Taking lots of photos of things that will be covered up/inaccessible in the future. I later used this to make sure my concrete anchors did not hit the rebar.

Project management can at times seems like administrative overhead. It’s contract redlining, negotiating change orders, and building consensus on even the littlest of disagreements. After I left the world of PM I started a house expansion project and heard a couple of friends say to me, “I wouldn’t know how to do what you’re doing.” It honestly just comes down to an attention to detail and a little bit of knowledge. So, here is the knowledge that I was thankful I learned from my experience as a civil engineering PM.

Anyone can do it - It honestly just comes down to an attention to detail.

Here are some of the things to consider when you’re looking at your own project but, of course, you need to rely on the professionals around you as well because every project is unique. I want this to empower you to get involved in the details.

your Project, Your call

Be friendly

It’s in your best interest to grease the wheels. What I mean is that you want to be the friendly person that brings the very diverse set of contractors, engineers, and planners together. Make their job easy and they’ll go out of their way to accommodate your build. You’ll see less change orders. You’ll get prioritized faster. It’ll be a better experience.

But don’t put up with bullshit

One of the things I realized is that I don’t have to work with people who are troublesome, unmotivated, or I take issue with their technical backing. That’s not to say it’s okay to be a diva. In fact, see the above, “be friendly” bit of advice. But don’t get walked over by people who have an interest to finish the project faster to cut corners. And if it comes down to it, you can always fire them (but generally that will cost you so make sure you weigh the risks).

The first structural that was identified for my project refused to make edits when asked and I realized really quickly that he would need lots of babysitting and wasn’t motivated to finish the project. Engineers tend to work in “feast or famine” where they have too many projects or too little projects. A diva engineer might mean they have too many projects and that’s something I would sincerely ask about if I felt it was causing problems with my project. Since the contract wasn’t even signed yet, I asked the design-build firm to suggest a different structural.

It’s okay to say, “This isn’t in line with our common project objectives and outcomes, please review and let me know how you suggest we can come into alignment.” When making formal requests, you don’t need to be specific (and is generally better if you aren’t specific in writing).

In this case I just said, “I would like you to suggest a different structural engineer.” I risked having to pay more for a more expensive engineer but… this worked out in my favor and the engineer was slightly less expensive and more engaged. And because we developed a great relationship, he helped me to talk through my contractor options and was relaxed about me not wanting to submit payment on 100% plans until some revisions had been made.

Get bids

It may seem funky to build a relationship with one contractor and then choose a different one. That’s normal in this line of business. Get multiple bids. You don’t have to cover that you’re shopping around. This is a big expense and everyone wants you to feel comfortable that you want to work with them. In my case, I was not entirely happy with the slow schedule with the original general contractor (GC). I ended up having to check in on them and the nickel-and-dime attitude made me nervous about ballooning costs. They seemed highly knowledgeable but I had solicited opinions from the others on my team and ended up selecting a different GC to move into permitting. Their costs were about the same so I knew I was getting market value (pending no change orders).

Contracts

The contract is the one legal document that will protect you so it needs to be as clear and inclusive as possible, even if you hope to not use it. For example, even if you agree to do small changes by “text approval”- (aka, like from text messaging) you should still have language in the contract about what both parties agree to being in a change order and when a change order should be needed. You’ll be happy you have it when they uncover a “changed condition” (aka, something different than what they thought at design) and they want to charge more for it. You’ll want to make sure that you get notified timely, that they adequately tell you the costs and timeline change, and that you get to approve work on it before they begin to incur additional costs.

As I was reviewing contracts I realized that they were missing major items that protect the clients. As the owner, you can always choose to negotiate before signing or agreeing to anything. When I started looking for structural and architectural help, I reviewed 6 total contracts (4 of which I signed, called executing). Here are the things that I looked for as a client to make sure I was covered and that the work was fair for all parties.

