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Professional Construction Services

Professional construction services are provided by a general construction contractor, who agrees to provide these services as part of a formal contract. In exchange for these professional construction services, the contractor receives a percentage of the total cost of the project for profit--if they successfully complete the project on time and within budget.

There are several ways professional construction services can be provided. The traditional method professional construction services have been provided, for more than a century, is to use the design/bid/build approach, where an architect or engineer oversees the project. They handle the design, produce construction drawings, oversee bids and contracts and the building process itself. The links between the architect, the client and the main contractor are direct. The contractor can win a project through the lowest blind bid or through the construction manager at-risk method, where the contractor guarantees to deliver the project within a guaranteed maximum price. Instead of simply serving as construction manager, the contractor also serves as a consultant to the owner during the design and development processes.

The design-build method has been increasing in popularity over the past decade. In design-build, the owner doesn't hire an architect to design the project, then seeks bids from a contractor. In this case, the owner solicits bids from a architect/contractor teams, who develop their own designs and include complete design and construction costs in their bids. This is different from the traditional process, where the architect completes the design before the contractors put in their bids. Some supporters say design-build makes for a simplified construction bid project, while opponents claim the method will likely lead to cost overruns since there is reduced oversight.

In the management procurement method, the owner holds the greatest amount of control. Instead of hiring an architect to handle the project in construction, or hiring a consortium, the owner oversees every part of the process. They hire the architect, the construction manager and, in many cases, the subcontractors. Proponents of this method believe it speeds up new construction and increases flexibility throughout the professional construction services process.

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