Your Questions, Answered

An owner's representative manages a construction project on behalf of the owner rather than the contractor or the design team. I oversee budget, schedule, design coordination, procurement, construction quality, and closeout, and I answer only to ownership. The general contractor builds the building. I make sure it is the building you approved, at the cost you agreed to, on the schedule you were promised.

A construction manager typically earns a fee tied to construction volume and often subcontracts the work, which means their interests and yours can diverge on change orders and schedule. An owner's representative sits entirely on your side of the table. I hold the construction manager or general contractor accountable to their contract, and my compensation never depends on how much the construction costs.

Ideally before you've signed a contract with an architect or a builder. The earliest decisions on scope, procurement, and sequencing are the ones that determine cost and schedule outcomes for the life of the project. If you're already underway, it's still worth a conversation. There's usually something to be gained from a second set of eyes on budget, schedule, or scope, even mid project.

I work on two fee structures: a percentage of total project cost, or a fixed monthly retainer. Which one makes sense depends on the scope of your project, and I'll tell you upfront which structure fits rather than defaulting to whichever pays more.

Projects with a clearly defined scope and timeline, like a single renovation or a tenant build out, are usually better served by a flat monthly retainer, since it gives you budget certainty regardless of how the schedule shifts. Larger, more complex developments with multiple phases and consultants tend to work better on a percentage basis, since the fee scales with the size and complexity of what I'm actually overseeing.

No. Those are project soft costs, paid directly by ownership or passed through from the general contractor. My fee covers the oversight and coordination of that work, not the underlying inspection or permitting cost itself.

A general contractor's overhead pays for running the job site: field supervision, the trailer, day to day coordination with subs. My fee pays for something separate, protecting your interests as the owner. I don't answer to the contractor, and my compensation isn't tied to the contractor's volume of work, which is what lets me push back on a change order or a schedule slip without a conflict of interest.

Yes. Owner's representative fees are a standard soft cost, and lenders generally recognize them as part of the cost of protecting the project, not an optional add-on.

On a percentage fee, nothing changes unless the total project cost changes. On a retainer, a significant schedule extension is something we'd revisit together, since a nine-month delay means nine more months of oversight. I'd rather have that conversation directly with you than let it turn into a dispute later.

Most owner's representation is priced either as a percentage of total project cost or as a fixed monthly retainer, and on larger developments the percentage falls as project size grows. The honest way to evaluate the fee is against what it protects. On my current downtown Naples project, buyout and value engineering savings alone stand at $1.95 million, a multiple of the cost of representation.

Yes, within reason. Larger projects generally support a lower percentage because part of the work, getting up to speed, setting up reporting, building relationships with the design team, doesn't scale one to one with project size. I'll walk you through the actual math for your project rather than quoting a number off a rate card.

Not automatically. Feasibility and early pre-construction work is often scoped and priced separately from full representation, since a lot of owners want to test whether a project pencils out before committing to representation through closeout. I'm glad to structure it either way depending on where you are in the process.

Yes. I've represented owners across all three delivery structures, and the contract type changes how I approach risk and cost control. A cost-plus contract puts more of the cost discipline on my side of the table than a GMP contract does, and I structure my oversight accordingly.

If your project involves a design team, a general contractor, and a seven or eight figure budget, the math usually works. Luxury custom homes carry the same risks as commercial development: change orders, allowance games, schedule slip, and finish quality that drifts from what you approved. Representation costs a fraction of what any one of those problems costs uncorrected.

I am based in Naples and work throughout Southwest Florida, including Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, Marco Island, and Sarasota. I have also represented ownership on projects in St Petersburg, Palm Beach, and coastal Connecticut, and I take select projects outside the region when the fit is right.

Many of my clients split time between Naples and somewhere else, so I set up a project specific reporting site for every engagement. It gives you access to photos, schedule status, and budget updates whenever you want them, not just during a site visit or a scheduled call. I still walk the job regularly and report directly, but you're never waiting on me to know where things stand.