How to choose a PMC or technical customer: 10 questions

Companies offering construction project management describe themselves in much the same terms: integrated approach, experienced team, international standards, transparency. The differences only become visible when the conversation turns to specific instruments, artefacts and procedures.

Below are ten questions worth asking before signing, and the markers of a good answer.

1. Show me your monthly owner's report template

A good answer is a finished document with anonymised data from a real project, containing S-curves, a completion date forecast, Cost to Complete, a risk register and change status. A poor answer is a promise to develop the format after award.

2. What do you schedule in, and how do you measure progress?

The expected answer names the planning tool and describes rules of credit. If progress is measured by percentages declared by the performers, the company has no project controls function.

3. How do you calculate the completion date forecast?

The answer must reference critical path and actual status. "Based on experience and expert judgement" means there will be no calculation.

4. Who signs contracts with contractors in your model?

In an agency model — technical customer or PMC — the client does. If a management company proposes to hold the contracts itself while calling this PMC, ask whether it is in fact general contracting under another name, and where its economic interest sits in that structure.

5. Show me the team structure for a project of my size

A good answer lists specific roles with allocations: project manager, planner, cost engineer, procurement lead, construction manager, QA/QC, HSE, document controller. A poor answer is "we will assign the necessary specialists".

6. How do you handle changes?

Expect a description of change control: registration, cost and schedule impact assessment, approval, carry-through to the baseline. If changes are "agreed on site", cost will grow uncontrolled.

7. How do you verify quantities before certificates are signed?

The answer must describe physical measurement and reconciliation against certificates. It is the only mechanism that protects an investor from overpayment.

8. How is site record documentation maintained?

Expect an answer about maintaining records in parallel, a common data environment and revision control. "The contractor keeps the records and we check them at acceptance" means a future handover delay.

9. Give me an example of a project where you missed the objective, and what you did

A company with a real portfolio has such an example and can describe the causes and its response. "We have not had any" either indicates a small portfolio or is not true.

10. What would you propose as a first step?

On a complex or troubled project, the professional answer is a short diagnostic product: a project audit, or an independent cost and schedule review. Proposing to sign a long-term management contract without diagnosis means the scope was never assessed.

Three further checks

• Ask to see anonymised artefacts: baseline, S-curve, risk register, punch list, ITP. Working templates are the fastest indicator of maturity.
• Confirm which of the presented specialists will actually work on your project and at what allocation. The presentation team and the project team frequently differ.
• Test independence: check whether the management company is connected to a contractor or supplier on your project.