Page 37 - Urban Construction Project Management

12 Chapter One
construction person, with a college degree in the construction industry or related field.
All of the members of the team report to the PM, who is the team leader. The PM is
usually assigned to the home office during preconstruction services, and then to the
project site for the construction and project close-out phases.

Account Executive (AE)

The account executive (AE) title is unique to some CM/GCs, and is not found in all
organizations or regions of the United States and the other countries. Many CM/GCs in
a large urban environment have found over time that it is difficult to find a PM who has
both excellent and professional construction, technical, and managerial skills com-
bined. Even when you do find this unique person, there are often so many demands
placed on the PM in the course of the daily activities of a large construction project, that
there is just not enough time to perform all of the construction, technical, and manage-
rial duties simultaneously. Therefore, some firms divide the overall responsibilities of
the PM as described previously, and leave the PM to the construction and technical
aspects of the project, and assign an AE to deal with the administration of the project.
The AE is responsible for managing client relationships on a day-to-day basis and to
ensure that a consistent level of professional service is being provided.

There is a management philosophy that says, “Do what you do well, and leave to others
what they do well.” Seldom does one person have all the skills required to be a good
PM, and when they do, they often do not have enough time to do them simultaneously,
especially with the fast tracking and pace of many projects. Therefore, splitting up the
responsibility for the administration and the construction of the project is sometimes
done, allowing each party to concentrate on their area of expertise.

Estimator
The estimator for the project will be involved with putting together conceptual budg-
ets, design development budgets, and progress construction document estimates, and
preparing the project budgets including subcontractor trade costs, general conditions
costs, contingencies, fees, insurances, and analysis of the subcontractors bids. The
estimator must have a full understanding of all aspects of the construction process, the
delineation of the work among the subcontractor trades and jurisdictions, cost of con-
struction materials, cost of construction personnel, and appropriate mark ups in order to
put together meaningful estimates and budgets for the project.

During the preconstruction phase, the estimator will play a key role in working with the
project team to define the project scope, design intent, architectural finishes, engineer-
ing systems, specialty items, long lead items, appropriate inflation, and contingency
factors to develop a meaningful estimate for the project. If the estimate is too high or
too low, it can significantly affect the feasibility and scope of the project and cause a
creditability problem for the CM/GC. The estimator must have a sixth sense and a
magic scale to weigh and assess matters to come up with a meaningful estimate for the
project, even when there is little documentation from the design team on which to base it.
Estimates during the preconstruction phase of the project are often done on an order of