Questions Frequently Asked by our Clients

Generally, the earlier a consultant is brought on board, the greater the benefit the client receives. The more time that elapses on a project, the greater the probability of issues, errors, and omissions, and the greater the cost to correct course. Bringing on expert help in the early stages of a project can prevent common issues, avoid pitfalls, and provide the necessary framework to ensure the project comes to fruition on time and under budget.

Construction Consulting Firms, like Oak & Iron Advisory, provide expert guidance and project management services to their clients by leveraging their industry knowledge across multiple disciplines, relieving pain points, and supplying expertise that clients may not have in house.

Construction Consulting Firms, like Oak & Iron Advisory, do not perform the actual construction work, and are not responsible for directly managing the workforce that will physically build the project. While General Contractors and Construction Management Firms may provide some services similar to a Construction Consulting Firm, such as pre-construction reviews, change order management, and various other project management tasks, their core function is to physically build the project.

All of the above. Oak & Iron specializes in Change Order Management, Pre-Construction Consulting, and Operational Efficiency Consulting within the construction industry. As such, we work closely will all major stakeholders to ensure projects are delivered on time, under budget, and to our clients’ satisfaction.

Oak & Iron Advisory manages projects of all sizes; Small projects, Large-Scale developments, and everything in between. Our services can be tailored to suit your specific project requirements, current capabilities, and future growth plans.

Consultants can help reduce costs in many ways. They allow clients to outsource certain functions to expert third parties, reducing overhead and associated direct and indirect employment costs (salaries, raises, benefits, insurance premiums, IT resources, IT support, office space, etc) while maintaining high-quality service and support. By outsourcing base functions, senior project management staff can devote more time to managing day-to-day activities, to planning for the future, and to growing company revenue by taking on more projects, all while resting assured that their needs are being met by qualified expert consultants.

Consultants can devote more time and attention to the tasks assigned to them than the client’s own employees, who have innumerable other responsibilities to attend to, resulting in faster response time, fewer deadlines missed, increased pricing accuracy, and better change order recovery rates. Reducing pricing cycle time gets your change requests in front of the owner faster, negotiated quicker, and resolved sooner, ultimately enabling you to get paid faster and reducing the number of change requests that get settled a year down the road for 50 cents on the dollar.

Consultants can help prevent avoidable issues, common pitfalls, and prevent small mistakes from snowballing into larger issues. Their expertise is derived from multiple disciplines and construction areas, ensuring that clients receive the right guidance for their needs and that any knowledge gaps are covered. Involvement by construction consultants early in the project life cycle ensures that planning, set up, and implementation are done in an organized and efficient manner, paving the way for long term success. As Benjamin Franklin allegedly once said “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Consultants can evaluate, identify, and address operational inefficiencies and blind spots that may not be apparent to existing employees who have become accustomed to how the client operates. Implementing effective change management solutions to address these inefficiencies enables the client to run a tighter ship and stems the needless bleeding of margin.

Oak & Iron Advisory can provide this service. Whether it be to verify another estimate, perform a sanity check on a bid, or simply parallel estimating support to enable your business to scale quickly while you hire and onboard new estimators, Oak & Iron has you covered.

Value Engineering is a systematic, thorough, and organized method of achieving the project’s core functionality and goals at the lowest possible cost, typically by identifying opportunities to adopt alternative methods, materials, or processes to reduce expenses without sacrificing the specified quality, performance, or safety requirements. This process involves analyzing project specified materials, engineering designs, connection designs, and construction techniques to find more cost effective alternatives that provide equal or greater value to the owner. This is a collaborative process between multiple stakeholders on the project, which ultimately results in the best value final product.

Oak & Iron Advisory can assist with developing budgets, however monitoring compliance to these budgets once set is outside of our area of expertise.

No consultant can absolutely guarantee that there will be no cost overruns on a project, however by implementing smart management techniques, ensuring the right processes and procedures are in place, and that the right talent is in place to deliver upon the contractual obligations, consultants can help prevent them from occurring.

No, Oak & Iron does not directly create the master project schedule, however we do offer scheduling support in the form of Scheduling Impact Assessments, Sequence of Erection Impact, Project Impact Assessment (Cost/Schedule), Schedule Review for Claim Preparation, Pre-Construction Consulting, and Initial Contractual Document Review activities. Oak & Iron will work with the client to provide input to the schedule as required, but generating new schedules is not part of our core offering.

