Community Managers (CMs) often rely on Construction Managers (the other CMs) to assist with the management of construction projects. The community manager’s understanding and responsibilities for their community’s needs must often be supplemented with the technical knowledge of designers and construction professionals.
What is Construction Management?
Construction management is a project delivery system that augments traditional construction processes. Community managers can entrust a multidiscipline organization to optimize their budget, schedule and quality requirements for a specific project from inception through occupancy. A construction manager acts as the agent for the entire duration of the project with the community manager maintaining control of the support services and construction contracts.
A smoothly operating construction project will easily return an association’s investment in construction management fees. A current example is a phased project to reroof over 50 buildings. A professionally written Project Manual that prescribes specific bidding procedures, improved material quality and higher installation practices has resulted in significantly lower costs and longer warranty periods than other work recently completed without construction management services.
Construction management is also recommended to avoid a conflict of interest between design professionals and constructors, and to limit financial opportunities from the involved parties unfairly increasing costs. Ethical construction management relies on the checks and balances created by the performance of innovative managers and the cooperation between independent team members.
Qualities of Successful Construction Management
A successful project is the result of several human qualities—communication skills, anticipation of results and a passion for professional service. The inherent complexity of today’s construction processes requires clear and timely communications. The right questions must be asked, the correct answers given, consensus obtained, and the positive momentum of the team must be maintained. Knowledge and the ability to anticipate the consequences of every decision help deliver a project with limited risks.
Although various risks may be virtually unpredictable, analysis of the issues and application of experience will reduce the chances of problems in the project delivery process. The final quality is difficult to measure, but it is apparent from the cooperation between the involved parties—the community manager, the designer, the construction manager and the contractor. For the success of any project all must act in concert and each must feel like a contributor.
The ability to manage a construction project effectively often relates directly to the quality and completeness of the construction documents. The directions, specifications and drawings are unique to each project, and the documents must suit the needs of each homeowner association. The local enforcement agency must have confidence in the documents to issue timely a Building Permit. The contractor must clearly understand the Scope of the Work, recognize the specified procedures, and agree to the quality of materials and craftsmanship. The manager applies the documents to achieve the association’s goals.
Selecting a Construction Manager
The crux of construction management is a blend of innovation, team selection and motivation, and experience. The community manager is part of the team. Construction management is an owner-oriented process. The community manager, working with the association board, must find a firm with the experience, the reputation, the chemistry, the technical capability, and the capacity to fulfill the goals of the project. The construction manager can then take the lead to guide the project to a successful conclusion.
Some construction management firms serve a dual role, providing design services, while the project scope, budget and schedule are being developed together with the community manager. The team’s goal is to review, formulate, recommend and manage a project innovatively. A professional team employs value engineering, construction strategies and expediting as part of their procedures to analyze, design, plan and budget the resolution of the community’s issues. The construction manager’s typical duties include proposal preparation, contractor prequalification, oversight of bidding, contract award and cost control.
Putting it all Together
The practice of construction management and the profession of community management have been evolving for three decades. Likewise, many advances have been made in construction practices and in the creation of new or better materials. Working together, these developments offer great opportunities to provide better solutions to our community needs.
Allen Schafer is corporate senior architect at the Bayridge Group. He is licensed by the California State Board of Architecture and has more than 35 years of experience providing comprehensive architectural services. Herman Novak is the principal at the Bayridge Group and has over 25 years of experience in the architectural, engineering and construction world. He is a California licensed general contractor, a certified mediator and a member of the board of director of the American Institute of Ethics.