18.1 Pre-Construction & Pre-Installation Meetings and the Construction Manager's Impact on Services
Key Takeaways
- The pre-construction conference establishes the project's communication protocol, submittal and request-for-information procedures, schedule of values, payment cycle, change procedure, special inspection program, and closeout requirements before the first work is installed.
- Pre-installation conferences are required by individual specification sections for risk-heavy assemblies such as roofing, waterproofing, curtain wall, fireproofing, and flooring, and manufacturers frequently condition extended warranties on holding them.
- A construction manager as adviser does not hold the trade contracts — it manages schedule, cost, and coordination and typically joins the architect in certifying payment, but it cannot make the architect's design-conformance judgments — while a construction manager at risk holds the trade contracts, delivers a guaranteed maximum price, must be licensed as a contractor under Business and Professions Code Sections 7026 and 7028, and is administered by the architect as the Contractor.
- Government Code Section 4526 requires state and local agencies to select architectural, engineering, and construction project management services on the basis of demonstrated competence and professional qualifications rather than price.
- No construction management arrangement relieves the architect of record of the statutory observation and verified-report duties owed to the Division of the State Architect or to the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
Pre-Construction & Pre-Installation Meetings and the Construction Manager's Impact on Services
Two CSE items sit at the front of the construction phase: the task to participate in pre-construction and pre-installation meetings with contractors as required by the contract documents, and the knowledge statement on construction manager impact on construction administration services. Both are about establishing who talks to whom, who decides what, and what the architect's role actually is once a third party is inserted between the architect and the work.
The Pre-Construction Conference
Held after award and before mobilization, usually convened by the owner or the construction manager, with the architect, contractor, key subcontractors, consultants, the inspector of record on a Division of the State Architect or Department of Health Care Access and Information project, and the local building official where useful.
Standing agenda:
| Topic | What Gets Fixed |
|---|---|
| Lines of communication | Who issues instructions, who may not, and how field questions travel |
| Request for information procedure | Format, log, response time, and the rule that a request for information is not a change order |
| Submittal procedure and log | Sequence, quantities, review durations, and which items are deferred submittals |
| Schedule | Baseline critical path schedule submission, updates, and float ownership |
| Schedule of values | Basis for the payment application and the retention calculation |
| Payment application cycle | Cutoff date, certification timing, lien release forms required with each application |
| Change procedure | Change order, construction change directive, and supplemental instruction thresholds and forms |
| Special inspection and testing program | Statement of special inspections, who retains the special inspectors, distribution of reports |
| Agency protocols | Inspector of record's role, verified reports, agency change-order categories, field trip requirements |
| Site logistics and safety | Access, staging, hours, dust and stormwater controls, the contractor's exclusive responsibility for safety |
| Sustainability documentation | CALGreen documentation, waste management plan, commissioning scope, acceptance testing |
| Closeout requirements | Record documents, operation and maintenance manuals, warranties, training, attic stock |
Minutes are distributed and become part of the project record. The architect's contribution is to state the design-conformance boundary plainly at the outset: the architect reviews submittals for general conformance with the design concept, has authority to reject nonconforming work, and does not control means, methods, sequences, or safety.
Pre-Installation Conferences
These are convened for a specific assembly, before that assembly begins, and are required by individual specification sections rather than by the general conditions. Typical triggers are roofing, air and water barriers and waterproofing, curtain wall and storefront, applied fireproofing, exterior insulation and finish systems, tile, resilient and wood flooring over concrete slabs, and elevator installation.
Attendees are the installing subcontractor's foreman, the manufacturer's technical representative, adjacent trades whose work interfaces with the assembly, the contractor's superintendent, the architect, the testing agency, and the inspector of record. The agenda covers substrate condition and acceptance, moisture and temperature limits, sequencing with adjacent trades, mockup and benchmark installation, testing (adhesion, water, moisture-vapor emission), and the manufacturer's warranty conditions.
Why this matters commercially: manufacturers routinely make an extended or system warranty contingent on holding a documented pre-installation conference and on manufacturer field inspections. Skipping the meeting can void the warranty the specification promised the owner — a foreseeable California moisture-intrusion claim.
