Owner’s representative in Florida and New York City

When to bring us in, and what it costs to wait

The cheapest time to hire an owner’s rep is before anything has been signed. Most of the money in a project is committed in the first few months: the lease or purchase, the design brief, the architect’s contract and the choice of delivery method. By the time a general contractor is mobilized, the owner’s leverage has mostly been spent.

We get calls at every stage, and we can help at every stage, but the value changes. Brought in at the letter of intent, we can price the buildout before you agree to a tenant improvement allowance and push the landlord for a better number or more landlord’s work. Brought in during design, we can stop the architect from drawing a building you cannot afford. Brought in mid-construction, we are mostly auditing pay applications and negotiating change orders that are already in motion. That still saves money. It just saves less.

Choosing a contract and delivery method

How you buy construction matters as much as who you buy it from. Each method shifts risk between owner and contractor in a different way, and the right choice depends on how finished the drawings are, how much schedule pressure you have, and how much cost risk you can carry.

As a licensed general contractor, Sal has priced work under these structures from the contractor’s side. That is the point of a contractor-led owner’s rep: we know how a GMP is padded, where cost-plus drifts, and which lump-sum bids are low because the bidder plans to make it back on change orders.

Reading a pay application line by line

Every month the contractor sends a request for payment. Most owners look at the total and sign. We do not. A pay application is built on a schedule of values, which breaks the contract into line items, and each month the contractor claims a percentage complete on each line. Front-loading is common: claiming more on early items like mobilization and general conditions so the contractor is ahead on cash.

• We walk the site and compare claimed percentages against what is actually installed.
• We check that stored materials claimed for payment are on site or properly documented and insured.
• We confirm retainage is being held at the contract rate.
• We collect lien waivers from the contractor and, where appropriate, from major subcontractors and suppliers.
• In Florida, we track notices to owner received under the state construction lien law so no one who served a notice goes unpaid. The rules are technical and your attorney should confirm compliance before final payment.

The goal is simple: you should never have paid for more work than exists on site, and no one should be able to lien your property for work you already paid for.

Change orders: separating fair from foreseeable

Change orders are not a sign something went wrong. Owners change their minds, inspectors ask for things, and walls get opened to reveal conditions nobody could see. The problem is the change order that should have been in the base bid, priced after the owner has no competition left to compare against.

We sort every proposed change into one of three buckets. Owner-driven changes are legitimate and get priced fairly. Unforeseen conditions are legitimate if the contract allocates that risk to the owner, and we verify the condition was truly hidden. Scope the contractor should have carried, because it was on the drawings or reasonably implied by them, gets pushed back. For each one we check quantities, unit prices, labor hours, markup against the contract rate, and schedule impact claimed.

We also push contractors to price changes before the work is done whenever possible. A change performed on time-and-materials with no agreed number is the most expensive kind.

Florida and New York projects run on different rules

We represent owners in both states, and the permitting and inspection process shapes the schedule more than most owners expect.

In Southwest Florida and South Florida

Projects are permitted by the city or county building department under the Florida Building Code, which includes wind-load and, in coastal areas, flood requirements that drive window, roof and structural costs. Many jurisdictions allow private provider plan review and inspection, which can shorten timelines on some projects. Larger buildings may need a special inspector for structural work. After a storm, permit offices and contractors both get backed up, so we build that risk into restoration schedules in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and along the coast.

In Manhattan and Brooklyn

Work is filed with the NYC Department of Buildings, often through an expediter, and most projects require special inspections signed off by licensed professionals. Landmark buildings and historic districts add Landmarks Preservation Commission review. In tight neighborhoods like DUMBO or SoHo, protecting adjacent buildings and getting access to a neighbor’s property for scaffolding or monitoring can become its own negotiation. Building rules and filing systems change, so we confirm current requirements on every job.

What you get from us each month

Owners should never have to call the contractor to find out where their project stands. Our monthly report is written for someone who does not build for a living, and it answers the same questions every time.

1. Budget: original budget, approved changes, pending changes, committed cost, spent to date and forecast at completion.
2. Schedule: milestones hit and missed, the critical path, and what is driving any delay.
3. Payments: what the contractor requested, what we recommend paying and why, retainage held and lien waivers received.
4. Risks: open issues that could cost money or time, with a recommended decision and a date it is needed by.
5. Photos: dated site photos showing progress and any concerns.

A hypothetical tenant buildout

For example, imagine a hypothetical medical practice leasing second-generation space in Estero. The landlord offers an allowance and a turnkey option. On paper turnkey looks easier. In practice the landlord’s contractor builds to the landlord’s budget, and any upgrade the practice needs later becomes a change order with no competition.

Our approach in a case like this would be to have the practice’s designer produce a test-fit, price it with two or three contractors, and compare that number to the allowance before the lease is signed. If the gap is large, the practice can negotiate a bigger allowance, more free rent, or landlord’s work on base building items such as HVAC and restrooms. Then we would manage the build so the practice opens on time, because every month of delay is a month of rent with no patients.

Mistakes owners make without representation

• Choosing the lowest bid without leveling scope, so the cheapest number is missing work the others included.
• Signing the contractor’s own contract form without changes to payment, retainage, warranty and delay terms.
• Approving changes verbally on site with no written price.
• Paying the final invoice before collecting final lien releases and closeout documents.
• Letting the architect’s construction administration role lapse to save fees, then having no one to answer contractor questions.
• Scheduling a move-in or store opening before the certificate of occupancy or completion is in hand.

