A cost analysis of the construction management method of school facility construction

[Extract from Introduction] Construction management is a relatively new concept in the construction industry that has come into existence primarily because of the desire to utilize more efficient and effective methods in facility construction. Although the construction management approach has several different variations, the essence of the concept centers around the introduction of an individual to serve as the owner's agent and manager of the entire building process. The Associated General Contractors of America (1974) has defined construction management as a construction method in which the construction manager is a qualified organization that is paid a professional fee for its management and counseling services (p. 1). With this method project planning, design, and construction phases are treated as integrated tasks assigned to a team consisting of the owner, the construction manager, and the architect who work together from project inception to completion... The purpose of this study was to examine the cost relationship that exists between the construction management method and the traditional method during the bidding phase of new school facility construction. In order to provide a more adequate treatment of the problem, the study was designed to ascertain if the size or type of the project results in a difference in the cost relationship between the construction management method and the traditional method...