Construction Management at Risk in Edmond and Oklahoma City

A guaranteed maximum price is a promise made with incomplete drawings, and the quality of that promise depends on how the builder helped complete them. Construction management at risk puts the contractor on the owner's team during design, then commits to a ceiling price once enough is known to stand behind it. The contractor carries the risk of delivering for that price, which is the reason the title says at risk.

General Contractors of Edmond provides construction management at risk for owners across the Oklahoma City and Edmond metro: hospitals and clinics, schools and campuses, municipal buildings and private developments. We design the schedule around approvals and storm season, and we tell owners early what the city will ask. Under this model, that advice is delivered in meetings during design, when it can still change the drawings.

The owner stays in control. The architect works for the owner, the construction manager advises on cost, schedule and constructability, and bids for the trade packages are opened with the owner present. That transparency is the main reason institutions choose the method.

Institutions with large capital programs dominate the metro's construction calendar. Oklahoma City's council approved plans, as reported on May 22, 2024, for an arena costing nearly $1 billion that could open as early as 2029, according to News 9, with about 60,000 square feet on E.K. Gaylord set aside for a transit hub beside the downtown train station. The University of Oklahoma broke ground on October 3, 2025 on a 105,000-square-foot life sciences laboratories building on its Norman campus, funded with $80 million from the Oklahoma State Legislature plus private giving.

These are other owners' projects, but they show the scale of public and institutional spending in the region. Owners of more modest projects face the same decisions about delivery, only with smaller budgets and fewer in-house staff, which is where an experienced construction manager adds the most.

Public owners have special rules. Under Title 61 section 11 of the Oklahoma Statutes, plans and specifications for public buildings erected by the state must provide facilities for people with disabilities that conform to the codes and standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal. Procurement rules for public bodies also vary, and we ask the owner's counsel which delivery methods are permitted and what advertisement and bidding steps apply before we propose a contract structure.

Code editions matter for pricing and design. Edmond lists the 2018 International Codes for permits applied for or issued on or after August 14, 2023, Oklahoma City lists the 2018 International Building Code, and the state adopted 2024 editions effective September 14, 2026. We confirm which edition governs each building permit and report any effect on cost to the owner at the earliest design milestone.

The owner's biggest fear on a construction management project is a late budget surprise, so we work to remove the surprise. We provide cost estimates at each design milestone, identify scope that is unclear or missing, and offer value engineering options before drawings are finalized. When the design is complete enough to bid, we package the work into trade bid packages, solicit proposals from qualified subcontractors, and present the results with a line-by-line comparison.

The guaranteed maximum price includes the cost of the work, our fee and general conditions, with a contingency held for unforeseen items. Savings can be returned to the owner or shared, depending on the contract. We keep an open book so the owner can see every subcontract, and our preconstruction and estimating team maintains the cost model throughout.

Contingency deserves a plain conversation. Owners should know how much is held, who decides how it is spent and what happens to what is left. We report contingency use monthly, in writing, with the reason for each draw, and we ask the owner to approve scope changes before they are built rather than after. That discipline is what keeps a guaranteed price meaningful through the long middle of a project.

Health care campuses are the clearest example of long-running programs. The Oklahoma Health Center is a 325-acre medical district one mile northeast of downtown Oklahoma City with about 8 million square feet of floor space and more than 12,000 employees, according to Wikipedia. Its institutions include the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, OU Medical Center, Oklahoma Children's Hospital, the Stephenson Cancer Center and the Oklahoma City VA Hospital.

On a campus like that, work happens next to occupied buildings, which makes phasing and safety central. We discuss it on our healthcare construction page and in our approach to phased construction on occupied sites. Owners in the Oklahoma Health Center area and the healthcare systems industry will find the guaranteed maximum price method well suited to their constraints.

Universities, school districts and public agencies use the method as well. Campus work often has fixed summer windows, so the schedule is built around those dates. School projects involve bond elections, state requirements and construction that must finish before students arrive. The government and public sector page describes the approach for public owners, and the University of Oklahoma Norman campus page describes the university context.

Private owners, including developers of mixed-use and multifamily projects, use it when they need cost certainty for a lender. The hospital and healthcare and other building-type pages show how the method applies to each building, and our design and build page explains the alternative for owners who prefer a single contract.

Share the program, the budget and your governance rules, and we will outline how a guaranteed maximum price would be built and what decisions come first.

What is the difference between CM at risk and design-build?

In construction management at risk, the owner hires the architect separately and the construction manager advises and then guarantees the price. In design-build, one entity holds both design and construction. We discuss which fits the owner's governance and preferences.

What does at risk mean for the owner?

The contractor commits to deliver the project for the guaranteed maximum price, and the cost of overruns within the scope falls on the contractor, not the owner. Changes in scope are priced separately. The owner benefits from cost certainty.

When should the construction manager be hired?

As early as schematic design, if possible. Early involvement allows cost feedback and constructability review while changes are cheap. Hiring later reduces those benefits.

How are subcontractors chosen?

Through trade packages that are competitively bid and reviewed with the owner. We prequalify firms, compare bids line by line and recommend awards. The owner can see the comparison.

Can public bodies use this method?

Some can, subject to state law and their procurement rules. We ask the owner's counsel which methods are allowed and structure the contract accordingly.