How To Become A Lead Installer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lead installer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Lead installers work in construction. They work under the supervision of an install manager and they coordinate the work of an install team. They work on residential constructions, carrying out projects of various sizes from remodeling to home additions. They monitor the workers' performance and report on the progress of the work to the construction manager.

As construction staff tends to be, lead installers are skilled tradesmen trained in various phases of a construction job such as demolition and pre-construction, framing, plumbing, electrical wiring, installing tiles, painting, and the list goes on. They assign tasks to installers and manages the schedule of sub-contractors and helpers, filling in the role of the leader on-site.

A high school diploma should do it, as far as formal education goes, book-smart is not what a good lead installer is expected to be. What makes or breaks a pro is the amount of experience gained in construction work.

ScoreLead InstallerUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $59,596

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.18%

Asian 1.65%

Black or African American 7.75%

Hispanic or Latino 23.04%

Unknown 4.70%

White 61.68%

Gender

female 4.45%

male 95.55%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.1

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a lead installer

Explore lead installer education requirements

Most common lead installer degrees

High School Diploma

38.2 %

Associate

23.8 %

Bachelor's

19.7 %

Start to develop specific lead installer skills

Skills	Percentages
HVAC	17.12%
Customer Service	11.91%
Hand Tools	11.07%
Customer Satisfaction	6.44%
Windows	5.74%

Complete relevant lead installer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead installers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lead installer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead installer resumes.

Research lead installer duties and responsibilities

Manage crew working on Nortel CDMA network doing upgrades at cell site.
Install battery plants, rectifiers, power distribution bays, and fuse panels.
Repair and replace condensers, compressors, pumps, valves, furnace, air handlers, and coils.
Install telecommunication equipment; routers, switches, connections and programming features following industry standards.

Get lead installer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a lead installer. The most common roles before becoming a lead installer include installer, technician team lead and installation technician.

Prepare your lead installer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead installer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lead installer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lead installer resume templates

Build a professional lead installer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your lead installer resume.