The extent of the difficulty in which the building industry finds itself is evident in the fact that tender pricing is currently 15 to 20 percent below expectation.

So says Simon Harwood, MD of specialist construction management company ASA Construction Services, who notes that building contractors and sub-contractors desperate for work have slashed margins and, in some cases, are even tendering below cost.

"Of course, such competitive pricing is very appealing to prospective clients in both the public and private sectors, many of whom are also working to extremely tight budgets at the moment.

"But the situation also holds many potential dangers for those who are not themselves construction experts. In our experience, an industry is crisis is an industry open to abuses."

Building clients need to be sure, says Harwood, that the final account for their project will be as competitive as the tender price. "And that will only be the case if there has been effective management at every stage of the project."

The best way to maintain such control, he notes, is to employ an experienced construction manager, who can bring to bear a wealth of knowledge in a field that is perhaps unfamiliar territory to the client, and who will ensure that cost-savings are maximised without quality suffering.

Effectively, the client who opts for the construction management (CM) method of building procurement, rather than the traditional development route, is adding a construction expert to his own management team ­ getting someone knowledgeable to work "with" him rather than "for" him.

"What is more, the open-book CM method allows for payments by the client to be made directly to each "subcontractor" rather than through a main contractor, and such guaranteed payment naturally tends to shorten construction time - and keep costs on track."

In short, says Harwood, choosing CM is a strategy which will prove increasingly important for building clients as the construction industry works through some of the toughest times it has ever had to face.

"And, as more and more South African clients are exposed to the benefits of CM, it will, we believe, steadily replace other building procurement methods, as it has already done in the UK and Europe due to its proven efficiency in controlling and reducing costs."

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