Cost Manager - Commercial Construction

Responsibilities

• Advise clients on cost strategies for commercial real estate projects, including TI and ground-up developments, manage prequalification of vendors and subcontractors, assess proposals, bids, and bid leveling documents, make final recommendations, attend and chair bid interviews, and manage the contractor appointment process.
• Manage estimating services across all project phases by developing detailed project estimates (construction, general conditions, fees, and soft costs), reviewing estimates prepared by junior team members, presenting estimates to clients, providing value engineering recommendations and risk assessments, validating subcontractor pricing, and leveraging benchmark data from similar CRE projects.
• Manage cost reporting by establishing reporting schedules, reviewing and presenting cost reports and forecasts, tracking project budgets and spend forecasts with clients, maintaining commercial risk registers, and hosting regular cost review meetings with project teams and vendors.
• Oversee cost control processes by reviewing payment applications, coordinating with project managers on contractor entitlements, evaluating change order requests, providing recommendations to clients, and applying dispute avoidance and resolution practices related to contracts, change orders, and payment requisitions.
• Manage and monitor the invoicing process to ensure accuracy and alignment with contract terms and project progress.
• Benchmark project cost performance against comparable commercial real estate, TI, and fit-out projects to drive cost efficiency and identify improvement opportunities.
• Lead all aspects of final accounting, including post-contract audits and project closeouts.
• Conduct post-project reviews with clients to document lessons learned and support continuous improvement and training development.
• Develop procedures for project close-out and handover, particularly for tenant improvement and interior fit-out environments.
• Perform all duties utilizing tools such as bid analysis sheets, change control logs, cost estimating software, and quantity take-off platforms.
• SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, cost management, quantity surveying, engineering, or a related construction field.
• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in a cost management or quantity surveying role supporting commercial real estate construction projects (TI, interior fit-out, or ground-up).
• RICS accredited or actively working toward accreditation is preferred.
• Experience supporting cost management on medium to large-scale commercial construction projects.
• Prior QS consultancy experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of construction methodologies, procurement strategies, value engineering, and cost planning within commercial interiors and base building construction.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.