Who Should You Hire to Manage Your Construction?

Construction Manager vs. General Contractor?

A construction manager is an alternative to hiring a general contractor. It may be a good way for the homeowner who has no building experience to get some of the benefits of being his or her own contractor yet, at the same time, to have a pro at hand to lend confidence and guidance.

One key difference between hiring a GC and a construction manager is financial. In a traditional homeowner-GC arrangement, the contractor calculates his costs, gets estimates from subcontractors, and then marks them all up a percentage to give you a single price. In contrast, the construction manager won't give you one price; your checks won't all be payable to just one payee. Instead, you will hire all the contractors and there will be no middle-man to mark up costs. You will pay the construction manager a fee, but that will be less than the GC's markup would have been. You should end up ahead.

With a construction manager, you sign an agreement specifying that his (or her) fee is a percentage of the total time and materials costs. A typical fee of 10 to 15 percent would translate, on a job with a time and materials cost of $50,000, to a construction management fee of $5,000 to $7,500 for the manager's services.

Your Level of Involvement

Another advantage of the construction manager is that you will retain a high degree of control and involvement in the process. The construction manager is essentially a consultant who lends a professional hand. The construction manager will help solicit bids, review estimates, coordinate schedules, and oversee construction. But you will be closely involved with every step along the way.