Your Nonprofit Construction Manager:
Complex solutions need dedicated project managers, as well as the funds to pay them
June 2009
Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2009
By Elisabeth D. Babcock
“Imagine this scenario: A bank wants to build a new flagship headquarters, but the bank’s leaders want to keep costs to a minimum, and so they decide to take a new approach to the project. Instead of hiring a construction manager, they compose an advertisement that says, ‘Wanted: Bank headquarters. Fifty stories tall. Must feature innovative architecture.’ They then send the ad to all the specialty contractors—electricians, architects, plumbers, etc.—they need to build the skyscraper.
After hiring the lowest bidders in each of these fields, the bankers tell them: ‘Okay, talk among yourselves to get the job done on time, at the lowest cost, with the highest quality. Please. Thank you.’”
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