Added provisions to protect myself

Additional services

I was very particular about including a redline that said, “with prior written approval from Owner” for any additional services. If they are able to add on costs above the lump sum then you want to be able to say, yes or no. In this case several contracts said, “additional site visits at $250/hr” or $400 total. I don’t want them to just be able to show up. This is a small barrier for them to get approval. It is reasonable for them to tell me exactly why they want to come to site and what the outcome is of that visit that is over&beyond the previously agreed amount.

Timeline

I wanted all contracts to have a schedule. It’s really the only thing you can hold them to contractually to meeting their schedule. All the contracts were missing this key piece. Having it in an email or a “scope of services” as a separately non-attached document to the contract does not legally protect you.

At the time of signing, everyone seemed like this was the most important project and was confident they would prioritize my schedule. This is common at the beginning but becomes relaxed once the contract is signed. Even with this thorn in the contract and my weekly emails asking for status, I STILL had a hard time keeping it on schedule.

Typical Language that I was okay with leaving in the contract

Only for this project use

They want to protect themselves from any changes that might be done after the project is over. If the background maps or something are used for a different project, they don’t want to be liable if someone changes something years down the line. That seems fair to me. They will, of course, be liable for the current project that has their stamp on it. I allowed this language but did redline in a request for all original format files (like CAD files, original 3D surveys, etc) to be submitted as a deliverable at the end. I want my data (sometimes called “assets”) in case I ever have to reference it in the future.

Copyright

Similar to the above, they wanted to retain the copyright of their work. I was less inclined to accept this one as it meant that if I ended up firing them (for whatever reason) I want the next person I hire to be able to legally pick up where they left off. If I am paying for the work, I want full ownership of the work. This is less important in the grand scheme of things…even small utilities don’t fight for this one and end up signing over IP that consulting companies then profit off of by reusing/copy-pasting. Sometimes the “only for this project use” provision will satisfy the engineer’s concerns about future liability instead of using a copyright.

My parents and I roofed this entire 200 sqft building ourselves… no contract needed!

What might not seem like a big deal but is

Correct dates

Make sure all the dates are updated to the day of contract execution. If there’s an argument at the end about a project going over schedule (which chances are it will) then you’ll want to be able to point to typo-less, consistent dates of when the project schedule began.

I once was on a project that the owner accepted a contract with the schedule of “~6 weeks” and the contractor reminded us (with a smirk, no less) that they were still within the tilde when it went on for months and months and months.

Contingent dates

It’s common in the industry to say the clock starts “after receiving XX data requests” to make sure that anything that is out of the engineer’s control has been managed before their clock starts. For my house renovation, I was okay with the structural engineer saying his calendar was “2 weeks after receiving architectural plans” since he can’t do the calculations if he doesn’t have the plans of what he’s calculating.

New concrete back scratches. It cured so fast we didn’t have time to put paw prints in it!

I didn’t end up including these items

Liquidated damages

I didn’t see this language in any of the contracts. The risk is that if you add in liquidated damages or retainage then you’ll get high quotes for the cost of the project. However if you include these and they agree to it, then there is some incentive for them to finish on time.

Retainage

Same as above. Retainage is the amount of money that a contractor puts up front that they get back at the end of the project. It incentivizes them to complete the project instead of jumping to a project with more work/money in it for them.

However, language was in my GC contract for me to have retainage of 10% of each pay line (they have a schedule of payments so that when they complete that major task, you pay the amount associated with the task). This is definitely in my benefit so I suspect that it was legally required for them to include this bit.

Insurance & General Indemnity

I was used to being able to specify how much insurance a contractor needs to work on your site. This means that if something happens I feel sufficiently covered. The GC contract has some information about me getting insurance specifically for the project that I still haven’t quite made heads or tails of.

Similarly, I have never seen a contract without a general indemnity clause until my home project. My guess is that this is more common for larger projects but it’s hard for me to know (maybe ask your project engineer?).

Additional expenses

I was not happy that there wasn’t a clause to limit additional expenses. None of the consultants or contractors reacted well to this suggestion so we didn’t include it. Ultimately, if they want to charge me something outside the base price then I felt I had enough language requiring they notify me ahead of time, submit appropriate documentation, and get my approval. There may also be some laws that protect homeowners for these sorts of things but I didn’t look into it.

