Frequently Asked Questions

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Capital Project Toolkit takes a personalized approach to each client, tailoring our services to meet your unique needs and goals. We also prioritize communication and transparency throughout our partnership.

Yes, Capital Project Toolkit offers financial planning services to help you make informed decisions about budgeting, investing, and more.

 When a builder goes over budget, the first step is to pause and investigate before approving anything else. Ask for a written breakdown of what is driving the overage, compare it to the original budget, and confirm whether costs are truly exceeding the contract or simply using contingency as intended. Every extra dollar should tie back to a specific scope item, and no contractor should spend money without written authorization. By requesting documentation and holding to the process, the Owner keeps control — and prevents costs from snowballing 

 Construction projects fail when Owners lose control of information. The five most common causes are: 

(1) poor early planning and unclear scope, 

(2) rushed or low-value procurement that focuses only on price, 

(3) weak schedule management and late identification of long-lead risks, 

(4) lack of real cost tracking until it’s too late, and 

(5) reactive change order management instead of disciplined review and documentation. 

When these five areas aren’t proactively managed, budgets blow up, schedules slide, and decisions get made under pressure instead of from a position of control. 

Yes, Capital Project Toolkit offers a variety of marketing services, including social media management, email marketing, and advertising campaigns.

 It depends on who you ask. Most textbooks and many industry articles say “7 phases” — but those models are simplified and usually combine key parts together.

The most accurate, modern Owner-level process actually has 8 phases.

That’s the model I use and the model my Toolkit is built on — because it separates two distinct parts that most “7-step” diagrams lump into one:

• Planning & Funding Development (Owner side)
   
• Procurement & Award (How you select the team + contract) 

Those are two completely different processes. When you combine them, owners miss critical decisions and lose control.

My Toolkit breaks them out — because Owners need both.

So yes — some resources say 7 steps.

But the Owner’s reality is 8.
And that 8-phase model is the foundation of my Capital Project Toolkit.

 A Project Manager usually works for the contractor or the design team. Their job is to manage their own company’s scope, schedule, and deliverables.

An Owner’s Representative works directly for the Owner — not the contractor. Our job is to protect the owner’s interests, control the project from the owner’s side, and make sure decisions are made based on what is best for the owner…not the builder.

The biggest problem in construction today is owners are forced to make multi-million-dollar decisions without clear information.

Projects fail not because people don’t work hard — but because:

• owners don’t get transparent cost + risk data early
   
• procurement is rushed
   
• planning is shallow
   
• long-lead items and schedule risks aren’t identified until it’s too late
   
• change orders hit after bids are locked in
   

Everyone else on the project has support:
the designer has a project team, the contractor has a project team…
the Owner is usually alone.

That lack of owner-side support leads to:

• blown budgets
   
• schedule slippage
   
• reactive decisions instead of proactive decisions
   

My role — and my Toolkit — exists to fix that.

I give Owners the information, visibility, and process they need to stay in control from Day 1 — instead of relying on after-the-fact reporting when it’s already too late to fix.

I treat change orders as a controlled, documented, and justified process.

Every change request must tie back to one of three things:

1. Unforeseen conditions
    
2. Owner-requested scope
    
3. Contractually valid cost impact
    

Before anything is approved — I:

• verify the cause
   
• confirm the pricing is reasonable and matches the contract
   
• check that the change is not already included in the original scope
   
• document the cost impact to budget + schedule
   
• ensure the Owner understands the financial effect
   

If a change order is valid and in the Owner’s best interest, I move it through quickly so the work doesn’t stall.

If the change order is inflated, unjustified, or unnecessary, I negotiate or reject it.

My goal is to protect the Owner’s contingency — not allow contractors to chip away at it.

I also maintain a running change log that shows:

• approved costs to date
   
• pending costs
   
• potential future costs
   
• remaining contingency balance
   

So the Owner always knows exactly where their project stands financially — in real time.