Construction Management
ECM manages your project for a fee on top of the actual cost. You see the costs as they come in, and the job can switch to a fixed price once the trades are priced.
How it works
Busy running your business? Let ECM run the build.
ECM manages your project from design to close-out, and builds it with its own crews.
ECM can come on board before you’ve hired a designer or once the drawings are under way. It helps you choose the architect and engineers, prices the design as it goes, sets the budget and schedule, and looks after the permit applications. Because the design is priced at every stage, the bids come in close to budget and you don’t pay to redraw the building.
Then ECM tenders the work to trades and suppliers and runs the site through deficiencies and close-out. You see the costs as they come in, and get a straight answer to any question. Changes are priced before they happen, and if the schedule is tight, construction can start before every drawing is finished.
You pay what the project actually costs, plus ECM’s fee. Once the scope is settled, the job can switch to a fixed price if you’d rather have one number.
Projects
Projects ECM ran as construction manager
Every project in the portfolio is tagged by how it was delivered. These are the construction management jobs.
First Nations Traditional Campus
New services, cabins, a shower house, a kitchen and a sweat lodge for a First Nations traditional campus on the bank of the South Saskatchewan River, north of St. Louis, delivered as construction manager.
Blackstrap Service Centre
A new service centre at Kevin Misfeldt Campground in Blackstrap Provincial Park, with washroom and shower facilities for campers.
- Client
- SaskBuilds and Procurement
Sherwin-Williams Regina
Conversion of a former retail unit on Prince of Wales Drive into a paint store: demolition, polished concrete floors, new offices and partitions, upgraded mechanical and electrical.
- Client
- Sherwin-Williams
Scope
What ECM manages and builds
Design management
ECM helps you choose the architect and engineers, then prices each drawing stage and checks it can be built for the budget, so cost problems get fixed on paper.
Budget and schedule
ECM sets the budget and the schedule early and updates both at each design stage, so you always know where the project stands.
Permit applications
ECM looks after the permit applications, gathers what the architect and engineers need to submit, and follows each one through to approval.
Tendering and trade selection
ECM puts together the tender packages, invites trades and suppliers it knows and trusts, compares the bids line by line and recommends who gets the work.
Site management
ECM runs the site day to day, coordinates the trades and manages safety under its COR certification. A superintendent is on site every day, and ECM's own crews do the concrete, framing, excavation and earthwork.
Cost control and close-out
You see costs as they are spent at a monthly owner meeting, changes are priced and approved as they come up, and progress payments are checked against the work done. ECM stays through deficiencies and handover.
Why it works
Changes are cheapest on paper.
A change on paper costs a few hours of the architect’s time. The same change after tender is a change order, and after the slab is poured it is demolition.
With ECM involved from the start, people who build for a living look at your drawings while changes are still cheap. ECM’s leadership has more than 40 years in Saskatchewan construction, as carpenter, superintendent, estimator, project manager and general manager. They know what a detail costs to build and how long it takes in January.
- You see every cost, at a monthly meeting and in Sage.
- The budget is checked at each design stage, so you don't pay for a redesign when the bids come in.
- If the schedule is tight, construction can start before every drawing is finished.
- Changes are priced before they go ahead, and the job can switch to a fixed price once the scope is settled.
Choosing a delivery method
When construction management makes sense
Construction management suits you if you want to see where the money goes and have a say in who builds your project. It works best when ECM is brought in early, before or during design, and on jobs where construction has to start before every drawing is done. If you answer to a board, a council or a funder, you get cost reports they can follow line by line.
If your drawings are already finished and you want one fixed price up front, general contracting is usually the better fit.
How the two delivery methods compare
| Construction Management | General Contracting | |
|---|---|---|
| Design at the start | Not started or under way. ECM prices it as it develops. | Complete. |
| Price | What the project actually costs, plus ECM's fee. Can switch to a fixed price. | Fixed price at award. |
| Your involvement | Every stage, with the costs in front of you as they come in. | A monthly owner meeting. ECM holds the price and the schedule. |
| Good fit if | You want ECM involved early, before or during design. | Your design is finished and you need a fixed price before work starts. |
Construction Management in practice
Ma Faamii Service Centres
Three identical Ma Faamii service centres for Métis Nation-Saskatchewan in Beauval, North Battleford and Yorkton, each about 5,500 sq ft, with client support offices, staff offices and a community room with a kitchen.
View the projectWhat ECM did
- Took the client's concept plan to finished design with an architect and engineers ECM brought in
- Built three identical buildings in three towns
- Delivered as construction manager
Questions
Questions about construction management
ECM runs your project for a fee. That covers helping you choose the design team, pricing the design as it develops, setting the budget and schedule, handling permits, tendering the work, running the site and closing the project out. You see every cost as it comes in.
With general contracting, the design is finished first and ECM bids one fixed price for the whole job. You know the price up front, but you don't see the costs behind it. With construction management, ECM comes in earlier and you see every cost as it comes in. The job can still switch to a fixed price once the trades are priced.
As early as you can, ideally before you hire a designer. The first decisions (site, size, structure, mechanical system) set most of the cost, and they get made in the first few weeks of design. ECM can also join a project that already has drawings, but there's less room to move.
ECM invites trades and suppliers it has worked with, compares the bids and recommends who should get the work, with reasons. If you're a public owner, ECM works inside your procurement rules, including tendering through SaskTenders where required.
ECM runs every project in Sage, an online project management system. Budgets, costs, changes, schedules and documents are all in one place, and you, the consultants and the trades can see what each of you needs. Once a month, usually at the start of the month with the progress invoice, you meet with ECM to go over the schedule, the work coming up and any changes.
Have a project coming up?
Send what you have, even if it is a paragraph and a budget number, or call 306-519-7569.