If you have an architect willing to provide full construction services, why do you need to pay more money for duplicate services?

@hollysprings - there would be some duplication in what the architect will be doing throughout the project, but my gut is that he'll be less hands on once we've selected a GC. The architect is contracted for bi-weekly site visits, but he's not a contractor and, I think, may have a different skill-set than an owner's rep / CM.

But it's a fair question and perhaps one reason not to hire an Owner's Rep: it's duplicative of the architects role.

Maybe if you lived in another state and worked really insane hours, but otherwise it seems a bit redundant. Will you be close by during construction? Will you be able to check the site every couple of days? If yes, then you should be fine with the GC and some architect support. Picking the right GC is important.

@chispa, yes we'll be relatively close to the construction and able to visit the site when needed.

It sounds like folks agree that a rep/cm would not be money well spent if we pick the right GC.

I would visit every day, as it better to catch any errors early on. We built a guest house last year. The one day that I did not go check on the guys, the tile installer put up my expensive backsplash tile incorrectly. I thought the pattern was obvious! Luckily he had only done part of the job. I immediately called the GC, who called the tile guy right back to my house to review what needed to be done. Crisis averted and not too many tiles wasted. Had I not checked for 3 days the backsplash would have been done and we would not have been able to reuse the tiles.

"... a friend suggested hiring an Owner's Rep / Construction Manager to manage schedules and oversee the GC. He/she would be an advisor and not responsible for hiring subs, buying materials, or any of the tasks assigned to the GC. Their role would be to keep the project on schedule/budget and to ensure work is being performed to standard."

You should talk to your architect about how such a role would be incorporated into a construction contract since it parallels the role of the architect and general contractor and could expose you to unnecessary liability.

I've seen this done only once and the result was that the owner was forced to pay for cost overruns and delays caused by others. If you are going to use a CM contract, ask your architect or a construction contract lawyer how it works. Ask what "arms length" means.

In other words, if something goes wrong, you don't want anyone to be able to shift responsibility to you because your rep. was effectively running the project.

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 9:37