Oak & Iron helps keep projects on schedule using a two part approach. The first approach is to ensure that the project is properly set up at the beginning of the job, that the correct policies and procedures are in place to run the project, and that the schedule is achievable during the pre-construction phase. The second approach is to ensure that all changes to the contractual documents are identified, communicated to the owner, properly estimated and submitted according to the requirements of the contractual documents, and that both cost and schedule impacts are being recovered quickly. By reducing the pricing cycle time, the change events are placed in front of the owner sooner, resulting in timely negotiation and receipt of the corresponding change orders, ensuring schedule days are accounted for and properly tracked, and reducing the common trend in the industry of pushing all outstanding change orders to settlement 12 months down the road.

Yes, although not every delay can be foreseen, most major delays can be avoided through experienced foresight and adequate pre-construction planning. Oak & Iron offers a suite of Pre-Construction Consulting services aimed at eliminating stumbling points, streamlining erection and construction activities, and ensuring that the design documents are complete, adequate, and contain logical connections that are erectable on site.

Yes, Oak & Iron can assist with phasing, site layout, and logistics planning as part of our consulting services, although this is not Oak & Iron’s core competency.

Oak & Iron identifies and mitigates project risks through application of expertise across many construction industry areas, notably in the planning, legal, compliance, structural steel fabrication, steel erection, concrete erection, connection design, and erection engineering fields. Using in house tools, we can identify, evaluate, and codify a project risk, develop mitigation strategies, and guide implementation on the project level.

Oak & Iron does not provide these services, other than input as may be required by our clients on specific issues.

Oak & Iron does not provide these services directly, other than input as may be required by our clients on specific issues, however, considerations for health, safety, and environmental impacts are incorporated in our procedures to ensure general compliance with industry standards.

Oak & Iron takes data security seriously. As part of our Privacy Policy, we only collect data that is strictly necessary for the provision of services to our clients. Data is stored on encrypted servers and access to the data is limited only to individuals who have a valid business reason to require the data. All employees utilize encrypted password managers with strict password complexity requirements, including for all IT technology and end point devices. Regular data collection and security audits are conducted to ensure only data with a strict business purpose is collected and retained. Employee training and awareness campaigns are conducted regularly to keep abreast of trends and potential security threats.

Data obtained from our clients through the rendering of services, such as confidential and proprietary information about business systems, trade secrets, data, processes, and procedures, are protected by Non-Disclosure Agreements and Contractual Service Agreements. Oak & Iron Advisory will never divulge information that our clients entrust to us, for any reason or purpose, without first verifying with our clients.

Oak & Iron Advisory also holds comprehensive Cyber Liability insurance and Umbrella Liability policies to provide coverage for any potential data breaches.

Oak & Iron can act as an Owner’s Representative within the context of managing change requests and change orders for the project, providing Pre-Construction Consulting, and Operational Efficiency Consulting services, among other service offerings.

Oak & Iron does not provide these services directly, other than input as may be required by our clients on specific issues. At our client’s request, we can provide input and data to aid our clients in the selection process.

Yes, this is one of Oak & Iron’s core competencies. As part of our Pre-Construction Consulting service offering, we can evaluate design documents for constructability and erectability concerns, identifying problematic connections, loading issues, safety concerns, and general construction advice.

Oak & Iron does not provide these services, other than input as may be required by our clients on specific issues.

Yes, Oak & Iron provides claims support, claims preparation, and expert testimony services to our clients. We can present compiled change requests to the owner, provide any necessary backup, and negotiate the change requests on your behalf.

Oak & Iron does not provide official dispute resolution services, other than input as may be required by our clients on specific issues.

Change Order Management refers to the process of identifying, evaluating, pricing, documenting, and negotiating modifications to a construction contract after it has been awarded, in response to changes introduced to the contractual documents by the Owner, Engineer, Architect, Construction Manager, etc.

Effective change order management ensures that project scope changes are properly controlled, optimized, documented, and compensated, helping to avoid disputes, schedule overruns, and financial loss.

Oak & Iron Advisory’s services are geared towards developers, owners, general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, and other construction industry participants seeking to improve cost recovery, modernize documentation, and maintain positive relationships with project stakeholders while optimizing change management and project management procedures and practices.

