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General contractor vs freelance project manager

The differences between general contractors and freelance project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a general contractor and a freelance project manager. Additionally, a freelance project manager has an average salary of $70,357, which is higher than the $66,602 average annual salary of a general contractor.

The top three skills for a general contractor include plumbing, safety regulations and contract negotiations. The most important skills for a freelance project manager are website development, project management, and video production.

General contractor vs freelance project manager overview

General ContractorFreelance Project Manager
Yearly salary$66,602$70,357
Hourly rate$32.02$33.83
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs66,218128,931
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4646
Years of experience88

General contractor vs freelance project manager salary

General contractors and freelance project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

General ContractorFreelance Project Manager
Average salary$66,602$70,357
Salary rangeBetween $41,000 And $107,000Between $43,000 And $112,000
Highest paying City--
Highest paying state--
Best paying company--
Best paying industry--

Differences between general contractor and freelance project manager education

There are a few differences between a general contractor and a freelance project manager in terms of educational background:

General ContractorFreelance Project Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorBusinessCommunication
Most common collegeCalifornia Polytechnic State University-San Luis ObispoUniversity of Southern California

General contractor vs freelance project manager demographics

Here are the differences between general contractors' and freelance project managers' demographics:

General ContractorFreelance Project Manager
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 90.6% Female, 9.4%Male, 46.2% Female, 53.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 2.8% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 3.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 2.8% White, 70.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage4%4%

Differences between general contractor and freelance project manager duties and responsibilities

General contractor example responsibilities.

  • Manage the repair/replacement of mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and structural of primarily historical residences.
  • Manage third party contractors including safety oversight, environmental design specification compliance, and similar construction specifications and requirements.
  • Perform electrical, mechanical (HVAC), plumbing, framing, roofing and finishing construction for residential and commercial buildings.
  • Remodel restaurants, which include painting, dry wall, tiling, plumbing, electrical and laying carpet.
  • Assist and perform all duties with installation of cabinets, flooring, sheetrock, framing, concrete, and basic plumbing.
  • Experience in roofing, painting, digging of footers, and tile setting.
  • Show more

Freelance project manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage the VIP entrance of Capitale, NYC.
  • Manage onshore and offshore developers, creative agency, and QA teams.
  • Manage photography of product packaging.
  • Perform problem resolution, cost recovery, manage inventory of network components, direct RFP process for procurement of telecommunications services.
  • Lead QA testing of Facebook apps, websites and all other client work.
  • Used JQuery and JavaScript for banner photo rotation, zoom control, time/date display on webpage.
  • Show more

General contractor vs freelance project manager skills

Common general contractor skills
  • Plumbing, 17%
  • Safety Regulations, 12%
  • Contract Negotiations, 11%
  • Drywall Installation, 7%
  • Construction Projects, 4%
  • Payroll, 4%
Common freelance project manager skills
  • Website Development, 17%
  • Project Management, 14%
  • Video Production, 9%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 3%
  • HTML, 3%
  • Art Directors, 3%

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