When Should an Owner Hire an Owner's Rep?

An owner's representative manages the project on the owner's behalf: it keeps the budget and schedule, runs the selection of the architect and contractor, reviews change orders and pay applications, sits in the meetings and tells the owner what needs a decision. It holds no design or construction contract of its own, so its only interest is the owner's.

The AIA has two close forms: C172–2014, for an owner's program manager on a single project, and C132–2019, an agreement with a construction manager who is "only acting as an adviser and not also as a constructor", for preconstruction and construction phase services, with duties that include schedule review, submittal analysis and completion inspection (AIA's C132 summary). That is different from the architect, whose basic services run through five phases and include construction contract administration (AIA's B101 summary), and different from the GC, who builds the work.

• You have never built a building, or not one of this type or size.
• No one on your staff can give the project a large share of their week for its whole length.
• The project has several contracts to coordinate: design, construction, furniture, technology, moving.
• Lenders, investors or a board want regular, independent reporting.
• You are choosing a delivery method and want advice that does not come from a party who wants the work. See delivery methods compared.

Hire early. A rep brought in after the design is done can only manage what is already set; one brought in first helps write the budget, the schedule and the architect's and contractor's contracts. For the owner's whole job, see the owner's guide and the project lifecycle; for choosing the builder, how to choose a general contractor.

Reps are commonly paid in one of three ways: a fixed fee for a defined scope, a monthly fee for the length of the project, or hourly rates with a not-to-exceed limit. A percentage of construction cost also appears, but it rewards a bigger budget, which is the opposite of what you hired the rep to protect. Whatever the method, ask what hours and which people the fee buys, by phase, and what counts as extra.

The owner is fictional: a physicians' group building its first medical office, with a construction budget of $8,000,000 and 18 months from hiring the architect to move-in. No one in the practice has run a building project. The figures are for the example only, not market rates.

The arithmetic: 24 × 52 = 1,248 hours a year; × 1.5 = 1,872; 4 × 18 = 72; 1,872 + 72 = 1,944 hours; $270,000 ÷ 1,944 = $138.89. With the hours on paper, the group can compare a second proposal on the same terms, and knows that the furniture work is not included.

1. Ask for the named people, their résumés and their current workload, and put the project manager's name in the contract.
2. Ask for three references from owners on projects of your type and size, and call them.
3. Get the scope in writing by phase, including what reports you get and how often.
4. Check that the rep has no business tie to the architects or contractors it will help you pick.
5. Agree how the rep's authority is limited: what it can approve, and what only you sign.

An owner's rep is worth hiring when the project matters and no one on your staff can run it. Hire before the architect, so the rep shapes the budget, schedule and contracts.

Choose on named people, a written scope by phase and a fee you have tested against the hours it buys, and keep the signatures that matter for yourself.

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1. Summary: C132–2019, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Construction Manager as Adviser — AIA Contract Documents (The American Institute of Architects). Read October 22, 2026.
2. Summary: B101–2017, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect — AIA Contract Documents (The American Institute of Architects). Read October 22, 2026.