This Tip offers information on alternative forms of project delivery through the utilization of a construction manager’s (CM) services and the 2010 suite of three Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) construction management contracts.
What is Construction Management?
Construction management is a term for alternative forms of project delivery where a construction manager replaces the role a general contractor has in traditional design-bid-build delivery. The owner still engages an architect to design and prepare construction documents, but also engages a CM at an early stage as a consultant to provide advice, oversee and manage construction: planning, costs, scheduling, methods and materials. This CM could be a contractor, an architect or engineer, a consulting person or other entity as long as they have the necessary construction expertise and trust of the owner. The CM may also be brought on board after construction documents have been prepared. The CM will have a full time person on site acting as a site superintendent the same way that a general contractor does in traditional project delivery.
The philosophy behind the benefits of construction management is similar to that currently ascribed to Integrated Project Delivery – bringing a more comprehensive team together for collaboration during design and the ability to start construction earlier than with traditional design-bid-build. In construction management, instead of bidding by general contractors, packages of work are bid by individual trades, organized by the CM. Excavation, foundations or structure could be bid before the construction documents are completed for all the interior works. The individual trade contracts can be signed either with the owner or with the CM, which creates the two basic variations in construction management – one with CM as advisor providing consulting services only; and the other being a CM as advisor plus contractor providing consulting services and doing the construction.
In one scenario the owner signs contracts directly with the trades and the CM provides advice and management only – often referred to as CM as Agent. Alternatively the CM signs all the contracts with trades, and takes on the risk of the construction performance and the cost and schedule for the same, while still providing construction management advice in the early stages – often referred to as CM at Risk.
The cost of the construction can be set up in several ways: cost plus (minimal risk to the CM), a guaranteed maximum price (GMP), a fixed price (maximum risk to CM) or various arrangements of GMP with a sharing of cost savings between the owner and CM. Ways that construction management can affect the architect’s services include the following:
It can be more complex to maintain the traditional professional role of the architect in being fair to both sides (owner and contractor) because there are more ‘sides’. On owner/developer projects, the roles and responsibilities of the owner/developer and CM can become very blurred.
The Architect as CM
Architects can be CM’s and enter into a CCDC 5A agreement with an owner. Some architects doing small projects such as restaurant or house renovations may be asked by the client to arrange the trade works but don’t feel it necessary to have a general contractor. It may seem like a construction management approach could fulfill these directions; however, the arrangement produces conflicts of interest and other potential conflicts. Construction management has many variations and keeping the contractual arrangements clear is a challenge.
References
©2008 OAA, all rights reserved. Persons who are not members of the OAA must obtain written permission from the OAA before copying this content.