Owner's technical representative

I sit on the owner's side of the table for the life of a project. Reviewing what the integrator submits, attending the meetings where decisions get made, checking that progress claimed matches progress delivered, and holding the build to the specification it was awarded against. I sell no hardware, no software and no installation, and I take no commissions, so there is nothing in the project I benefit from except it being right. See the independence policy.

What the role actually does

• Submittal review. Product data, shop drawings, and proposed substitutions checked against the specification rather than rubber-stamped. Substitutions are where the specified system quietly becomes a different one.
• Site meetings. Present for the technical discussions, so decisions get made with somebody in the room who is not selling the answer.
• Progress claims. Verifying that what is being invoiced is what has been done, before the money moves rather than after.
• Change order review. Whether a change is genuinely additional scope or something that was always required and quietly omitted at tender.
• Coordination gaps. The seams between security, IT, electrical, fire and the general contractor, which is where most project failures actually originate.
• Commissioning and acceptance. Running the tests, or witnessing them, against the criteria the specification set out.

Why this pays for itself

The arithmetic is not subtle. A single approved substitution that turns out to be unsuitable, one progress claim paid for work not done, or one change order accepted for scope that was always included, will usually exceed the cost of representation for the whole project.

The larger saving is quieter. Problems caught at submittal cost a conversation. The same problems caught at commissioning cost a remobilisation, and caught after handover they cost a dispute.

What this is not

This is not project management and it is not construction supervision. I am not running the schedule, managing trades, or directing the integrator's staff. The contractor manages the work. I represent whether the work meets the requirement.

It is also not an adversarial role, and it works badly if it is treated as one. A competent integrator generally welcomes having somebody technical on the other side, because it means decisions get made properly and their good work is recognised rather than assumed.

When to bring it in

• At award, so the whole build is covered and the specification is enforced from day one.
• At the start of installation, if the design and tender are already done.
• At commissioning only, as a narrower engagement, when a project is nearly finished and nobody internally can verify it.

Earlier is materially better. By commissioning, most of what is wrong is already installed.

How it is engaged

Monthly, sized to the project. A small single-site build needs a few hours a month and attendance at the meetings that matter. A multi-site programme or a high security build needs considerably more. Scope, cadence and cost are agreed in writing before it starts, and the engagement ends when the project does.