first weeks, and most of it is writing things down.

Paperwork first. Form I-9, Section 2 is due within 3 business days of the employee's first day. Hire on a Monday and Section 2 is due by Thursday; for a job lasting fewer than 3 business days, it is due on the first day.

Safety programs before the first job. A lead is your site-level safety voice on the jobs you are not on, so the programs they step into matter. Where respirators are required, OSHA's respiratory protection standard calls for a written program run by a suitably trained program administrator. Fit testing happens before first use, whenever a different facepiece is used, and at least annually after that — and the respirators, the training and the medical evaluations are provided at no cost to the employee. If your crews handle sewage or trauma scenes, work out which assignments involve the bloodborne pathogens standard's occupational exposure — the requirements follow that exposure, not the job title. Where it applies, the standard requires the hepatitis B vaccine to be made available within 10 working days of initial assignment, after training — with the standard's exceptions for a prior complete series, shown immunity or a medical contraindication. The same standard requires a written exposure control plan, reviewed and updated at least annually. The restoration company safety program guide assembles the pieces.

Write the escalation rules down before week one. A new lead inherits your judgment, not your instinct. Put the escalation list in writing — suspected asbestos, a scope the customer contests, a job that will run past its authorization — and review their first job files yourself for the first few weeks. Documentation quality is the habit that is easiest to lose and most expensive to rebuild.

Close the credential gap now, not at review time. If the hire arrived without the WRT, sponsor it: the course runs 3 days and 19 hours, not counting exam time, lunch and breaks, and it is offered live-stream and in person, including in Spanish. ASD and AMRT are in-person only as of October 2026, so book them around the season. The IICRC sponsorship guide and the new-tech training guide cover the employer-side programs.

Keep them with a visible path. Put pay reviews on a scheduled calendar, and keep the on-call rotation published in advance. Line the credential ladder up beside the pay ladder: ASD for drying leadership, AMRT for mold and sewage work, and IICRC's designation path above that. Journeyman Water Restorer takes CCT (or CCMT), RRT and WRT plus at least 12 months certified, and Master Water Restorer adds AMRT, HST and ASD plus at least 3 years certified. Announced retention bonuses are a retention tool; just remember they fold into the overtime regular rate. When a lead does leave, ask the real reason rather than the polite one, and read the retention guide before the exit interview, not after.

Employer information, not licensing, legal, insurance, health or tax advice. Confirm requirements with the state agency named for your work, and with OSHA, the Department of Labor, an insurance professional or counsel where the question is theirs.