What Is Owner’s Representation?
Building a custom home can be an extremely rewarding experience, but it can also be quite challenging. There are many things to consider when building a custom home, from the layout and design to the materials and finishes, but one of the most important decisions you'll need to make is choosing the individuals and companies that make up your broader project team. From architects and builders to interior designers, the people involved in your building process can make all the difference in your experience—not just logistically or financially, but emotionally, too.
When it comes to architecture and construction, navigating different processes can be like trying to understand a foreign language. It’s not uncommon for residential clients—and even some less experienced developers—to find themselves lost at times, or even worse, agreeing to things they don’t understand. As a client, you are the one responsible for paying the bills associated with a project, so it’s important to be as informed as possible and to understand the path you're traveling.
Depending on the size and complexity of your project, you should strongly consider adding an owner’s representative to your team. If you’re not familiar with owner’s representation services or aren’t sure whether you need these services, keep reading for our guide.
What does an owner’s representative do?
Unfortunately, most people aren’t aware that owner’s representation is a profession—much less something to consider when thinking about their own project.
An owner's representative is a professional, hired by the owner, who represents the owner's interests throughout the design, construction, and/or development process. Owner’s representatives can shore up the owner’s position by providing an educated voice and experienced professional to help navigate the planning, design, and construction of the project. They can be the “safe place” to ask “dumb questions” or consult privately when considering different design or construction strategies and alternatives. Owner’s representatives are well versed in this process and typically come from professional fields associated with the design or construction industry such as architects, contractors, and project managers.
When should I hire someone to help?
An owner's representative can be hired at any stage of a project, but they are most effective when they are brought on board in the early stages to help with assessing a project’s feasibility, soliciting proposals, setting and managing expectations, defining communication roles, drafting contracts with other construction teams or service providers, and more. Once construction begins, an owner's representative will help monitor the project on behalf of the owner, reducing roadblocks and ensuring that the owner's vision is being realized.
Owner’s representative vs. project manager: what’s the difference?
Since the idea of a “project manager” exists across many platforms and professions, many people are familiar with the term, but it can often be confused with owner's representatives.
When hired by the owner, there is little difference between owner’s representation and project management services. When people think of a project manager in the construction field, this role is typically part of the general contractor’s team and is responsible for managing the construction process itself.
When an owner's representative or project manager is hired by the owner or developer, they represent the owner's interests and are accountable to the owner—not the general contractor. This distinction is important because it means that an owner's representative or owner’s project manager is looking out for the owner's best interests at all times, independent of other contractors' or outside teams' priorities.
Do I need an owner’s representative?
While owner's representation services are not required for all projects, they can be extremely helpful in more complex or large-scale projects where teams can face challenges presented by unique and complicated designs, project sites, or team dynamics (such as when a client or architect is inexperienced or remote from the job site).
For example, part of Ally Project Management's services includes helping to plan a construction project and monitor its progress. This includes asking important questions early on regarding project objectives and design management, as well as communicating roles, expectations, and objectives to the team, reducing roadblocks, and reviewing budgets, expenses, and schedules. We can also draft contracts, help identify risks, and keep team members on task.
What kinds of projects benefit from these services?
We most often think about owner’s representation when talking about high-end, one-off custom residential projects. These projects tend to be more emotionally driven, incorporating unique and complicated designs or construction techniques and requiring more nuanced process guidance since clients and builders may have limited (or zero) experience designing or building a home of this type. The design and build process for a custom home requires collaborative, detailed, and oftentimes complex input from numerous design, engineering, and construction professionals. It’s not uncommon for there to be emotional friction between homeowners and members of their team, so navigating these particular challenges requires a certain “softer” skill set in order to keep projects effectively moving forward.
Benefits of hiring an owner’s rep
If doing their job effectively, the owner's representative should not only keep the team on task but also the owner, too. The Achilles heel of many projects that stumble is the owner’s inability to be effectively engaged, make timely decisions, and communicate clearly with the team. A good owner’s representative can help keep their client focused on critical path issues and ensure that decisions are not being forced upon the owner at the eleventh hour.
Some of the primary benefits of hiring owner's representation for your residential or commercial construction project include:
Having a trusted ally: A trusted professional who is in your corner can make all the difference on a project. This isn’t about trusting or not trusting other team members, but rather ensuring your agenda, concerns, and desired project outcome is heard.
A single point of contact: When you hire an owner's representative, you'll have a single point of contact throughout the construction process. This can be extremely helpful in coordinating different aspects of the project and ensuring that everyone is on the same page.
Better communication: An owner's representative can act as a mediator between the owner and the design or construction team, ensuring that communication is clear and effective, even when there may be difficult conversations required with other team members.
Improved project management: An owner's representative can help keep the project on track and avoid certain pitfalls by identifying potential problems and helping to develop collaborative solutions to address them while keeping your best interests at heart.
Cost savings: An owner's representative can save you money by negotiating the right contracts with the right terms and structure and setting up the project from the beginning for a successful outcome. Using their professional backgrounds they can also play a key role in evaluating cost-saving strategies during the design and construction process as well as assessing proposed changes to the scope of work.
Improved client experience: And finally, maybe the most important reason to hire an owner’s representative is to enable the client to focus on the “fun stuff.” The unique and simple joy of the design process and walking the site while your project comes to life are too often overshadowed by the inevitable project challenges, frustrations, and fatigue associated with a one-of-a-kind project. These projects are hard work, taking time and vast amounts of energy, so allowing the client to actually enjoy what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience by handling the business of the project is as important to us as it is to our clients.
Owner's representation services in the Pacific Northwest
At Ally Project Management, our minimum project size is $6 million. Whether the project is custom residential or mixed-use/commercial, a project of this size is typically complex enough to benefit from Ally’s owner's representation services, while also having enough budget for meaningful involvement from a dedicated liaison. Having an ally on your construction team can help to ensure that your project is staying on track, while also protecting your interests throughout the process.
Based in Sun Valley, Idaho, Ally Project Management specializes in working on commercial and residential projects in the Pacific Northwest. Collectively, we bring more than 60 years of experience in design and construction through our owner's representation and project management services, having worked with our clients on more than $4 billion in total construction value.
Get in touch to learn more about how Ally can support your next project in Idaho, Utah, Montana, or Wyoming.