What does an owner's representative do?
Tasks, distinction, legal framework · Reading time 6 minutes
The owner's representative, in brief
An owner's representative performs the duties of the building owner that the owner cannot or does not want to perform personally: setting objectives, budget and schedule with the owner, directing designers and contractors, preparing decisions, checking costs, change orders and quality, and representing the owner towards authorities and contracting parties. They provide neither design nor construction work.
In short: whoever builds carries duties that no designer and no contractor takes away. Setting objectives, owning budget and schedule, awarding contracts, taking decisions, accepting work. The owner's representative performs these duties on behalf and in the name of the owner and holds cost, time and quality against the agreed targets.
What sets the role apart from every other party is its interest. Architect, specialist engineers and contractors deliver their own service and are paid for it. The owner's representative earns nothing from the construction volume and nothing from change orders. Their only task is that the owner receives what was ordered: at the agreed price, on the agreed date, in the agreed quality.
What they do in each phase
The scope follows the course of the project. Entry is possible in any phase; the earlier, the greater the leverage, because the most expensive decisions fall at the start: site, planning permission, procurement model, choice of designers.
How much of this is commissioned is a matter of agreement. Full mandates across all four phases are common, and so are single mandates: reviewing a general contractor agreement before signature, running a procurement, or taking over a project that has gone off course.
Project controller, site supervisor, general contractor
Project control is the narrower term, often used interchangeably in practice. The owner's representative goes further: they do not only control, they decide within the agreed authority and act for the owner towards designers, contractors and authorities.
Site supervision is something else. It checks execution on site. It does not check whether the award was competitive, whether a change order is justified or whether the design itself serves the owner. The German Federal Court of Justice demands heightened attention in site supervision precisely when construction follows someone else's design. The inference speaks for itself.
The general contractor owes a finished building for a lump sum and carries the execution risk. Whatever the specification leaves open is claimable as a change order, and change orders are where the contractor earns. Especially with a general contractor, the owner therefore needs someone on their side of the table. We set out the comparison in General contractor or owner's representation?
Where the role is regulated
Owner's representation is not a service under the HOAI, the German fee scale for architects and engineers. The HOAI describes design services; control on the owner's side does not appear in it. The scope of services is provided by AHO booklet no. 9, “Project management services in the construction and real estate industry”, in its sixth edition since May 2025. Its fee tables are expressly non-binding.
Legally, the owner's representative is the owner's agent. Whether the agreement is classified as a contract for work or for services depends on the agreed scope; German case law mostly treats project control agreements with result-related duties as contracts for work. Externally, the representative acts under a power of attorney whose extent the agreement defines: from pure advice to the release of payments and change orders up to an agreed limit.
They are liable for their own performance: for errors in control, review and advice. Design errors remain with the designer, execution defects with the contractor. Professional indemnity insurance is standard and should be evidenced in the agreement.
When we take on the role
We develop our own projects with our own capital at risk, and we review a specification for a client the way we review our own. That is the difference from a pure advisory service: we know what an overlooked change order costs in the end, because we have paid for one ourselves.
We provide owner's representation in Munich and Bavaria for developers, investors, asset holders, family offices and public clients, as a full mandate or in individual phases. If your organisation lacks a project manager for a specific scheme, external project management is faster than hiring.
What clients ask about this
From what project size is an owner's representative worthwhile?
Size is not the deciding factor; the owner's experience and the complexity of the scheme are. An asset holder with one apartment building and little construction experience benefits more than a developer with an in-house project team. As a rule of thumb: once several awards, a permit process and a seven-figure budget come together, the role pays for itself.
Does the owner's representative replace the architect?
No. The architect designs and supervises the execution of their design. The owner's representative represents the owner towards the architect. The two roles complement each other; neither replaces the other.
What is the difference between a project manager and a site manager?
The project manager is responsible for the project as a whole: objectives, budget, schedule, contracts, decisions. The site manager is responsible for execution on site: coordination of trades, quality, site diary. The project manager sits with the owner, the site manager with the designer or contractor. An owner's representative is the external form of the project manager on the owner's side.
Can an owner's representative take on individual tasks only?
Yes. Common single mandates are the review of a general contractor agreement before signature, support during a procurement, or taking over a running project that has got into difficulty. Entry is possible in any phase.
What does an owner's representative cost?
Usual models are a percentage of the eligible construction cost, a fixed fee per phase, or a time-based fee for defined tasks. The fee table of AHO booklet no. 9 gives roughly three to four percent for project control at 15 to 20 million euros of construction cost and less for larger schemes; below 15 million the fee is calculated by time, in practice four to six percent. Project leadership is remunerated separately. There is no binding fee scale. In detail, with a worked example: What does an owner's representative cost?
Sources: AHO booklet no. 9, Project management services in the construction and real estate industry, 6th edition 2025 · HOAI 2021, Annex 10 (work stage 8) · German Civil Code (BGB) sections 164 et seq., 631 et seq. As of 09/2026. General information, not legal or fee advice for an individual case.
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