As recently as 25 years ago, nearly every building project was designed, specified, and documented by architects and engineers, who would then solicit bids from general contractors. The submitted bids were then opened and the apparent "low bidder" was awarded the contract to build the project, unless the bids were all over budget. In the case of bids for a project coming in well over budget the owner would then typically have to pay the architect additional fees to redesign the project.

Naturally, this highly competitive process ensures a low price, but does it also ensure the best value, overall, in the long run?   In many respects, this system falls woefully short of the owner's desired result.

The Construction Management (CM) method of project delivery is a concept that began to be "officially" recognized in the 60’s. This highly successful and popular method strives to correct many of the shortcomings of the traditional project delivery method. It replaces the adversarial relationships between the owner and contractor inherent in the traditional method-with one of cooperation and teamwork.

The Construction Manager is selected early in the process on the basis of trust, confidence, and relationship, with criteria such as experience, performance and past success being evaluated. Construction Management promotes efficient design by providing detailed pricing early on to avoid design exceeding budget, good communication as everyone is on the same team, and quality construction, and lasting value in a project as the CM is chosen for their ability and not just the lowest price.

At Beckenhauer Construction, we believe that your project should be planned, designed and constructed under a teamwork umbrella.  Owner, Architect and Contractor should work together from the moment the project is conceived. In order to achieve this partnership, yet obtain the best pricing possible, Beckenhauer offers the Construction Management method.

We negotiate a competitive fee structure up front, work with the owner and Architect, obtain numerous competitive bids from subcontractors and suppliers, and provide an open book evaluation of these bids in arriving at a final price. The Owner receives the experienced services of a pre-construction manager combined with the advantage and protection of a general contractor during construction-guaranteed to be competitive and all from a reliable source.

It is important to know that the CM replaces the traditional General Contractor therefore no additional costs are associated with hiring a CM.