How our owner’s rep fees are set

We price owner’s representation as a fixed fee, a monthly fee for the project duration, or a percentage of construction cost, depending on scope and size. A fixed fee is clean for a defined tenant buildout. A monthly fee fits longer projects where the duration is the main variable. We put the fee and the scope in a written agreement before starting, and we tell you if your project does not need us. When a client also uses us for leasing or a purchase, we discuss in advance how the two engagements fit together. To talk through your project, contact us or see our project management service.

How we level bids so the numbers are comparable

Three bids for the same drawings almost never cover the same work. One contractor excludes permit fees, another carries a low allowance for electrical fixtures, a third assumes the owner handles dumpsters and temporary power. Comparing the totals tells you very little.

Leveling means building a spreadsheet with every scope item down the side and every bidder across the top, then filling in what each one included, excluded or qualified. Where a bidder left something out, we add a fair price for it so the totals compare apples to apples. We send written questions to each bidder to close gaps, and we look hard at general conditions, overhead and fee, because that is where a bid that looks low on trade costs can come back higher.

The leveled bid is often not the lowest original number. That is usually the most useful thing an owner learns during bidding.

Qualifying a contractor before you sign

• License: in Florida we verify the contractor’s state certification or local registration for the type of work. In New York City we check the contractor’s standing with the Department of Buildings and any required city licenses for the trades involved.
• Insurance: general liability, workers’ compensation and, where relevant, umbrella coverage, with the owner and landlord named as additional insureds when the lease requires it.
• Bonding: payment and performance bonds on larger jobs, or a clear reason why they are not needed.
• Current workload: a good contractor stretched across too many jobs will still miss your schedule.
• References on similar work: a restaurant buildout and a warehouse slab are different skills. We ask for projects that look like yours.
• Key people: the project manager and superintendent named in the bid should be the ones who show up.

What to have ready for our first meeting

You do not need a finished plan to start. It helps to bring what you have: the lease or purchase contract and any work letter, existing drawings or surveys, the budget you hope to hit, the date you need to be open or occupied, and anything you already know about the building’s condition. If a lender is involved, bring their construction draw requirements, because those shape how we set up pay applications. From there we build a conceptual budget and schedule so you can decide whether the project makes sense before you spend real money on design. For larger capital decisions, our consulting work can test the business case first.

Questions to ask any owner’s rep you interview

We would rather you hire the right person than hire us by default. These are the questions we think every owner should ask, including of us.

• Who will actually be on site and in meetings, and how many other projects are they carrying?
• Have you built or managed this type of project, in this jurisdiction, recently?
• Do you receive any payment from contractors, vendors or landlords on this project? (The answer should be no, or fully disclosed.)
• How do you report, how often, and can I see a sample report?
• What happens if the project runs long: does your fee keep running, and on what terms?
• What decisions will you make on my behalf, and which ones come back to me?
• Have you held a contractor license, and do you understand how contractors build their prices?

That last question is the one we care about most. Sal’s Florida Certified General Contractor and plumbing licenses mean we read a bid the way the person who wrote it does. If that matters on your project in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Brooklyn or Southwest Florida, call 239-256-5005.

Closeout is where money gets left behind

The last ten percent of a project takes a disproportionate share of the effort, and it is where owners tend to lose attention. The space looks done, the business wants to move in, and the contractor wants the retainage. We hold the line until the punch list is complete, final inspections are passed, and the closeout binder is in your hands: as-built drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, equipment warranties, attic stock, final lien releases and the certificate of occupancy or completion. Missing paperwork becomes a problem years later, when you sell, refinance or file a warranty claim and nobody can find the roof warranty.

Value engineering that saves money without gutting the project

When bids come in over budget, the next step is usually a list of cuts the contractor calls value engineering. Some of those ideas are real savings. Others shift cost into the future, reduce quality in ways you will notice every day, or quietly remove scope the architect will have to add back later. As a contractor-led owner’s rep, we sort one from the other before anything gets approved.

How we review a value engineering list

• Confirm each credit is a real number, priced against the bid, and not a round figure that disappears when the change is drawn.
• Check with the architect and engineers whether the substitution still meets code, the lease or the lender’s requirements.
• Separate items that affect what users touch and see, like flooring and fixtures, from items they never notice, like a different but equivalent duct material.
• Look at operating cost. A cheaper mechanical system that costs more to run or maintain may not save the owner anything.
• Ask what the change does to the schedule, since some substitutions require redesign and a new permit filing.

Long-lead items and when to buy them

Some components take far longer to arrive than the rest of the job takes to build. Switchgear and electrical panels, rooftop mechanical units, elevators, generators and custom storefront or window systems can control the finish date on their own. We identify those items during design and decide with you whether to release them early, sometimes before the full contract is signed, so they arrive when the building is ready for them.

Florida and New York add their own layers. In Florida, windows, doors and other exterior products need state or local product approval for wind resistance, and approved products can carry longer lead times. In New York, the challenge is often delivery and storage on a tight site, so items must arrive close to installation. Either way, early buying shifts some risk to the owner, so deposits, storage and insurance terms need to be clear. For project oversight once orders are placed, see our project management service, or contact us about a specific job.