Academy/Working With Professionals
Construction managers
What to verify before you sign, since there is no single license to check.
A construction manager oversees contractors and trades on a renovation or capital project. Unlike attorneys, CPAs, architects, and engineers, there is no single state license to check. Ask each candidate what license or certification applies in your state and municipality, verify it directly, and confirm in writing whether your bidding rules apply to this contract.
There is no single license to check
For attorneys, CPAs, engineers, architects, and insurance producers, there is one licensing board to call. Construction management does not work that way. Where it is regulated at all, it is often licensed at the municipal or trade level rather than through a single statewide professional board.
Ask each candidate directly what license or certification applies to their specific trade, in your state and your municipality, and verify it yourself rather than taking a proposal's letterhead or a business card as proof.
Your bidding rule may not exempt this contract
Some states require the board to get competitive bids (an RFP process) once a contract crosses a set share of the annual budget, then carve specific professions out of that requirement. Florida is one example, and construction management is not on its exemption list.
"contracts with employees of the association, and contracts for attorney, accountant, architect, community association manager, timeshare management firm, engineering, and landscape architect services"
Source: Fla. Stat. Section 718.3026, Florida Legislature
Whether your state has a bidding statute at all, what dollar or percentage threshold triggers it, and which professions it exempts vary by state and by your own governing documents. Check your bidding policy's exemption list by name. Do not assume a construction manager is treated the same as an architect or engineer just because both are professionals.
Put the scope in writing, then know what protects you
A signed engagement letter or contract controls the scope of the relationship; a verbal understanding does not bind either side the way a signed scope does. Spell out deliverables, the process for a change order, and the fee structure before work begins.
If a decision made on the construction manager's advice is later challenged, the business judgment rule can shield that decision, but only if the board acted in good faith, with reasonable care, and reasonably believed the advice was within the manager's competence.
"A director is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports, or statements prepared or presented by legal counsel, accountants, or other professionals or experts."
Source: Understanding the Business Judgment Rule for Boards, Barker Martin, P.S.
Hiring a construction manager and then ignoring what they actually recommended does not qualify for that protection.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your board is vetting a construction manager for a clubhouse renovation. How should the board confirm licensing?
Your association's bidding policy exempts contracts for attorneys, architects, and engineers above the bid threshold. A member asks whether the new construction manager contract is exempt too. What should the board say?
The board hires a construction manager, reviews the manager's written recommendations, and follows them in good faith. A member later sues over a decision that went wrong. What protects the board?
Sources
- Fla. Stat. Section 718.3026, competitive bid requirements, Florida Legislature
- Understanding the Business Judgment Rule for Boards, Barker Martin, P.S.
- The Business Judgment Rule, Colorado Homeowners Association Law
Working With Professionals
Next, learn how to turn what you decide here into a scope of work the manager can actually be held to.
Whether a construction manager must be licensed or certified, and whether your bidding policy's exemption list includes this role, vary by state, by municipality, and by your own governing documents.