Field Crew - Systems Lead at Riley Projects – Los Angeles, California

Multi-trade · Full build cycle

This isn't the job for everyone. But for the right person, it's more than a job.

If you're the kind of builder who has spent years moving between trades — picking up plumbing on one project, electrical on the next, HVAC somewhere in between — and you've started to see how they all fit together inside a wall, we want to hear from you.

About Riley Projects We're a small design-build firm doing high-craft custom residential work in Los Angeles. Designer, project manager, and field crew under one roof — so the work that reaches you is resolved, not dumped on you to figure out. We're building toward employee ownership, which means the people who build this company have a real stake in what it becomes.

How This Crew Works

Each member of this crew takes the lead at their phase of the build — and steps back to support when the baton passes. During rough-in, that lead is you. The Foreman, the carpenters, the Junior — they are behind you. You are the person who knows what the systems need, and the crew's job is to help you get there.

When your phase closes and the baton passes, your job shifts. You become the support. The breadth that makes you valuable during rough-in — your ability to move fluidly across trades — makes you a uniquely useful crew member in every other phase too. The right person for this crew will recognize that model immediately — and want it.

Mission of the Role

You are here to own the systems inside the house — the parts that make it livable, comfortable, and functional for the next fifty years. Plumbing, electrical, HVAC, low voltage. You've worked in all of them. You understand how they share space, how they sequence, and what happens when they don't. On a small, integrated crew like ours, that breadth is rare. We're building for it deliberately.

Focus of the Role

• During rough-in, you lead the site. You install — rough plumbing, rough electrical, HVAC distribution, low voltage rough-in and trim. You are in the walls doing the work, not standing outside directing it.
• You are the crew's systems brain. You read the MEP drawings, you understand what's been designed, and you flag early when something doesn't resolve in the field — before it's a problem instead of a question.
• You work directly with licensed subs where required by code. You understand what they need from you before they arrive, and you make sure the site is ready for them.
• When rough-in closes and the Finish carpenter takes the lead, you step into support. Your fluency across trades means you can slot in usefully almost anywhere. You do that without agenda — whoever is leading has the authority.
• You keep the Foreman informed. When rough-in is ready for inspection, when a conflict needs to be resolved before framing closes, when a sub's work doesn't match what was drawn — that information moves immediately.

What Success Looks Like

By the time you close out your first build with Riley Projects, the following things are true:

• Every system rough-in passed inspection. No call-backs, no tear-outs, nothing covered up that shouldn't have been.
• The sequence held. Framing didn't close until systems were right. Subs came in on time because you had the site ready for them.
• The phase transition was clean in both directions. You received a site from the Framing carpenter that was ready for you, and you handed off to the Finish carpenter with nothing unresolved.
• You were a good crew member during every phase you weren't leading. Your range made you useful everywhere.
• The homeowner will never think about these systems. That's exactly right.

Our Part

Drawings will be coordinated before they reach you. Submittals will be managed. You will not spend your day hunting for information that should already exist. When you flag a conflict, we solve it together — and we build the resolution back into the system so it doesn't happen again on the next project.

Core Competencies

• Genuine hands-on experience across at least three of the four MEP trades — plumbing, electrical, HVAC, low voltage. You don't need to be a licensed master in all of them. You need to have done real installation work in each and understand how they interact.
• You read plans well — not just architectural, but MEP coordination drawings. You can look at a wall section and see the conflict before it happens.
• You are methodical and communicative. Systems work done wrong is invisible until it fails. You care deeply about getting it right the first time.
• Experience range is open. What matters is depth of hands-on exposure and the instinct that comes from moving across trades.

Compensation & Ownership

We pay competitively for the right person. Riley Projects is on a structured path to employee ownership (ESOP). The people who help build this company will own a piece of it. We'll talk through what that looks like in detail when we meet.