CM becomes “mainstream” in ENR’s assessment of top design-build, Construction Management firms

Construction and Program Management have made a strong move into the construction industry’s mainstream in the last year, reports Engineering News-Record in its annual compilation of top CM, PM and design-build firms. 

The “management precepts underlying CM and Program Management have become pervasive in the industry,” ENR said in its June 14 issue. “As construction firms became more sophisticated and clients increasingly looked outside their own staffs to plan and oversee large construction programs, the concept of program management took off.”

CMs are also being involved earlier in projects.  Joseph Seibold, vice president of construction management for CMAA member Carter & Burgess, is quoted in the magazine saying “Once, owners thought that they needed a CM firm but waited until the contracting phase to hire one. This prevented the CM from helping oversee planning and design.”

A large part of the momentum behind Program Management is coming from school systems that have received large bond issue revenues and are pressed to spend the money wisely.  “I continue to be impressed by the level of confidence the public has in passing these bond issues,” says James Moynihan, CEO of Heery International, another CMAA member.

Seibold notes, though, that “public agencies generally aren’t staffed to handle a sudden surge in capital spending authorizations,” and this is another reason why Construction and Program Management have come so strongly to the forefront of the industry recently.