Papers

"When should I hire a Construction Manager?"

The simple truth is, as early as possible.  The CM acts as a consultant to the owner during the development and design phase.  The CM provides input on constructibilty and can provide input on actual cost and feasibilty of the construction budget. This input provides the best opportunity to reduce the cost, while adding value to the project.

"What's the difference between a CM - Construction Manager and a GC - General Contractor?"

The Construction Manager is hired based on qualifications.  This make the CM a memeber of a collaborative project team, centralizes responsibility for construction under a single contract, obtains a bonded guaranteed maximum price, produces a more manageable and predictable project, and saves time and money by reducing risk for the client the architect and CM.  As Construction Managers, we are your advocates and partners, committed to helping clients, and delivering high performance results. Our expertise, teamwork, and value added services, makes us the owners premier consulting professional.  Our passion for our clients’ best interests drives our performance, ensuring an unrivaled experience and result. We act as a consultant to the owner in the development and design phases, providing a more professional approach to the project.  We are part of the team, and on the owners side. 

General Contracting usually leads to an adversarial relationship between the Owner, Architect and Contractor.  Not every one has the same agenda, which should be providing the owner with the best value.  The GC is forced in a competitive market and at great personal risk, to make their money by providing the least amount of value that is accepted, for the greatest amount of profit.

"When should I ask for a GMP - Guaranteed Maximum Price?"

The design of a project goes through many phases.  The Schematic Design is generally a basic layout of the owners desires for the project.  The Design Development phase, adds more detail to the plan, then the 50% Construction Design, and 95% Construction Design gets us to the point of bidding.  A good CM will provide pricing along the way, developing a more detailed estimate, as the design gets more detailed.  The GMP should be established as close to the completion of the final design as possible.  The more the CM has to guess what might be designed, the higher the contingency will need to be, possibly making the cost of the project higher than needed.  Risk=Money, so the more design that is developed, before the GMP is finalized, the better.