“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
The contractor walks the owner through the site trailer at the start of their first pre-construction meeting. The superintendent introduces himself. The architect reviews the submittal schedule. Somewhere in that first hour, a question comes up that requires a decision, and the room turns to the owner. The owner turns to the architect. The architect gestures back to indicate that this one is the owner’s call. That is the first moment many owners realize they have a job in this process, and no one fully explained what it is.
Hiring an architect and a contractor does not complete the owner’s involvement in a construction project. It transfers certain responsibilities and creates new ones. The design phase asks for decisions about space, materials, and budget. The construction phase asks for something different: timely responses, careful financial review, and the kind of presence that protects the investment the owner has already made. Treating construction as something the contractor and architect handle while the owner waits for the ribbon cutting is the most common mistake owners make, and one of the more expensive ones.
The submittal log and what it asks of you
During construction, the contractor submits shop drawings, product data, and material samples to the architect for review before any of that material is fabricated or installed. A shop drawing for a custom steel stair shows how the contractor intends to build what the architect designed. A product data sheet for HVAC equipment confirms that the proposed unit meets the specification. A tile sample confirms finish and sizing against what was selected in design development. The architect reviews each of these against the construction documents and either approves, approves as noted, requests a resubmittal, or rejects. The contractor cannot proceed on a line item until the submittal has been reviewed and returned.
From the research
“The design team – typically architects and engineers – are generally the main decision-makers in the submittal approval process, reviewing submittals and comparing them to the specifications to confirm they meet the project requirements.”
Most of this review flows between the architect and the contractor, and most of it requires nothing from the owner. But two categories of submittals do require owner engagement. The first is any substitution request, where the contractor proposes a product that differs from what was specified. The architect evaluates technical equivalence, but whether to accept a substitution on something visible and important — a lobby floor tile, a door hardware finish, a curtain wall glazing color — is ultimately an owner’s aesthetic judgment, not just a specification check. The second is any submittal that surfaces a design option the documents left open. In either case, the owner’s decision needs to arrive promptly. A submittal log moving on schedule keeps the project on schedule. A submittal log stalled on an owner decision does not.
Change orders require a real decision
A change order is a formal modification to the construction contract: a change in scope, a change in price, or a change in schedule, usually two of the three together. The architect evaluates proposed change orders and issues a recommendation to the owner. The owner then approves or rejects, and signs the document. This approval carries real weight. Once signed, the change order becomes part of the contract, and the owner is committed to the cost and schedule impact it describes.
Most change orders fall into one of three categories. Some arise from conditions that were genuinely unforeseen: subsurface rock where the soil boring did not find it, a hidden structural member inside a wall that the original plans did not document. Some arise from errors or omissions in the drawings, which involves a different conversation about the architect’s professional responsibility. And some arise because the owner wants something different from what was originally designed. Understanding which category is in front of you determines how to evaluate the cost. We covered the change order review process in more depth in an earlier post on contractor claims and what drives them. The short version for construction administration: when a change order arrives, ask the architect what category it belongs to before you sign it.
When a change order arrives, ask the architect what category it belongs to before you sign it.
What the pay application actually tells you
Every month, the contractor submits a payment application requesting payment for work completed during that period. The architect reviews the application against what was actually built, comparing the contractor’s claimed percentage of completion against what site observation confirms is in place. The architect then issues a certificate of payment recommending that the owner pay a specific amount, which may be the full amount requested, a reduced amount, or occasionally nothing if the work on the ground does not support the claim. Once that certificate arrives, the owner has a contractual obligation under the AIA General Conditions to make payment within a defined window, typically fourteen days from the certificate’s issuance.
Before a pay application moves forward, owners should verify a few things. First, whether stored materials are included in the request — contractors are generally entitled to bill for materials stored on-site or in a verified off-site location, but the material should actually be there and documented. Second, how the requested billing tracks against the project schedule. If the contractor’s billing is running significantly ahead of the schedule, that is a conversation to have with the architect before the certificate is issued. Third, whether retainage is being held correctly. Most contracts withhold a percentage of each payment, typically five or ten percent, as security against incomplete or defective work. That retainage is released at or after substantial completion, and owners should confirm their contract’s retainage terms well before the first application arrives.
