What is the difference between a Project Manager (PM) and a Construction Manager (CM)?

This is a question that many clients don’t even consider and don’t fully understand. Throughout the construction industry, you will see these titles used for employee positions. You will also see them used by firms like ours that provide professional services. It’s important to realize there is a difference, especially when you are considering engaging one for a project. Industry veterans may have differing opinions on what each role is and how it applies. This is our take on it:

Project Manager (PM): The person or firm in charge of the management of the entire project. This would include involvement from the initial inception of the project. The PM would be hired and manage the project's initial due diligence, including project feasibility, financial review/forecasting, design stage, reporting, and many more tasks included in pre-construction. The PM would also manage the construction phase of the project. This would include the construction start-up, notices, field observations, payment reviews, monitoring of the contractor’s schedule, project close-out, and warranty review.

Construction Manager (CM): The person or firm in charge of the project's construction management. This would include the construction start-up, notices, field observations, payment reviews, monitoring of the contractor’s schedule, project close-out, and warranty review. The CM typically doesn’t have much involvement in the project setup. Usually, the CM would only be engaged near the end of the Pre-Construction phase when permits were ready to be issued and funding was in place.

Notice that the CM’s role is limited only to the construction phase whereas the PM’s role is more encompassing of all project tasks. Some firms provide both services while others may focus just on the CM portion of the work. This is typical for firms that provide testing services and specialty inspections as part of their offering.