To reduce the impact of potential future changes, Oak & Iron Advisory’s team can be involved from project inception, helping to prevent costly modifications and overruns from the beginning of the project. Our consultants can also step in mid-project to assess, document, and manage ongoing or past change orders, including reporting, negotiation, and presentation of change orders to executives.

Oak & Iron Advisory provides a comprehensive suite of change order and project management services. For more detailed information, please see the service offerings page located here.

Yes, Oak & Iron manages all types of change events, regardless of who initiated the change, what the reasoning behind the change may be, or who the responsible party is.

Oak & Iron offers extensive value engineering and pre-construction consulting services to help project teams optimize the design, logistics, and construction processes of their projects. See our Service Offerings page for more details.

Absolutely. Oak & Iron can audit existing practices and procedures, develop custom procedures, templates, and training to streamline future change order handling. As part of our service offering, Oak & Iron can also provide stop-gap measures to enable businesses to scale their internal capacity while confidently continuing to service existing and new contracts, enabling businesses to grow while operating efficiently.

Oak & Iron provides both on-going support and project-based services, depending on client needs. As part of our corporate values, Oak & Iron emphasizes establishing long-term partnerships with clients to facilitate their growth, maximize the value our services provide, and help support our clients as they scale their businesses.

Oak & Iron offers multiple support options for our clients.

• Hourly Consultations: Per hour rate, open-ended structure

• Project Based (Lump Sum): Pricing scales with scope, offering predictability for defined deliverables

• Monthly Retainer: Encourages long-term partnerships, discounted rates, guaranteed priority

• On-Call Advisory Services: Smaller contractors can access affordable entry points

• Training and Workshops: Customized training services based on client needs

Yes, our team analyzes scope impacts, prepares costs substantiation, and assists with negotiating fair compensation for legitimate changes. As part of the process, Oak & Iron can seamlessly integrate with your existing pricing strategies, implementing pricing rates and policies as determined by the client, or with our in-house pricing data. Our services are tailored to ensure that both direct and indirect (hidden) costs are accounted for and recovered.

Yes, our expertise covers all major contract types and formats, including CCDC, AIA, and custom project agreements.

Oak & Iron handles both contractual change orders and the preparation and presentation of claims, including participation in proceedings and dispute mitigation.

Our team collaborates closely with project executives, project managers, estimators, site personnel, and project staff, either virtually or on site, depending on client preference.

Yes, our team delivers clear, structured reports summarizing change status, pending approvals, and potential risks on a recurring schedule, based on the client’s needs.

We work with industry-standard platforms such as Procore, Autodesk Build, Bluebeam Revu, Microsoft Business Suite products, Tekla, Revit, AutoCAD, and Primavera/MS Project, but can adapt and integrate with your internal systems as required.

Yes, this is a core part of Oak & Iron’s service offering. Our consultants specialize in evidence-based negotiation, helping avoid escalation to litigation whenever possible and deescalating situations to bring sides together and resolve issues surrounding outstanding change orders and merit.

Our team prepares detailed backup documentation and analysis to support our client’s position and facilitate fair and reasonable evaluation. As part of the service offering, Oak & Iron’s representatives can interface directly with all project stakeholders, request follow up meetings, and document the negotiation process for each change event, helping convert more change events to signed change orders and accelerating cash conversion cycles.

When required, Oak & Iron can provide expert analysis, claim preparation, and witness testimony to support legal proceedings. Our team can integrate with our client’s legal team to aid in the preparation and support of our client’s legal defense.

Potential clients may reach out to Oak & Iron directly at [email protected], schedule a call through our Schedule a Call page, or through our website’s Contact page.

Within a few business days an exploratory meeting can be held to examine your needs, service requirements, and how Oak & Iron’s service offerings can bring value to your organization. Depending on your project’s complexity and document availability, start dates can be assigned within as little as two weeks, once a service agreement has been negotiated and signed.

To facilitate the exploratory meeting, our team generally requests copies of contract documents, design drawings, and any relevant communications providing context to the project. Once the exploratory meeting has been held and a decision to move forward has been made, Oak & Iron will elect to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the client and request additional documents, such as a redacted copy of the prime contract, correspondence logs, official letters and notices, cost records, pricing data, historical context information for the project, etc.

Oak & Iron offers its services across Canada and the United States of America. For other countries, please contact us for more information.

Upon request, Oak & Iron can share anonymized case studies and information demonstrating successful cost recovery and process improvement outcomes. Industry references are also available upon request.