Worth knowing
Under AIA A201, if the owner fails to make timely payment after the architect issues a certificate, the contractor may stop work after giving seven days’ written notice, and may be entitled to interest and termination costs. Late payment is not a procedural inconvenience. It is a contractual event with consequences that can significantly disrupt the project.
The cost of silence during construction
The AIA General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, known as A201, is the document that governs most commercial construction projects. It defines obligations for all three parties. Contractors have them. Architects have them. Owners have them too. Among the owner’s obligations: timely responses to the architect’s requests for decisions, timely payment in accordance with the certificate of payment, and prompt notice when the owner becomes aware of a condition that may affect the work. These are not suggestions embedded in a form. They are contractual commitments, and failing to meet them can create liability that runs against the owner rather than the contractor.
The most common owner misstep during construction is not an action but an absence of one. When a question arrives and the owner delays responding because the project feels distant, the people who need that answer do not wait indefinitely. The contractor may proceed based on their own interpretation. The architect may be unable to hold a submittal cycle open past the schedule’s demands. The schedule moves forward. What might have been resolved with a two-sentence response becomes a formal change order request six weeks later, after the work is already in place. The owner who stays engaged during construction is not just staying informed. They are actively managing their own contractual exposure.
Showing up for substantial completion
When the contractor believes the project is substantially complete — meaning the work is complete enough that the owner can occupy and use it for its intended purpose — they notify the architect. The architect conducts an inspection, and if they agree the threshold has been met, they issue a Certificate of Substantial Completion. That document identifies the date on which substantial completion occurred, and that date is legally significant: it starts the clock on every warranty in the project, and under most contract structures, it marks the point at which retainage begins moving toward release. After that date, the punch list exists separately from the warranty period, and they are not the same instrument.
The owner’s presence at the substantial completion walk is not optional. The architect generates a punch list of items that remain to be completed or corrected, but the owner is the one who will use this building. For a church, that means the pastor and whoever manages the facility should both walk the building together. For a hotel, the general manager and chief engineer. For a commercial tenant improvement, the facility director and the end user’s representative. Bringing the right people to that walkthrough is one of the highest-value hours in the entire project. We covered what comes after that inspection — the warranty period, the eleven-month walkthrough, and how to manage the closeout documentation — in our post on what happens when you move in.
Worth asking
What if I need more time to review a pay application before payment is due?
Talk to your architect before the clock runs, not after. If the architect has issued a certificate of payment and you have a genuine concern about the request, your architect can help you understand whether that concern warrants withholding a portion of the certified amount, and under what contractual circumstances partial withholding is supported. That conversation needs to happen within the payment window, not after it has closed. Retroactively withholding payment after the deadline has separate contractual consequences that you want to avoid.
Can I communicate directly with the contractor, or does everything have to go through the architect?
You can speak with your contractor directly, and a working relationship with the superintendent is genuinely useful during a long project. What you want to avoid is giving the contractor direction outside the contract’s formal channels. Verbal approvals for changes, informal agreements about scope or schedule that never become a signed change order — these have a way of surfacing months later as disputed claims. Keep the formal communications in writing and on record. The day-to-day relationship can be cordial; the documentation should be complete.
What if I notice a problem with the work that did not make it onto the punch list?
Bring it to the architect in writing, and do it before the warranty period is far enough along that the contractor’s obligation becomes ambiguous. The punch list generated at substantial completion reflects the architect’s inspection on a single day, not a complete accounting of every possible defect. Most contracts provide a warranty period during which issues can be raised, and a well-managed project includes an eleven-month walkthrough specifically to surface items that were not visible at substantial completion. If you notice something during the walk itself, note it then. The earlier it is documented, the cleaner the responsibility.
Construction administration is where a project holds together or quietly comes apart. The design is finished, the contract is signed, the contractor is on site, and for the next several months the owner’s job is to make decisions promptly, read the documents their architect puts in front of them, and stay present enough to protect what they paid to design. At UNITE, our role during construction is to watch for the owner’s interest on every site visit, every submittal cycle, every pay application we certify. We serve as the owner’s technical representative through a phase that most owners would prefer to hand entirely to others. That instinct is understandable. The owners who stay informed, though, tend to get the building they designed at the budget they approved. If you are heading into a construction phase or navigating one right now, we are glad to talk about what that looks like.
Let’s Talk About Your Project
Every project starts with a conversation. If you have something in mind — or just a question — reach out and we will get back to you within one business day.
