-
Industry Watch: Why Every Owner Needs Clear Building Rules and Regulations
Earlier this year, I was engaged to review the capital program of a large technology company.What I found surprised me. There were no owner-side building rules.No construction conduct standards.No documentation of expectations—formal or informal. The team relied on a single preferred vendor who “knew how things were usually done.”All of that institutional knowledge lived inside…
-
Commentary: When Owners Lose Their Delay Protections — A Cautionary Tale in Design Discipline
I’ve seen this pattern far too many times.An owner pushes hard on schedule, accelerates design, and assumes the team will “figure it out in the field.”Then the project hits a wall of changes, delays, and finger-pointing. All of this could have been prevented with a more disciplined design phase. A recent New York Appellate Division…
-
Commentary: Professionalism Isn’t Optional — Even for the Biggest Owners
I still remember the phone call.The owner on the other end was furious — loud, profane, and looking for someone to unload on. I happened to be the unlucky junior architect who picked up the phone that day. I had nothing to do with the issue he was upset about, but I let him speak.…
-
Best Practice: 5 Mistakes Owners Still Make When Bidding Construction Projects
Every owner wants a fair, competitive bid.Yet most of the problems I see on projects trace back to what happens before the first shovel hits the ground — during procurement. Owners influence project outcomes more during the bidding phase than in any other stage of work. Unfortunately, this is also where most go off course.…
-
Best Practice: Where Contractors Hide Profit (and Why It Shouldn’t Be a Secret)
Every procurement professional has seen it.A low bid that grows legs once construction begins.Margins shift, allowances shrink, and suddenly “cost exposure” becomes the excuse for overruns. It’s easy to blame greed. But in my experience, hidden profit is more about structure than deception. Problem & Context The construction industry still resists transparency. While owners demand…
-
Best Practices — Why Owners Must Engage an Unbiased Procurement Professional / Owner’s Rep
The truth is, most owners don’t think about procurement structure until it’s too late. By then, the project is underway, the contracts are signed, and the problems are buried. But you don’t have to wait for that.