Why Strong Facilities and Construction Leaders Decide to Leave: What the Market Tells Matt Lesher About Retention: Insights from Matt Lesher
When a respected VP of Facilities or Director of Construction resigns, leadership is often surprised. The person seemed committed, the work was visible, and no one saw it coming. Matt Lesher, a search consultant at Real8 Group who recruits VP of Facilities, Director of Construction, Director of Facilities Operations, and Project Executive candidates for universities, health systems, cultural institutions, and owners’ rep firms, hears a consistent set of reasons when leaders explain why they are open to a conversation.
This post outlines the themes that surface most often, what they mean for hiring leaders, and how organizations can address them before a resignation letter arrives. It is written for owners, CEOs, CFOs, and CHROs who want to keep the leaders they already have, and who want to hire in a way that keeps the next one.
Why This Matters for Hiring Decision-Makers
Replacing a senior facilities or construction leader takes time, interrupts capital programs, and tests institutional relationships. The best retention strategy is rarely a counteroffer at the end. It is understanding what drives these leaders long before they start listening to recruiters.
Pay matters, but in Matt’s experience it is rarely the first reason leaders give. More often it is a combination of authority, support, clarity, and respect.
The Themes Matt Hears Most Often
1. Responsibility Without Authority
Many leaders are held accountable for budgets, schedules, and outcomes, yet they cannot make key decisions without layers of approval. Over time, this creates frustration. Strong operators want ownership of the results they are judged on.
2. Capital Priorities That Keep Shifting
Leaders describe plans that are approved, paused, reshaped, and restarted. A facilities team can handle a hard constraint. What wears people down is repeated change without explanation, which makes it hard to deliver or to build credibility with their own staff.
3. Underinvestment in the Team
When open roles stay vacant, aging systems go unaddressed, or the department is treated purely as a cost center, leaders feel they are being asked to do more with less indefinitely. Many will accept constraints if there is a visible plan to improve the situation.
4. No Visible Path Forward
Leaders in smaller institutions or flat structures may see no next step. If the VP role is occupied and not changing, a high-performing Director may look elsewhere for growth, even if they like the organization.
5. Limited Access to Senior Leadership
When facilities reports several levels below the executive team, leaders can feel excluded from decisions that depend on their expertise. Direct access to the president, CFO, or COO matters more than many organizations realize.
6. Compensation That Has Fallen Behind the Market
Compensation is rarely the first reason, but it often becomes the deciding factor once a leader is already open to a move. Owners’ rep firms and construction companies frequently pay more than institutions, and a gap that goes unaddressed becomes easier to justify leaving over. For reference, owner-side Directors commonly range from $175K to $250K and VPs from $275K to $600K and up, while construction and CM firms pay Directors $225K to $275K and VPs $275K to $500K and up.
7. A Change in Leadership Above Them
A new president, CFO, or board chair can shift priorities quickly. Leaders who thrived under one sponsor may feel less secure under another, and some choose to move before the new direction becomes clear.
What Hiring Leaders Can Do About It
- Hold regular, honest career conversations. Ask what your facilities and construction leaders need to stay, not only what they are delivering.
- Match authority to accountability. Clarify who decides what, and remove approvals that add delay without adding value.
- Communicate capital decisions and the reasons behind them. Leaders can work with a changed plan if they understand why it changed.
- Fill open roles promptly. Vacancies place a hidden burden on the people who remain.
- Benchmark compensation periodically. Know where your leaders sit relative to institutional and contractor-side alternatives.
- Create a path. Succession plans, expanded scope, or senior leadership exposure can matter as much as a raise.
What This Means When You Are Hiring
The same themes apply to the candidates you are trying to attract. Strong people want to know what authority they will have, whether the capital plan is stable, and how senior leaders treat the facilities function. Honest answers in the interview process help the right candidate say yes and the wrong one self-select out.
It also pays to ask candidates why they left past roles, and to listen for patterns. A leader who left because authority was unclear is telling you what they will look for in your organization.
How Real8 Group Can Help
Real8 Group is a specialized executive search firm focused on real estate, construction, engineering, and facilities operations. We conduct Director-level through executive searches, work without a large minimum retainer, and typically present qualified candidates within two to three weeks.
If you are planning for a transition, or want to understand how your roles compare in the market, visit real8group.com/finding-talent, learn how we work, meet our team, or reach out at real8group.com/contact.
Real8 Group is a specialized executive search firm serving the real estate, construction, engineering, and facilities operations sectors across the U.S.