Salary expectations, fees, contract terms and confidentiality — what mechanical, plumbing, piping and controls contractors ask us before opening a search.
What to expect on pay before you open a search, and how we handle the numbers.
It depends on the role, the market and the experience you need. We talk through a realistic range on the first call, based on the searches we are running in your market right now, before any outreach begins. Every role we present is competitive salary depending on experience.
No. We never publish salaries, for your search or anyone else's. The range is discussed with you directly and shared with candidates on the recruiter call, not on a job board.
For union-covered field roles, the package follows your collective bargaining agreement. You can check each local's own published wage sheet on our union pay scale pages before we talk numbers, and we screen candidates within that agreement and your local's referral rules.
We tell you on the first call. If the range won't land the experience you need, you hear that from us up front rather than after weeks of searching, and we discuss what the role can realistically attract.
How engagements are structured and what you pay, in plain terms.
Nothing to submit a job order or start the conversation. Fees are 100% employer-paid and candidates never pay. Most searches run on contingency, so you pay only when you hire. For executive or confidential roles we also offer retained search, scoped and priced with you up front.
On contingency you pay only when you hire, and the search runs alongside your own efforts. Retained search is a committed engagement for executive or highly confidential roles, with a scoped fee agreed before work begins. We recommend one or the other based on the role, not the fee.
No. A job order is not an exclusive agreement. Contingency searches carry no obligation until you hire a candidate we presented. Retained terms, when a role calls for them, are spelled out in writing before the search starts.
No. Gulfstream is a search firm. We place direct-hire employees onto your payroll, salaried or union-covered. We don't supply crews, contract labor, or dispatched workers from a hall.
What happens between your job order and a start date.
A recruiter who works your trade calls during business hours (Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific) to confirm scope, must-have experience, schedule and pay range. Outreach to candidates starts only after that call.
It depends on the role, the market and the pay. We set expectations on the first call and update you as the search moves, rather than quoting a generic timeline.
A recruiter who specializes in commercial mechanical construction: HVAC, plumbing, piping, sheet metal and building controls. You get one point of contact from the first call through the offer.
Salaried staff such as estimators, project managers and engineers, superintendents, service and operations managers, and VDC/BIM and controls leads, plus union-covered field roles. Commercial mechanical construction only.
How we protect your identity and work within labor agreements.
Not from us. Searches are confidential by default: your company name is not shared with candidates until both sides agree to an interview, and candidate identity is not shared with you until the same point.
Yes. We work with both signatory and merit-shop mechanical contractors, and Gulfstream is independent of any union or local. Where a role sits under a collective bargaining agreement, we screen and present within that agreement and your local's referral rules.
Yes. We fill roles almost everywhere in the U.S. One job order can cover multiple markets, and if a candidate would relocate, note it in the form and we will search accordingly.