Owner’s Representative

The Owner’s Rep (OR) should have a deep understanding of construction and engineering and is directly responsible for representing the interests and desires of the owner.  The OR acts in the owner’s absence and often as the proxy. For each project, the OR must have an internet understanding of the owners objectives, likes & dislikes, and where they place the greatest priority.

The OR needs to be involved as early as the early design or schematic design phase. During the SD phase the designers will make many decisions and take many directions that will be very costly to change in later phases of the architectural, structural and mechanical design. 

Often, much of the value engineering takes place during the early design phases – even before the project has been officially costed by the General Contractor. Effective owner’s representation requires an understanding of the enterprise and how it functions along with specific future changes additional changes envisioned by the owner.

Project Management

Project managers are often tasked with keeping complicated projects on time and on budget. Once design drawings have been approved by the owner it is the responsibility of the Project Manager (PM) to make sure that they are executed by the designer’s consultants, General Contractor and sub-contractors.

Additionally, the PM needs to possess the experience to recognize when various disciplines might be falling behind schedule before ultimately creating larger delays. The PM also needs to posses the skills and experience to suggest value engineering measures that might preserve portions of the budget.