A Bonanza of Benefits: Practice of Using Construction Managers Endorsed by Owners as a Vital Strategy

By Greg Aragon

Managing all the ingredients of a complicated construction project is like coaching a team.

Without careful attention and guidance, players could lose focus, and the team and project could lose time and money.

Which is just one reason project owners hire construction managers.

“To protect yourself, and protect your investment, you really need to have someone, either in your organization who is a certified construction manager or a professional construction management firm representing your interests to make sure things are built the way you want them built,” said Dave Conover, project manager with Sacramento Regional Transit District.

Rory Livingston, assistant superintendent/buisness for William S. Hart Union High School District in Santa Clarita County, said he has used a construction manager because, while using the traditional design-bid-build method, he often found himself settling disputes between the project architect and contractor.

“Which usually means I’m writing a check,” Livingston added.

His district currently uses construction managers on 100 percent of its projects. Livingston said that’s good because he has had too many bad experiences where a budget has been established only to be exceeded.

“I have the construction manager involved from day one through the point of design so that we’re maintaining budget and scope of work all the way through the process and not at the last minute,” he added. He said the district wants to be “reasonably assured that when we go to open bid, we’re going to get what we anticipated and no one is disappointed.

“I also use a construction manager so that I know I get the best subcontractors or prime contractors. And I pick the firm that is actually going to coordinate the activity and ensure that I get the project completed when I need to get it completed for the cost that I am anticipating.”
Mansour Aliabadi, president of Sacramento-based Vanir Construction Management Inc., said that almost all large school districts use construction management services in “one way or another—whether in the form of program management, project management, construction management or CM at-risk.”

He added that construction management firms help school districts identify their programs and establish budgets, cash flows and master schedules.

Livingston cited a $100 million, eight-campus renovation/construction project within the San Luis Coastal Unified School District as an example of the benefits of a construction manger.

Vanir managed the job, which ran from 1994-2000.

Livingston said that in working with Vanir before and during the design phase and throughout construction, the project was completed on time and within budget and faster than the state averages for similar projects.

Still, construction managers aren’t always used.

“Construction management may still not be widely welcome because a construction manager may need to police the designers to make sure they are delivering as required under their contract,” said Joe L. Seibold, a principal and manager of the Encino office of Carter & Burgess.

“So we may not be popular guys on a project, but we are probably the only ones who ultimately have only the owner’s interest solely in mind. And we don’t have another ax to grind or an agenda or a vested interest.”

Russell Fox, vice president of Phoenix-based Kitchell Corp., said that complex projects such as research laboratories, hospitals, specialty buildings and school renovations should attract more construction managers.

Bruce D’Agostino, executive director of the Construction Management Association of America, said that projects in a small school district that hasn’t built a school in the last 20 years would be perfect candidates for a construction manager.

“Unlike a larger district, they don’t have anybody on staff, and the superintendent certainly does not know anything about school building,” D’Agostino said.

The smaller district will need help hiring the architect, getting a general contractor and managing the whole process, he added.

“The construction manager is thinking about not only getting the building built on time and budget, he’s looking at the whole life cycle of the building,” D’Agostino said.

The fallout from the California budget crisis has impacted the construction management industry.
“In the public sector side, we see a lot of challenges with the California budget,” Fox said.

“It’s having a very adverse effect on the construction climate in California. Even in school construction, where there is adequate money to construct new facilities, there’s not enough money to operate them at this point.”

Even so, Fox is bullish about the state’s construction market.

He said that thanks to a series of recent construction bond approvals throughout the state, a number of aging schools will be rebuilt and ultimately help the overall economy.

D’Agostino agreed. He said that throughout the state, infrastructure and schools need to be renovated and built, wastewater treatment plants need work and roads and transportation modes need construction.

“Our whole infrastructure is crying for attention, and construction managers with their sophisticated knowledge will be able to apply their services to those needs and really help the country and the industry,” he said.

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