Whenever you begin exploring any commercial construction project, you know that various partnerships are essential to completing your project. One of the professionals you might work within your endeavor is a construction manager. Construction manager responsibilities are unique, bringing oversight, experience, and big-picture perspectives to each stage of your building process. In general, the CM takes charge of facilitating and coordinating everyone involved in your project, ensuring your budgets, timelines, and goals are intact. There’s even more a highly qualified construction manager can contribute.
You might be tempted to assume some of the commercial building responsibilities internally, intending to maintain better control or save money in doing so. But it would be a mistake to not trust the guidance and expertise of your construction manager. Today, we’ll highlight what you should expect from an experienced, professional construction manager. These are duties best left to the CM to avoid costly build mistakes and time delays.
1. Commercial Construction Design Coordination
Depending on your unique commercial construction project, you’ll likely have various designs to incorporate into one final project. There are several components involving multiple disciplines, meaning you’re going to need more than one design professional to bring your final building vision to life. Coordinating these contributing designs is not a task you’ll want to take on yourself. Instead, leave design coordination to a skilled construction manager with years of experience in bringing multiple design ideas together.
For example, it’s not uncommon to have designs from:
- Structural and Civil Engineering
- Architectural Design Teams
- Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering (MEP)
To ensure that your complex project comes together seamlessly with all these contributing designs, the construction manager steps in to oversee collaboration. The construction manager is responsible for aligning each of these designs, preventing major errors and design-related clashes.
Imagine each design professional is responsible for a unique puzzle piece. Your construction manager then makes sure those individual pieces fit together through careful coordination and robust communication. Those commercial construction projects that have skilled construction managers onboard can expect design wrinkles to be ironed out before the building begins. And this reduces the need for costly changes later.
2. Phase and Project Scheduling
Scheduling is another complex layer of your commercial construction project that you’ll not want to try and manage internally. You’ll rely on the expertise of a construction manager to oversee and manage every scheduling detail to ensure your project finishes on time.
There’s more to scheduling than booking contractors, too. Your dedicated construction manager will not only manage the timelines of contractors and activities. The CM will also be your go-to professional for problem-solving timeline delays, scheduling resources, and coordinating material deliveries.
While your input is always needed in project scheduling, leave the overall schedule management to the construction professional. Your construction manager will have experienced insights to know how to prioritize project tasks. They’ll also know how to fast-track schedules, cut back when limited resources are available, and move forward with the next steps without missing a beat.
3. Commercial Construction Bid Review
Construction manager responsibilities also include bid review. This is yet another commercial construction task you don’t want to assume on your own. There’s more to reviewing submitted contractor bids than comparing prices. An untrained eye might miss key bid elements or exclusions that a professional can spot right away.
Reviewing submitted bids and making best-fit contractor selections is essential in keeping to your project’s budget and timeline. Allowing the CM to take on this responsibility will ensure you don’t miss errors, omissions, and exclusions that could ultimately cause budget and timeline issues. Eliminate surprises with your various project contractors by stepping aside during the bid review process. The CM will make recommendations for you as the owner to make final decisions.
4. Contract Negotiations, Permits, and Licensing
Your commercial construction project is going to involve various contractors. And with those partnerships come complex contracts. Reviewing the initial bids is only one piece of the partnership. You’ll need to then move forward with your selection process, executing contracts and monitoring the scope of work as you continue. Negotiations are a pivotal part of the project you’ll want to trust an experienced professional construction manager to obtain the best value for you.
In addition to negotiations and contract implementation, your CM is instrumental in organizing your efforts concerning securing permits, agreements, and licenses. These pillar compliance elements of your project need to be meticulously managed to avoid delays and expensive mistakes. An experienced construction manager will have the knowledge and resources to properly manage within regulations and applicable laws. Trust the negotiations, implementation oversight, and permit requirements to a pro who’s experienced in these critical steps. The right CM will have a strong relationship with municipalities, their staff, and code officials which provides benefits for all.
5. Risk Management and Mitigation
Even if you’ve been a part of a commercial construction project before, there’s no substitute for a construction manager’s skill sets in risk management and mitigation. Risk can be defined as any potential or realized hazard that has the capability of setting a project back, (Delete link) including financial, timeline delays, and overall safety concerns. And the presence of risks is an understood element of any project.
Your best resource for reducing, eliminating, and managing risks is your experienced construction manager. Let your CM assume responsibility for predicting and preventing risk-related concerns for you. A highly qualified CM is going to have the project experience needed to foresee and recognize risk-contributing factors. And they’ll have the best insights for taking action to reduce costly mistakes.
6. Change Management and Facilitation
Despite your attempts to streamline every plan and process, you can expect changes to arise with your commercial construction project. Inevitably, some variation of your original scope, budget, or schedule requires shifting. But if you’re planning to review every change event yourself, prepare to be overwhelmed.
Instead, leave the coordination and facilitation to the skilled construction manager. Construction manager duties include knowing how to navigate changes at any phase of the project. Some changes might be minor like a cosmetic issue or materials shortage forcing a new selection. However, some changes are more complex with budget implications, including structural or code-related changes. It’s best to leave change review and management to your CM instead of taking these tasks on yourself.
FAQs About Commercial Construction Managers
As the premier firm for commercial construction in the Lehigh Valley, our team at Jerdon Construction often fields common questions about the role and benefits of relying on a construction manager. Here are just a few of those FAQs.
What are the skills to look for in a commercial construction manager?
This role is vital to your project and should never be considered entry-level. Because this is a managerial role, you’ll want to identify a strong CM with impeccable leadership, communication, and financial management skills, along with proven experience with your type of commercial project.
Why is a construction manager so important for your commercial project?
A commercial construction manager’s responsibilities include comprehensive management and oversight of every step of the project, from conception and design to completion. It’s a dedicated role focused on seamless execution. Without a CM, expect delays, increased risks, and costly changes.
What does a construction manager’s day look like?
A CM’s role can be broken down into daily project oversight efforts. Typically, the CM will review the scheduled tasks for the day, identify responsibilities and contractors, communicate daily objectives, and make revisions when necessary.
Trust Jerdon Construction Managers
As you begin your commercial construction project, you might be tempted to tackle some of the tasks internally, hoping to be more cost-effective in the process. However, when it comes to design coordination, scheduling, bid reviewing, managing risks, and change management, it’s best to trust the construction manager instead. Keep these insights about the advantages and construction manager responsibilities to streamline your project. Trust that the Jerdon Construction team will help you navigate from conception to completion. Contact us today with CM questions or other commercial building project inquiries!
