Masonry Magazine September 2002 Page. 36
Contracting vs. Management
General
If you're anything like me, you spend most of your day confused. Sure, you might be able to look like you've got your act together for a few minutes at a time you may even be good enough to fool your boss but I know better. You're confused!
Come on, admit it. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Besides, we're not alone there are about five billion others in our club. I know, because I counted them at the last meeting.
As for me, I do pretty well for the first five minutes of every day and then it goes downhill from there. For the next eight hours and 55 minutes, I spend my day not understanding my co-workers, not understanding my clients, and really not understanding architects and engineers. Then I go home at 5 o'clock to not understand my wife and daughter.
So, with confusion such a key element in my life, it's little wonder I search out construction topics I find ambiguous or puzzling and attempt to sort them out. Such is the case with the titles General Contractor (GC) and Construction Manager (CM); a couple of phrases that we hear all the time in this industry and yet probably are a bit fuzzy about as to their exact definitions. This is particularly true when they are compared to one another.
But these definitions are important because except for a few specialized situations where a sub-contractor is the lead or prime contractor, the GC and the CM are generally the two recognized lead contractors for most commercial construction projects.
Before we begin to examine the GC and CM, it's important to note right away that it really can be difficult, if not impossible, to tell the difference between them. In particular, many GC's often act
Contracting
vs.
Construction
Management
34 Masonry
September 2002
By Steve Saucerman,
Contributing Editor
www.masonryshowcase.com