Sustainability Stewardship Matters

June 22, 2023

Why You Should Consider an Owner's Representative for Your Next Project

Limited Internal Staff: One thing we hear often is that clients many times do not have the internal manpower to properly plan, manage and execute all of the capital projects assigned within their capital plan. Having an owner’s representative enables an outside resource to partner with your organization to effectively deliver a project or program with augmented staff. This allows the client to focus on completing those projects underway with the staff they currently have onboard while completing additional projects through an owner’s rep that would otherwise need to be delayed or require hiring and training temporary staff to manage.


Shared Accountability:  Risks are always evident in capital projects. Whether financial, schedule, regulatory or another commonly associated risk, having an owner’s rep manage the process should minimize those risks and inform strategies to mitigate them when they arise.


Focused Execution: Many of our clients wear several hats and are responsible for a variety of jobs within their organization. Often, their sole focus cannot reside with a single project or role, and they are limited in their ability to provide adequate focus to managing “another” project or large program. An owner’s rep’s sole responsibility is to provide a dedicated project manager or team to successfully manage and deliver the project or program on time and within budget. That is their number one priority.


Subject Matter Expertise: Complex projects are best suited to be managed by professionals with knowledge of executing those project types. Some owner’s reps have subject matter experts skilled in specialty areas that your team may not have experience with. Having a qualified team manage your project or program can help navigate complex and technical issues. It will also help when informed decisions are required to keep the project on schedule.

 

Access to Additional Team Resources: Hiring a qualified owner’s representative provides not only a single project manager but a deep reserve of experienced professionals within a company that can help provide support on projects to ensure a successful outcome. Some clients do not have access to internal engineers, architects, or experienced project managers to offer guidance and input on challenges that come up during design and or construction.


Project Delivery Efficiency: A good owner’s representative can deliver a project on time and within the budget by leaning on their experience to identify opportunities to recover budgets or schedules that have gone off track. This ultimately leads to cost savings to the client in avoided contractor change orders and schedule delay impacts.


Efficient Communication: An owner’s representative serves as the lead and central point of contact of the project or program. This role provides a clear line of communication between the architect, engineer, consultants, and contractors to eliminate any coordination required on the owner’s side. The owner’s rep facilitates the required project communication in a clear, direct, and timely manner which supports collaboration and efficiency by the entire project team.


Circadia Group serves as the owner’s representative to academic institutions and businesses as they pursue decarbonization. Through our program management service, we learn a lot about what is and is not working on the different programs we manage. We created this newsletter to share some of our experiences with others we know who are pursuing similar endeavors.


Circadia Group

(609) 375-2899

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