The client: the economic decision-maker
The client
The client may be an individual, a public body, a local authority, a state agency, or a private one: a developer, an investor, a social landlord. It is they who set the budget envelope, provide the funding, sign the contracts and bear the financial risk.
The client's adviser
The adviser counsels and assists without substituting for the client in decision-making. They are particularly valuable where the client lacks in-house competence.
| Technical adviser | Help in defining the brief, writing the requirements, checking the compliance of the design work. |
|---|---|
| Financial adviser | Financial structuring, seeking funding, monitoring the overall budget. |
| Legal adviser | Contractual structuring, reviewing the contracts, handling any litigation. |
| Sustainability adviser | Help in defining the environmental objectives and support through certification. |
To go further: The client's economic role
The design team: designers and coordinators
The architect: lead consultant and coordinator
The architect plays a double role: designer of the scheme and lead consultant of the design team. As such they are the client's principal interlocutor and coordinate the other members of the team.
Their appointment is paid through fees calculated as a percentage of the works cost, generally 8 to 14 % according to complexity, or as a lump sum. The public works act frames design appointments on public building contracts.
ℹ The stages of a design appointment Concept · outline design · developed design · detailed design · tender documents · award · design approval · site supervision · coordination · handover.
The engineering consultancies
| Structural engineer | Structural calculations in concrete, steel and timber; calculation notes; reinforcement drawings. |
|---|---|
| Mechanical services engineer | Heating, ventilation, cooling, plumbing. A strong effect on operating costs. |
| Electrical engineer | Power, data, security, fire safety systems. |
| Thermal and energy engineer | Compliance studies, dynamic thermal simulation, carbon assessments. |
| External works engineer | Roads, services, drainage, landscaping. |
The construction economist
The economist is the cost specialist within the design team. Their role is often unknown to non-professional clients, but it is central to the economic control of a project.
- During design: they produce the estimates at each stage, from sketch to tender, and warn of overrun risks.
- At tender: they write the technical and financial documents and analyse the contractors' offers.
- During construction: they monitor financial progress, assess the interim valuations and manage variations.
To go further: the construction economist's missions, tools and value added
The contractors
| Main contractor | Takes on the whole of the works, all trades, subcontracting the specialist packages. A single interlocutor for the client on the works. |
|---|---|
| Specialist trades | Work as separate packages or as subcontractors to the main contractor: structure, roof, plumbing, electrics, joinery, painting. |
| External works contractors | Earthworks, drainage, wet and dry services. |
| Craft firms | Sole traders and very small firms working on small sites or as subcontractors. |
To go further: main contractor against separate packages · construction cost consultancies
The control and certification bodies
| Technical controller | A mandatory appointment for buildings open to the public. Verifies the soundness of the works and the safety of people. State accredited. |
|---|---|
| Health and safety coordinator | Mandatory as soon as two contractors work on site simultaneously. Prepares the safety plan and the maintenance file. |
| Certification bodies | National and international environmental and energy certification schemes. |
| Experts and surveyors | Statutory surveys: asbestos, lead, energy performance, termites. |
The financial flows between parties
The client sits at the centre of the flows: they pay the design team's fees, the contractors' valuations and the ancillary costs of the control bodies. Contractors are paid on presentation of monthly valuations, checked by the design team before being passed to the client.
ℹ Retention: securing the payments Retention is a 5 % deduction from each valuation, returned to the contractor a year after handover without defects. It exists to encourage contractors to clear defects within the period. Contractors may replace it with a bank guarantee of the same amount.
Back to the main guide: Construction economics
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The role descriptions presented correspond to the general framework applicable in France. Practice varies with the type of project, the size of the operation and local custom.
The nature of the figures quoted
The percentages and amounts quoted on this page are orders of magnitude for framing, not measurements. They illustrate mechanisms and proportions, and they substitute neither for a tender exercise nor for an estimate prepared on drawings.
Articles liés
Sources: the BT construction cost indices published monthly by INSEE on its 2010 base, used to update the figures · construction cost statistics from SDES, the statistical service of the ministry responsible for construction · regulatory texts published in the Journal officiel and consolidated on Légifrance for the requirements cited.