Can you recognize the Austin skyline anymore?

These I knew were easy to throw in

Safety & Regulations

It is really important to me that contractors are maintaining a safe work site (notice the footwear in some of these photos…on a bigger or more dangerous project I would have had a frank but friendly discussion with the superintendent over that). Because of this I required this language to be included:

“Contractor shall comply with all federal, state and local laws, ordinances, codes and regulations applicable to performance of this contract. Contractor shall perform this contract in a safe manner consistent with worker and public health. All workers shall be properly trained and qualified to perform work under the contract and shall have received the necessary certifications and other credentials necessary to perform work.”

You may also require language prohibiting drinking or drugs at the project site. Or you might be the type of homeowner that gives them all beer and popsicles at the end of a hard day.

Staffing

I requested that the contractor provide all personnel necessary to complete timely services in accordance with the schedule. More importantly, I wanted to be able to remove any employee or independent contractor for any reason whatsoever, with or without cause. My thinking was that they’re working in my house and if I don’t feel comfortable with their attitude or their work then I would let the contractor know and if it doesn’t get remedied then I would request them to not show up on my site again. The GC didn’t love the language but after talking through it with me over the phone and understanding that my intent wasn’t to fire tons of people, he was okay with including it.

Delays

I wanted the contractor to notify me within 24 hours of first knowledge that any scheduled dates would not be met. Ultimately, probably not even worth including but I redlined it in anyway. I noticed that the GC changed it to “notify in a timely fashion” which sort of defeats the purpose of the clause since “timely” is so subjective.

Site Access

I requested that any time the house was accessed that they got strict permission from me (such as knocking on the door) and could not just come inside whenever.

Assets

All assets, whether 3D survey scans or digital photos of construction progress, I wanted access to at the end of the project.

Anything else

Consider whatever you might want the contractor to do, and be held to by law, when signing your contract. I included an item about “salvage” requiring that the Contractor make every attempt to salvage windows and gutters instead of throwing them away. I also had an alternative bid so I included language about when the decision on which project (full project or alternative reduced scope) would be decided and how that would impact the payment schedule.

Watch some of the requirements they include for the owner

Material requirements

I noticed that this seemed to be all over the place for what was required of the Owner. For me it was certain insurance to carry (which then was said by phone that no one actually gets it… hmmm).

There was also a requirement that things would be paid in “cash” (aka, no loans).

Response requirements

Be careful of the GC wanting you to respond within a certain amount of time or any language that they may override your right to approve things. A friend of mine had it in her contract to respond “within 48 hours” which may seem like a long time until you’re trying to make a decision and get input from your architect.

My GC had language in there saying they could sign the final completion form on my behalf once they met the final inspections. I tried to change it to “after 120 days” so that I had plenty of time to say if something wasn’t completed like it was supposed to be. Plus, while many homeowners may be happy to have their project complete and useable, I want the privilege of the last final signature on that completion form! Ultimately, he didn’t accept my revisions but I will for sure be holding my final 10% retainage payment until I am satisfied the job is completed.

Anything that you have as an unspoken agreement can, and should, be put into your contract. If they’re willing to say they are doing it then it should not be a problem for them to write it down. The contract doesn’t have to be fancy; it can be updated in PDF with large textboxes.

For the contract with my GC, he approved everything through his lawyer so it took a few extra weeks to sign. He also wanted to talk through each redline, no matter how small or easy, before accepting it. When I went to sign, we crossed out and initialed the original T&Cs and attached the custom T&Cs as an amendment. He had a whole drawer full of blank contracts so I’m sure I’m one of the few clients who actually made adjustments. My advice is to make adjustments on any and everything and let them tell you “no.”

Good luck!

Listening: The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab. Slow beginning but really picks up.

Reading: I really like this substack called Maybe Baby. She posts regularly and I love her writing style on some of the more thought-provoking posts.

Working: Organizing market research (quantitative surveying - voice of customer) that will feed into our data analysis and decision on water product offerings.

Civil Engineer’s Tips for Home Design