The architect stays on the job while it is built: reviewing what gets submitted, answering what comes up, and keeping a written record of what happened.
Bidding ends and the hard part starts. A submittal comes back with the wrong hardware. A wall opens up and the framing is not where the 1948 drawings said it was. A contractor asks for money for work nobody authorized.
Construction administration is the service that handles all of it. We review submittals and shop drawings against the specification, answer RFIs in writing, visit the site on a schedule, price and route change orders, and certify applications for payment. Every one of those creates a record, and the record is what protects an owner a year later.
We observe the work. We do not inspect it, and we are not the contractor's supervisor. That distinction matters legally and we will explain exactly where our responsibility starts and stops before you sign anything.
Reviewed against the specification section they belong to and returned with a clear action: approved as submitted, approved as noted, revise and resubmit, or rejected. We keep a submittal log with ball-in-court and days-open on every item, so nobody has to guess who is holding up the sectional doors.
Answered in writing, dated, and logged. An RFI answered verbally on a site visit is an RFI that will be disputed in nine months.
Regular visits with written field reports and photographs, plus milestone visits before work is concealed, energized, or covered. On grant work this is also the evidence file the agency will eventually ask for.
We price the change, check it against the contract, and tell you what we think you should do. Deductive changes and value engineering run through the same process. We recommend. The owner approves, and on public work that often means a vote at a posted meeting, which we schedule around.
Reviewed against the schedule of values and the work actually in place, with retainage and stored materials checked. Certifying a payment application carries real professional liability, which is why we review it line by line rather than initialing what the contractor sent.
Bi-weekly or weekly meetings with a standing agenda, minuted and circulated as a draft for correction. Open items carry forward from one set to the next until they close.
Substantial completion and the punch list, final completion documents, warranties, O&M manuals, as-builts, retainage release, and the eleven-month warranty walk before the year runs out.
Active USDA Rural Development construction administration on Woodbury Fire Station Phase II. State grant construction administration on Leach Public Library, an occupied historic building working against a hard grant ceiling. Municipal energy work across three Glover buildings under the state Municipal Energy Resilience Program. Certification of applications for payment on the $8.5 million Hardwick Yellow Barn Business Accelerator.
See our projects →Usually comes before
Architectural Design
The full arc, schematic design through construction documents. The anchor service — everything else is upstream or downstream of it.
Usually comes after
Owner's Representation
We represent the town, not the contractor: procurement, schedule and budget oversight, payment review, and a complete record at the end.
Next step
If you have a set of drawings and a contractor about to start, this is the service to ask about.