I am pleased to offer my services as a General Contractor, Project Manager and Expert Technician.

Years of experience planning, estimating, managing and performing construction projects has developed my skills into a formidable resource. I can provide cost estimates and construction proposals. I  also charge hourly if desired. Providing estimates is billed at the project managers hourly rate and deducted if job is awarded.  

Project Management $95 Hourly

Technical Field Supervision $125 Hourly

>> I can provide spacial rates for remote consulting or management << Ask for more information!

       

Why choose Soco Construction?

Talent, skill, foresight, confidence.

 

A few anecdotes about the problems in construction today...

1) The contractor at risk paradigm does not function!

You hire a contractor after receiving three proposals only to find that major portions of the work were not included. To your dismay this is your responsibility. Your contractor does no have to do anything or install anything. Who was representing your interest when you were reviewing the 3 proposals?

2) Expectations are often unrealistic

On top of the issue of contractor proposals missing a scope of work there is the unrealistic expectations that are fed to the companies principle decision makers from the start. Designers downplaying project costs to allow unrealistic designs, middle management budgeting for a perfect deployment of the project with zero contingency and vendors often icing this cake of miscalculation by presenting a partial scope of work. Who is in charge of making sure this project attempts to serve everybody's interests while keeping it cohesive and realistic.

3) In house personnel don't know what they are doing

Every company has the "construction manager" they rely on for the small fixes. I have dealt with their half cocky, half terrified mumbling as they respond to acute technical questions. They may have the best intentions but they often have either a financial background with no technical knowledge or vice versa. I've seen in house construction managers find competent contractors working at half price and chasing them away because they attempted to get a 5% change order at the end of the job that the "talented construction manager" didn't budget for based on the vendor proposal . These people are more interested in saving face at the next board meeting then retaining a vendor who works on a 45% discount!

4) Designers rarely have any actual management experience. I'm not saying they aren't qualified or don't add value but they offer very little in the way of executing the project. Their main value is preliminary research and planning approval. They shouldn't be creating timelines. They shouldn't be selecting construction companies. Don't fall into the trap of taking advice on how to execute your project from someone who is responsible for design drawings. That's like asking a mechanical engineer to drive in the Indy 500! Its like asking the the coach of a football team to step in and play quarterback! Your team needs someone who can execute. Execution is about relationships. Relationship dynamics between vendors, contractors, your internal personnel and possibly your end customers. My goal is to strategically place myself in a position where I can... negotiate with vendors/contractors for my clients and not as a middleman in arbitrage between the client and supplier assert financial prudence by create realistic and safe budgets by not reporting to any one person and their agenda report, communicate and digest information by creating a central hub for communications apply my wide variety of skills.  

Have you ever considered why apple's new headquarters was 2 billion over budget and a year late?

There was no shortage of time to plan. They had all the talent money could buy(wrong). The real reason projects fail is because the person writing the checks is making the decisions and they have no idea what they are doing. If you were on trial for murder would you hire a lawyer and then tell them how to argue the case. Of course not! But people hire design and construction professionals and then take the captains seat as these experienced people run around trying to keep the ship from sinking as the property owner crashes headlong from one mistake into the next. The reality is when you hire a professional you should expect them to either be more experienced or to take your direction because you have the experience. There is no doubt in the apple's headquarters example that there was countless committees making irrelevant decisions far after deadlines who had no experience and should have had their decision making powers revoked when they made significant errors the first time. Furthermore the contractor or design professionals are agreeable and let them make these dumb decisions because they refuse to bite the hand that feeds. If apple where to approach me would I let them cut me a check and then sit back and watch them crash headfirst. Sure, I like getting paid. But the reality is I tell my customers the same thing every time.

Hire an impartial project manager to make tough level headed decisions for you. It would have saved apple a substantial portion of that 2 billion dollars.

Pay you project manager in advanced so they can tell you your ideas are stupid without fear. Put the money into a joint control checking so you don't have people writing moronic checks. Call me and have me interview them. Ill tell you what they know and how good or bad they are.

Why did I infer apple doesn't have top talent working on their project?

Because I am top talent and people like me don't tolerate headaches like the apple headquarters unless were paid up front, in full and indemnified!