Residential Designer

Residential Designer (Design-Build)

Love great design? Even better with people? Can you take a homeowner from “we’ve been dreaming about this for years” to a fully drawn, fully selected project they can’t wait to build?

Lighthouse Contracting Group builds custom homes and remodels around the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Every great project we’ve delivered started the same way: someone asked the right questions, drew the right plans, and nailed down every selection before a single hammer swung. We’re bringing that work in-house, and we’re hiring the person who owns it.

This is not a drafting-only position. When a project comes to you, it’s yours. You develop the scope of work with the client, build the plans in Chief Architect, design the cabinetry, curate material selections, assemble material schedules, and place special orders.

When the project hits production, your documentation is what the field builds from. When plans need revising mid-construction, that’s you too.

The work is mostly whole-home remodels, additions, and kitchens and baths on lake and mountain properties, plus a few new custom homes a year. You’ll work directly alongside our owner and Lead Project Consultant, plus outside designers, draftsmen, and architects as each project demands. Simple remodel?

You draw it start to finish. Complex structural work? You develop the design and coordinate the pros who stamp it.

And as our design team grows, we see this seat training and leading a junior designer.

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/262996488814074

What You’ll Do

• Own each project from the start of design development through the handoff to production.
• Meet with clients to develop the scope of work: capture the vision, translate it into buildable direction, and guide homeowners to decisions they feel confident about.
• Develop plans in Chief Architect: floor plans, elevations, 3D visuals, and construction drawings, with depth scaled to project complexity.
• Design and sell cabinetry for kitchens, baths, and built-ins: layouts, specs, pricing, and the order from design through delivery.
• Manage and curate material selections for design-build remodeling projects, from allowance to final signed-off decision.
• Build the material schedules and documentation packages our production team builds from. Accuracy isn’t a nice-to-have here; it’s the whole job.
• Place special-order material orders and confirm lead times so nothing holds up production.
• Make plan revisions during construction: fast, clean, and documented, so the field always builds from the current set.
• Collaborate with outside designers, draftsmen, architects, and engineers as projects require.

You Might Be Our Designer If…

• You produce full residential plan sets in Chief Architect today. Not “familiar with.” Not “willing to learn.” Fluent.
• You have 5+ years in residential design, design-build, or architecture, and remodels don’t scare you.
• You know cabinetry: layouts, door styles, construction, and the specs that get it built right. Cabinetry sales experience is a big plus.
• You listen well, ask great questions, and translate a client’s ideas into a project they want to move forward with.
• Clients trust you in a meeting. You can run a selections meeting with a couple who disagree and leave with signed decisions.
• You sweat documentation details, because you know a $2 spec error on paper becomes a $2,000 problem in the field. Organization, attention to detail, and follow-through are your thing.
• You treat deadlines like signed contracts. When you commit to Tuesday, it lands Tuesday, because a field crew, a client, and a schedule are all counting on it.
• You can work independently and still be a true team player.
• You can see yourself leading a junior designer down the road, and you’re excited about building a design team, not just a design desk.
• Experience with JobTread project management software is a plus. We live in it: budgets, schedules, selections, logs, all of it.
• You’re within commuting distance of Gilford, NH, or ready to be. This is a full-time, primarily in-person role.

What You’re Walking Into

You’re joining a system, not building one. We have a documented process, a client-facing Welcome to Construction Guide, an internal SOP manual, and a production team that runs on JobTread with a clear owner for every phase. Chris Canfield, our outside architect, handles stamped and specialized drawings.

Backdrop Interior

Design stays involved on our largest projects. You’ll have a method to step into and the room to make it better.

What We’re Not

• Not a back-room drafting desk. You’ll face clients, own decisions, and see your projects built a few miles down the road.
• Not a sales seat. Your job is to design it right, document it completely, and keep it moving.
• Not a “figure it out alone” shop. You work directly with the owner, and our production team runs on real systems.
• Not a volume tract builder. This is custom work in real people’s homes, where the details you document are the details that get built.

Compensation & Benefits

Base: $90,000–$110,000 base salary, depending on experience.

Quality bonus

Target of 10% of base, paid annually, tied to three things: selections complete before production starts, documentation accuracy (field RFIs and change orders caused by a drawing or schedule conflict), and revision turnaround. Total compensation at target: $100,000–$125,000. We’ll walk through the exact mechanics face-to-face during interviews.

Schedule

Primarily in our Gilford office, with one remote day per week once you’re up to speed.

After 90 days

• $455/month health insurance stipend.
• SIMPLE IRA with up to 3% company match.
• Company phone, vehicle stipend, and gas card.
• 6 paid holidays plus your birthday, and vacation time.

After 1 year

• Eligible for our Phantom Stock profit sharing plan.

How to Apply

Fill out our application form. It takes about 10 minutes and asks for 1–3 plan sets or renderings you personally produced in Chief Architect. Please read each question carefully and answer completely.

It’s our first look at how you document, and that matters to us as much as what you draw.

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/262996488814074

Pay: $90,000.00 - $110,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Experience:

• residential design, design-build, or architecture: 5 years (Preferred)

Ability to Commute:

• Gilford, NH 03249 (Required)

Work Location: In person