Construction Manager as Adviser
In the adviser model the construction manager is the owner's agent and holds no trade contracts. AIA's construction-manager-as-adviser family governs: an owner–construction manager agreement, a construction-manager-as-adviser edition of the owner–architect agreement, owner–contractor agreements with each trade, and a construction-manager-as-adviser edition of the general conditions.
What changes for the architect:
- Communication routing. Correspondence, requests for information, and submittals commonly flow through the construction manager, which reviews them first and forwards them to the architect.
- Cost and schedule. The construction manager prepares and updates the estimate and the master schedule; the architect no longer carries those.
- Payment certification. The construction manager reviews and typically signs the certificate for payment along with the architect.
- Multiple prime contracts. With separate trade contracts there is no single general contractor to coordinate the trades, so coordination responsibility shifts to the construction manager — and gaps between trade scopes become the most common source of claims.
- What does not change. Interpretation of the contract documents, review of submittals for conformance with the design concept, rejection of nonconforming work, and the architect's independent professional judgment remain the architect's. A construction manager cannot approve a submittal for design conformance or waive a code requirement.
Construction Manager at Risk
In the at-risk model the construction manager holds the trade contracts and carries the price risk, usually converting a preconstruction estimate into a guaranteed maximum price. It provides preconstruction services — estimating, constructability review, phasing, early trade packages, long-lead procurement — and then becomes the Contractor for construction administration purposes.
California specifics:
- Because the at-risk construction manager contracts for and performs construction, it must hold a Contractors State License Board license under Business and Professions Code Sections 7026 and 7028. An adviser providing only management services for a fee does not.
- Government Code Section 4526 requires state and local agencies to select private architectural, engineering, and construction project management firms on the basis of demonstrated competence and professional qualifications, not low bid.
- Public entities have specific statutory authority for alternative delivery — design-build authority for local agencies and school districts, and lease-leaseback for school districts — each with its own procurement rules. The architect should confirm which statute authorizes the delivery model before assuming the roles in the contract documents are enforceable.
- Early trade packages and a guaranteed maximum price developed before drawings are complete create phased permitting and deferred-approval coordination, particularly on Division of the State Architect and Department of Health Care Access and Information projects where incremental approvals must be obtained before the corresponding work proceeds.
| CM as Adviser | CM at Risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Holds trade contracts | No — owner does | Yes |
| Contractor's license required | Generally no | Yes |
| Price commitment | None; owner carries risk | Guaranteed maximum price |
| Architect's counterpart in the field | Multiple prime contractors plus the CM | The construction manager, acting as Contractor |
| Payment certification | CM and architect | Architect |
| Design conformance judgment | Architect | Architect |
CSE Exam Traps & Practical Takeaways
- Trap 1: Letting the construction manager decide design conformance. Routing submittals through a construction manager is a logistics change, not a transfer of professional judgment.
- Trap 2: Assuming an at-risk construction manager needs no license. It holds trade contracts and performs construction, so it must be licensed.
- Trap 3: Skipping a specified pre-installation conference. It is a contract requirement and often a manufacturer's warranty precondition.
- Trap 4: Believing a construction manager absorbs agency duties. The architect of record still owes general observation and verified reports to the Division of the State Architect or the Department of Health Care Access and Information; those duties run to the state and cannot be contracted away.
- Trap 5: Ignoring coordination gaps in multiple-prime work. Where no general contractor exists, scope gaps between trade contracts are the predictable claim, and the pre-construction conference is where they are surfaced.
On a project delivered with a construction manager as adviser and five separate prime trade contracts, the construction manager returns a curtain wall shop drawing to the fabricator marked 'Approved' without forwarding it to the architect, stating that the submittal met the schedule and the budget. How should the architect respond?
A California community college district plans to deliver a new classroom building using a construction manager at risk who will hold all trade contracts under a guaranteed maximum price. Which requirement applies specifically because of the at-risk structure?
A roofing specification requires a pre-installation conference attended by the installer, the manufacturer's technical representative, and the architect before roofing begins. The contractor installs the roof without holding the conference and later submits the manufacturer's 20-year system warranty for closeout. What is the most significant consequence the architect should raise?