General
Since the client generally lacks the necessary technical qualifications for the construction project to be realized and is rarely equipped to meet the regulatory and public law obligations, a project manager is appointed for most construction projects to act on behalf of the client towards all other project participants, planners, and executing construction companies. The construction project manager is thus deployed as a representative in matters that would essentially concern the client or building owner, in order to relieve the client in terms of time, organization, and expertise. All tasks such as the creation and updating of schedules, financial control over the budget, and the coordination of persons and companies involved in planning and construction are now carried out by the project manager. In doing so, further necessary and complementary
tasks in the area of controlling within the project team are carried out by them alone
(cf. Preuß & Schöne 2010: p. 45). Since to date, from a legal perspective, no minimum professional requirements are imposed on a project manager, it is solely up to the client themselves to appoint a suitable project manager. Ideally, the project manager can demonstrate the necessary competencies and solid knowledge of construction operations to ensure a smooth construction project process. Depending on the complexity of the construction project, it is quite common in private construction projects for the planning architect or general planning contractor to simultaneously take on the tasks of a project manager. However, this form is rarely seen in public construction projects, as here, on the principle of impartiality alone, project management is used as an independent authority in relation to the other project participants.

In the meantime, project management for more complex construction projects is divided into specialized fields. Thus, in addition to the actual construction project manager, the TGA project manager stands out considerably, taking care specifically of the complex TGA events / coordination of TGA specialists/engineers, with whom the construction project manager themselves can no longer communicate at the same level on such a complex technical level.

It is also not uncommon for one or another construction project to involve purely specialist measures / renovation and conversion measures in certain specialist areas, such as the complete renovation of sanitary facilities in a school building or the construction of a solar park. Specifically for this, the actual construction project manager (with the specialist background knowledge of a civil engineer) is not exactly the ideal choice, which is why technically proficient TGA project managers are used in these cases.

Tasks & Service Package Project Management

The AHO
As with classic engineering services (which are governed by the HOAI), a kind of regulatory framework and fee schedule also exists for project management in construction. Based on the task areas of the AHO (Committee of Associations and Chambers of Engineers and Architects for the Fee Schedule e. V.), the range of services as well as their content and remuneration can be better understood and compared.

The AHO Areas of Action
The areas of action of the AHO are structured as follows:

A – Organization, Information, Coordination and Documentation
B – Qualities and Quantities
C – Costs and Financing
D – Schedules, Capacities and Logistics
E – Contracts and Insurance

A further elaboration of these areas of action is not covered in this article, but can be found in appropriate literature.

The AHO Project Phases
The AHO not only recognizes areas of action but also individual project phases, in which the individual areas of action actually take place. The project phases of the AHO are more or less aligned with the typical service phases of the HOAI (which specialist planners/engineers follow in specialist planning and construction supervision) and are divided as follows:

1 – Project Preparation
2 – Planning
3 – Execution Preparation
4 – Execution
5 – Project Completion

Further details can be read in appropriate literature.

Our Engineering Office for TGA
As an engineering office in the field of building services engineering, we stand by your side solidly and professionally throughout the entire planning and construction process.
We also offer you specialist project management / TGA project management in the area of building services engineering and overall energy renovation (energy efficiency), to accompany your project from A to Z in all respects – for your security.