What Does a Maintenance Supervisor Do?
Almost every building has a repair list that is short on opening day and growing after that. These repairs cover the roofs, doors, and lights that make occupants' offices and hallways safer and more pleasant. Maintenance supervisors lead the crews that work through that list for campuses, hospitals, apartment owners and factories, often while still carrying a tool bag themselves.
Also known as: General Maintenance Assistant Supervisor, Maintenance Foreman, General Maintenance Supervisor, Structural Maintenance Foreman, Planned Maintenance Supervisor
Other Job Titles for This Work
Workers in this occupation report titles such as Electrical and Instrumentation Supervisor (E and I Supervisor), Facilities Maintenance Supervisor, Facility Maintenance Supervisor, Maintenance Coordinator, Maintenance Foreman, Maintenance Manager, Maintenance Planner, Maintenance Superintendent.
Maintenance Supervisor Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a maintenance supervisor include:
- Hand out daily work orders to a crew of maintenance mechanics, carpenters and helpers.
- Inspect roofs, doors, plumbing fixtures and common areas on regular building rounds.
- Keep preventive maintenance on schedule for pumps, fans, doors, roofs and emergency generators.
- Hire and supervise contractors for roofing, elevator and specialty repairs, and check their work.
- Respond to after-hours emergencies such as floods, power loss and broken entry doors.
- Order tools, parts and supplies, and keep spending within the shop's annual budget.
- Run short safety briefings on lockout, ladders and fall protection, and check that crews follow them.
- Evaluate crew members, schedule their overtime and handle attendance and discipline issues.
- Plan summer projects such as painting, flooring and restroom renovations while buildings are quiet.
- Brief building managers on repair status, planned shutdowns and upcoming capital needs.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a maintenance supervisor, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Broad trade knowledge across plumbing, electrical, carpentry and HVAC
- Crew leadership and scheduling
- CMMS work order systems
- Contractor oversight and basic estimating
- OSHA safety rules for maintenance work
- Budget tracking
- Steady judgment during building emergencies
- Plain, respectful communication with building occupants
Education and Training
Entry is open to people from any building trade, as employers are interested in supervisors who have fixed a little of everything, from leaking traps to stuck doors. A high school diploma is generally enough on paper. Promotion is often from within, and the chance to lead a crew grows with each trade you learn.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $62,690 - $101,360 per year, with a median of $79,860.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers.
BLS projects employment of first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers, the group maintenance supervisors belong to, to grow about 4 percent from 2025 to 2035. About 48,900 openings a year are expected across the group, according to the same projections. As long as there are roofs to patch and boilers to restart at midnight, buildings will need supervisors to make sure the work gets done. Mechanics who know several trades are usually the ones promoted.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers.
Maintenance Supervisor Pay Range
| Earners | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $49,600 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $62,690 |
| Median (half earn more, half less) | $79,860 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $101,360 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $126,790 |
Highest-Paying States for Maintenance Supervisors
The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are Alaska ($98,110), Washington ($94,420), Connecticut ($94,050), California ($93,660), New Jersey ($92,680). Pay is lowest in Arkansas ($71,460), West Virginia ($71,360), Mississippi ($70,900).
Median pay in all 51 states with BLS data
| State | Median annual pay |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $74,830 |
| Alaska | $98,110 |
| Arizona | $76,240 |
| Arkansas | $71,460 |
| California | $93,660 |
| Colorado | $83,260 |
| Connecticut | $94,050 |
| Delaware | $83,250 |
| District of Columbia | $83,460 |
| Florida | $75,900 |
| Georgia | $77,010 |
| Hawaii | $87,550 |
| Idaho | $74,940 |
| Illinois | $83,180 |
| Indiana | $79,650 |
| Iowa | $78,340 |
| Kansas | $78,390 |
| Kentucky | $76,760 |
| Louisiana | $75,550 |
| Maine | $79,260 |
| Maryland | $82,330 |
| Massachusetts | $92,250 |
| Michigan | $77,810 |
| Minnesota | $87,160 |
| Mississippi | $70,900 |
| Missouri | $77,470 |
| Montana | $81,440 |
| Nebraska | $77,850 |
| Nevada | $79,860 |
| New Hampshire | $87,560 |
| New Jersey | $92,680 |
| New Mexico | $77,550 |
| New York | $91,150 |
| North Carolina | $76,800 |
| North Dakota | $90,600 |
| Ohio | $78,730 |
| Oklahoma | $77,040 |
| Oregon | $86,970 |
| Pennsylvania | $79,400 |
| Rhode Island | $78,840 |
| South Carolina | $75,120 |
| South Dakota | $80,810 |
| Tennessee | $75,830 |
| Texas | $76,760 |
| Utah | $78,930 |
| Vermont | $83,050 |
| Virginia | $80,770 |
| Washington | $94,420 |
| West Virginia | $71,360 |
| Wisconsin | $82,570 |
| Wyoming | $87,460 |
What the Work Is Like
O*NET surveys people who work as first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:
- 88% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
- 86% are on the phone every day
- 86% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
- 82% use email every day
- 71% use their hands on tools, objects or controls for more than half the day
- 61% wear safety gear such as gloves, safety glasses or a hard hat every day
- 54% have a lot of freedom to make decisions
Education Workers Say the Job Needs
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| High school diploma or GED | 54% |
| Some college | 17% |
| Post-secondary certificate | 13% |
| Bachelor's degree | 8% |
Tools and Software Maintenance Supervisors Use
Tools and equipment
Software
Is This Job a Good Fit for You?
People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.
Skills O*NET rates most important: Monitoring, Management of Personnel Resources, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Coordination, Judgment and Decision Making.
Knowledge areas used most: Administration and Management, Mechanical, Customer and Personal Service, Administrative, Personnel and Human Resources.
Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.
Related Careers
These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:
Applying for a Maintenance Supervisor Job
- Job application letter sample
- How to write the skills section of a resume
- How to describe your work experience
- Job interview tips
- Interview thank-you note
The Job Explorer never charges candidates any money. If someone asks you to pay to apply for a maintenance supervisor job or to get hired, treat it as a warning sign.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035.
- O*NET 30.1 Database, occupation 49-1011.00 (First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers). View on O*NET OnLine.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The Job Explorer has modified some of the information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these changes.