General Contractor vs. Construction Manager
Reviewing the NCARB PjM Practice Exam answers, and there's a question regarding Design-Build that asks who would be contracted by the Arch firm as a consultant/partner? The correct answer includes "General Contractor," and lists "Construction Manager" as incorrect. When I research online, I can't find a good explanation to (a) clearly define the difference between the two terms, (b) explain why GC is correct here but CM isn't. Can anyone clarify? Thanks
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Elizabeth, I am currently studying for this exam and got the same practice question wrong for the same reason. The best answer I can find is that the Constructor Manager is almost always contracted by the owner and is an addition to the GC role. The General Contractor is necessary for the Design-Build method from the Architect's RFP rather than the Design-Bid-Build which would require the owner to contract the GC separate from the Architect's Contract Proposal. Hope that helps!
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Design-Build can be Architect driven in the case where the Architect would need to hire or team with a Contractor to build the design or it can be Contractor driven where the Contractor needs to hire or team with an Architect. The idea is that the Owner hires a single entity to design and build the project meaning that an Architect and Contractor are both needed.
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Thank you! I was able to find a couple of sections in the AHPP book that helped:
9.4 Contractor-Led Design Build: names "General Contractor" as the one putting together the team.
10.2 Project Teams: lists Architect/Client/Contractor for Design Build, and Arch/Client/Construction Manager for participating in early design.
So, even though the terms still feel interchangeable, I'll remember it's GC for design build.
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