RICS employer's agents for design & build contracts — preparing employer's requirements, running contractor selection, controlling change and certifying the works.
On a design and build contract the contractor controls the design — which is exactly why the employer needs a professional in their corner. The employer's agent acts for the employer under a JCT Design and Build contract, performing the administrative and certification functions the contract assigns and protecting the employer's interests from brief to final account. The role is defined in RICS's own practice standards, and our appointments follow them.
What your employer's agent does
- Employer's requirements — drafting the document that defines what the contractor must deliver; the single biggest determinant of whether you get the building you expected.
- Contractor selection — tendering, analysing contractors' proposals against the requirements, and reporting before you commit.
- Contract administration — valuations, payment notices, change control on employer variations, extensions of time and programme monitoring.
- Quality and completion — inspections during the works, practical completion certification, defects management through rectification, and final account agreement.
Who instructs us
Developers, housing associations, businesses commissioning their own premises, and private clients on larger residential schemes. On funded projects we work alongside — or provide — the development monitoring surveyor the lender requires. Where the employer prefers a traditional procurement route instead, our contract administration and project management services cover it.
Fees and instruction
Appointments are made before the building contract is signed — ideally at brief stage — on fixed or percentage fees agreed up front. Tell us the scheme, programme and funding structure and we will propose a scope.
Frequently asked questions
What is an employer's agent?
The employer's representative under a design and build contract. Because the contractor controls the design in D&B procurement, the contract assigns the employer's administrative functions — instructions, payment notices, change control, completion certification — to an employer's agent, who performs them and protects the employer's interests from brief through to final account.
What is the difference between an employer's agent and a project manager?
Procurement route decides it. On a design and build contract the employer's agent is the recognised role, exercising the powers the contract gives the employer. On traditional procurement, a project manager (with a contract administrator) fills the equivalent space. The skill set overlaps heavily — which is why the same RICS surveyors provide both, matched to how your project is contracted.
When should I appoint an employer's agent?
Before the building contract is signed — ideally at brief stage, so the employer's requirements are drafted by the person who will later police them. The requirements document determines what the contractor must deliver; appointing after it is written means inheriting whatever gaps it contains, and those gaps are where D&B projects disappoint.