The General Review of Building Works (IV)

General Review in Spain (IV)

Construction Manager. Builder in Charge.

In Spain, the Construction Manager ('Jefe de obra' in Spanish) is the person representing the builder. The Spanish Law on Construction Planning requires the Construction Manager is a technician who, by his qualifications or experience, have an adequate capacity for the type of the work to perform. In small construction companies, it's frequent that the Construction Manager has no qualifications at all, so his working experience will have to be enough to provide all the knowledge required to perform his functions. In medium and big companies, the Construction Manager use to have some technical degree, normally Technical Architect, but he can also be an Architect or Engineer. The basic functions of the Construction Manager are:

• supervising the performance of the works, in direct contact with the Builder in Charge
• controlling the costs
• planning time frames
• acting as the builder representative at meetings with subcontractors
• representing the construction company at meetings with the Professional Managers and the Developer
• reporting on the progress of works
• designating a responsible agent for safety and health issues on behalf of the company
• organizing the purchase of materials and the hiring of trades
• submitting Certificates of Work, for the consideration of the Professional Managers
• reporting any anomaly or incident to the Professional Managers, if they arise and can cause problems for the right performance of the works
• taking measures to prevent the incursion of outsiders on site
• taking measures to prevent incidents that may detriment the safety of the work.

The Builder in Charge

The functions of the Builder in Charge ('Encargado' in Spanish) are:

• receiving materials and signing invoices, without technical control
• controlling the performance and order of the different jobs
• controlling all the trades, avoiding interference between them
• controlling stockpiles
• controlling machines and tools.

Architect Daniel Trujillano

http://www.arquitectotrujillano.com/home.html

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