THE EAST SIDE
Editorial comment from Steven A. East President
of CSM Group
I saw it the other day on the website
of a so-called "Construction
Management" firm: "Our experience
in self-performing construction work
makes (us) a better construction
manager."
Perhaps it should have read, "Our
hidden agenda is to get as much of
the work for ourselves as possible,
thereby denying you all the
advantages you thought you
were getting by hiring a construction
manager."
Sorry if I seem a bit
annoyed, but unfortunately
building
owners can be
vulnerable to this "surface logic."
And it is, to state it
simply, hogwash.
First of all, the major
benefit (and thinking
behind) construction
management as a
means of service
delivery is a sound
one: put someone
knowledgeable in
charge of all
contracts and
performance, and give them NO
vested interest and NO reason to be
less than objective about any aspect
of any trade contractor's performance.
Make them responsible ONLY to
the owner for quality, budget,
schedule, etc.
In my opinion, as soon as that "trade
contractor" line is crossed, you don't
have a construction
manager
any longer.
Who judges
their work?
Who ensures
the
fairness of
bidding for
those "selfperformed"
components?
And don't fall
for that "we
understand
better because
we DO it" nonsense, either. At CSM
Group, we have specialized in true
Construction Management for many
years, on literally thousands of
projects of all types and complexities.
And NO ONE--certainly no generalcontractor-
in-disguise-knows and
understands construction techniques,
costs, sequencing, scheduling, labor
issues, subcontractor coordination
and the other issues involved better
than we do. It is for exactly that
expertise people hire and trust
CSM Group-and recommend us
to others afterward.
So next time you hear of some
alleged "construction manager"
offering to "self-perform" some of
the work to gain control or efficiency,
don't be misled. But if you do take
the bait, make sure to hire a fox to
guard your henhouse, too. All that
direct experience ought to make him
pretty good.
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