Service 05
Who builds this — and how do I know I picked right?
The lowest bid is rarely the cheapest contract. Owner-side selection is the work of pricing the contractor's risk, the contractor's bench, and the contractor's habits — before the contract is signed.
What we do
Price the contractor before the contract is signed.
A contractor is a counterparty for two to three years of an owner's life. The selection process should reflect that.
We qualify the field, level the bids, structure the contract for the owner's posture (not the contractor's), and review insurance and bonding before money moves. The output is a contractor that the owner can hold.
What this looks like in practice
- Bid-list curation based on project type, scale, and the contractor's last three comparable jobs — not their best three.
- RFP scope that forces apples-to-apples bids, with allowances called out and disqualifying exclusions surfaced.
- Bid leveling: the apparent low bidder is rarely the actual low bidder once exclusions, allowances, and schedule are normalized.
- Contract structuring — GMP, lump sum, cost-plus, or hybrid — chosen on the project's actual risk profile, not the contractor's preference.
- Insurance, bonding, and lien-waiver protocol set up in advance so they are administrative, not adversarial, during construction.
- Reference calls with the last two owners the contractor worked for. Real calls, not the curated ones the contractor offers.
When this service is the right entry point
- You have a buildable bid set and need an owner-side principal to run procurement.
- You have a contractor in mind and want a senior independent review before signing.
- You are between projects with the same GC and want to renegotiate terms from the owner's side, with leverage.
When this is not the right entry point
- You have already signed and money has moved. At that point the right service is Supervision.
- You want us to be the contractor. We are not a contractor. We hire contractors for owners.
How an engagement starts
A project review. We look at where you are in design, who is on the bid list, and what the owner-side risk posture should be. We tell you which contract structure protects you.