Appoint trade contractors directly and keep control of cost, procurement and delivery. BPH plans the packages, coordinates the trades and manages programme, cost and reporting through one appointment.
Under a traditional main contract, one contractor generally holds and manages the specialist subcontractors.
Under construction management, the client appoints the individual trade contractors directly. The Construction Manager coordinates those packages so that design information, procurement, access, sequencing, cost and decision-making remain aligned.
This provides transparency and flexibility, but there is no main contractor standing between the client and the individual trade contracts. The route therefore needs experienced management, clear package scopes and an informed client.
Construction management is not simply project management with a different title. It changes how the works are bought, contracted and controlled.
The final scope depends on the appointment and the wider project team: not every item below is automatically included on every instruction.
Test the project, client priorities, design status and risk against the available procurement routes
Establish the cost plan, trade-package strategy, programme, responsibilities and decision timetable
Prepare scopes, issue enquiries, analyse returns and recommend the appropriate trade contractors
Coordinate appointments, information, logistics, access, sequencing and project controls before work begins
Monitor programme, cost, change, interfaces, payments, risks and decisions throughout construction
Complete package final accounts, defects, handover and commercial close-out
The client appoints one main contractor, who enters into and manages the specialist subcontracts. The main contractor provides a clearer single point of responsibility and applies its preliminaries, overheads and profit to the works.
The client appoints the specialist trade contractors directly. BPH, under an agreed Construction Manager appointment, coordinates procurement, package interfaces, programme, cost control and commercial reporting.
If a traditional main contract is the better fit, explore BPH's Quantity Surveying, Project Management and Contract Administration services.
A main contractor will commonly add overhead and profit to the trade packages it manages. On many projects, that allowance can be around 20% of the relevant trade costs. Under construction management, the client appoints those trades directly, so that pricing layer is not applied in the same way.
This creates a significant commercial opportunity, but it does not mean the final project will automatically cost 20% less. Construction management fees, site management, preliminaries, insurance, contingency and the risks retained by the client still need to be allowed for.
BPH compares the traditional main contract and construction management routes on a like-for-like basis before recommending one.
The question is not simply whether construction management looks cheaper on paper. It is whether the project team can manage the retained risk well enough to preserve the commercial advantage.
Construction management is not right for every project. A client seeking a single fixed price, minimal involvement and one organisation responsible for the whole construction package may be better served by a traditional main contract.
BPH assesses the route before recommending the service. The objective is not to sell construction management. It is to select the structure most likely to deliver the project properly.
Yes. Under construction management, you as the client enter into a separate trade contract with each specialist contractor, rather than a single main contract with one contractor. BPH coordinates the packages, programme and commercial reporting under an agreed Construction Manager appointment.
It removes the pricing layer a main contractor would otherwise add across the trade packages it manages. The Construction Manager's fee, site management, preliminaries, insurance and contingency still apply, and remain separate costs to allow for.
Not automatically, though it can be commercially attractive. It removes a main contractor's overheads-and-profit layer from the trade packages, but the Construction Manager's fee, site management, preliminaries, insurance and contingency still apply, and the client carries more of the retained risk. Whether that adds up to a lower final cost depends on the project, the market and how well the packages are coordinated.
Yes. BPH can review how a quotation is structured, identify where the preliminaries and overheads and profit sit within it, and assess whether a traditional main contract or direct trade procurement is likely to suit the project better.
The client carries more of the retained risk than under a traditional main contract, since there is no single main contractor accepting the entire construction risk. BPH's role is to help manage that risk through package strategy, coordination and commercial control, not to remove it.
No. Project management coordinates the client's objectives, consultants and programme under any procurement route. Construction management is the procurement route itself: how the works are bought, contracted and controlled. The two can be combined, but they are not interchangeable.
As early as possible, ideally alongside the design team, since the trade-package strategy and procurement programme need to be planned before the design is complete.
Often, yes: that is one of the reasons clients choose this route. Early packages such as demolition, groundworks or long-lead items can proceed while later packages are still being designed and procured, provided the sequencing and risk are properly managed.
BPH reports cost and recommends valuations and payments across the trade packages, within the terms of the agreed appointment. The client remains the employer under each trade contract and retains the final decision on payment.
That depends on the project structure agreed for each appointment. The CDM 2015 duties, including Principal Designer and Principal Contractor, must be allocated separately and confirmed in writing. BPH does not assume these roles automatically as part of a construction management appointment.
Yes. These roles are often combined on a construction management project, and we set out clearly in the appointment which functions are included.
We say so. Part of the initial assessment is testing whether a traditional main contract or another route better suits the project, the client's risk appetite and the time available.
BPH can review how the quotation is structured, identify where the preliminaries and OH&P sit and assess whether a traditional main contract or direct trade procurement may provide the better route.
A short early review can establish whether construction management offers genuine advantages for your project or simply transfers risk without enough benefit.