Blog Post: Do you know the difference between a Contract Administrator, Project Manager, Employer’s Agent and a Project Monitor? Part 2: The ‘Employer’s Agent’
Photograph above – Gradient appointed as Employer’s agent for a major residential project in East Sussex, due for completion Summer 2023.
Employers Agent (EA) ‘The Coach’
When we are appointed as the Employer’s Agent (EA), we use our experience, competence, and technical expertise to support our client’s project objectives and goals. As a ‘coach’ to our clients, we provide support, guidance, and knowledge throughout the project.
Our role as the employer’s agent differs considerably from the role of the CA in that we act on behalf of our clients on all matters. This EA role is exclusive and is usually associated with the specific form of contract known as ‘design and build’. Design and build is used where the building contractor takes on the risk and responsibility for the complete design and construction of a building.
The EA role is complemented by the client having their own ‘project sponsor’, the ‘team owner’, and as the EA we act on their behalf coordinating the activities of the design and construction teams to help reduce risk, reassure, implement, and deliver a successful project. As with any successful sports team the ‘coach’ must connect people together and get the best performance out of all those involved.
Our EA role usually begins at tender stage with a concept design ready to go to or having received successful planning consent. Starting much earlier than the CA we can advise clients from the inception of the project, including helping select additional and specialist members of the design team, contractors and drafting the project plan or ‘playbook’. The role requires an immense amount of trust between us and our clients.
We will help pull together our client’s wants and needs for the building and development, referred to as the ‘Employer’s Requirements’ (ERs). These ERs can be very straightforward or detailed and may be specific (outlining the materials or processes) or performance based (such as thermal efficiency targets) or even a mixture.
The appointed contractor will respond to the ERs in what are known as the ‘Contract Proposals’ (CPs), and it is our responsibility as EA to make sure there are no discrepancies or uncertainties before the contract between the client and the builder is signed. For a short time, we become ‘coach’ to both teams.
The EA is then named in the design and build contract in place of the CA. However, once the contract is signed, as with the CA role we must act impartially. The ‘coach’ having guided the teams to this point now becomes the ‘referee’.
Part 3 – The Project Manager (PM) The ‘Technical Director’ to follow next week
Feel free to call for impartial advice on how we can assist and support you. Whether you are planning to spend a few hundred thousand or multi millions on your project, your call to us could set you in the right direction for success.
richard@gradientconsultants.com | Tel. 07734 478 775
