Building services executive search is the work of placing senior commercial and delivery leadership into mechanical and electrical contractors and the building services divisions of the main contractors, on the schemes where the M&E package carries the programme: data centres, hospitals, laboratories and the major commercial buildings. It is retained, research led and handled personally, from brief to placement.
Building Services Executive Search
The M&E leadership behind the technically dense schemes.
What this sector asks of its leaders
Building services is where the technical density of a modern scheme sits, and that shapes who succeeds in a senior role.
The largest package. On a data centre or a hospital the M&E works can be half the contract value, so a building services Commercial Director is running a commercial position larger than many main contractors' regions, and with less float.
Coordination. The programme risk on a technically dense scheme lives in the coordination between services, structure and fit-out. The Project Director who has run that coordination on a live hospital or a hyperscale build is a different profile from one who has managed an M&E package on an office.
Labour and supply chain. Skilled M&E labour is the scarcest resource on most major schemes. An Operations Director here is judged on the labour they can secure as much as the schemes they can win.
Pace. Data centre clients set programmes most of construction does not move at, and the leaders who have delivered to those dates carry a premium.
On a data centre, the M&E package is the scheme
On a hyperscale data centre or a new hospital, mechanical and electrical works can be half the contract value and most of the programme risk.
The main contractor's Project Director succeeds or fails on the building services leadership beneath them.
The roles I recruit here
The wider senior roles
Beyond the grid I also recruit Chief Operating Officer and group board appointments for building services businesses, which run under board appointments. The data centre and healthcare programmes have their own pages under data centres and healthcare.
How the search runs
The brief comes first: the real requirement, the target organisations, and the profile that will succeed in your business. Then the mapping, a complete picture of who holds the equivalent role across that universe, with named individuals, current remit, reporting line and likely motivation. Every approach is made personally and confidentially. The shortlist is four to six, each with a written appraisal covering capability, motivation and risk, and it names the reservations as well as the strengths.
I am a qualified Quantity Surveyor who worked as a Commercial Manager at Sir Robert McAlpine before moving into search. I have procured and managed the building services packages I now recruit the leadership for.
How the search runs here
What changes in building services is the target universe: the national M&E contractors, the specialist data centre and healthcare M&E businesses, and the building services teams inside the Tier 1 main contractors. The process is the same one I run for every senior appointment, set out stage by stage on the method page.
Common questions
What is building services executive search?
It is a retained, research-led process for appointing senior leaders into mechanical and electrical contractors and the building services divisions of main contractors. The market is mapped completely, the people holding equivalent roles are approached directly and confidentially, and the shortlist is assessed rather than filtered from a database.
Which building services roles do you recruit?
Commercial Director, Senior Commercial Manager, Project Director, Senior Project Manager and Operations Director are the appointments I am asked for most. In 2026 a Senior Commercial Manager and a Senior Project Manager, both for building services on major London schemes, were live searches.
Which schemes drive the demand?
Data centres first, where the M&E package can be half the contract value. Then the New Hospital Programme and the wider healthcare estate, life sciences and laboratory buildings, and the major commercial schemes in London and the regional cities.
What does a retained building services search cost?
Retained search is typically charged as a percentage of the appointed leader's first-year total package, invoiced in stages across the assignment. My fee is 22.5%, agreed in full at the outset with no variation later.
Start a conversation
If you are appointing commercial or delivery leadership for an M&E business, or building the services team inside a main contractor, I would welcome the chance to talk. No hard sell, no obligation.
