← All services

Owner's Representative

Independent, owner-aligned project oversight from site selection through commissioning. We represent your interests exclusively — not the contractor's timeline, architect's design vision, or vendor's sales quota. Every decision, every dollar, every deadline.

What we deliver

  • ✓Full-lifecycle representation across all five service phases
  • ✓Site selection and due diligence with power-first evaluation
  • ✓Design oversight ensuring specifications meet operational requirements
  • ✓Budget and schedule management with cost-per-MW benchmarking
  • ✓Construction oversight with daily site presence and quality assurance
  • ✓Commissioning from Cx plan through integrated systems testing

Phase overview

1

Site Selection

Power, connectivity, zoning, team assembly

2

Design Oversight

SD, DD, CD review, value engineering

3

Budget & Schedule

Baseline, tracking, change management

4

Construction Oversight

Quality, RFIs, safety, logistics

5

Commissioning

Cx plan, IST, failure scenarios, turnover

Questions about owner's representative? Ask our Project Manager — chat available 24/7 in the corner.

How We Engage

Our engagement begins with a discovery call to understand your project scope, timeline, and constraints. Whether you're evaluating your first site or preparing for turnover, we tailor our involvement to your needs. Many clients start with site selection and design oversight, then add construction and commissioning as the project advances. Full-lifecycle engagement is available for clients who want a single partner from day one through Day One operations.

We work on a fee basis tied to project cost — typically 2–4% of total project cost depending on scope and service tier. Published industry benchmarks for independent owner's representation often cite 10–15% savings on total installed cost through avoided change orders and procurement discipline — your multiple depends on phase entry, site risk, and governance. For a 3MW facility at illustrative construction costs (~$11.3M per MW), that band would imply several times fee return if benchmarks apply — we walk through the math privately with serious prospects.

Owner-Aligned Only

Unlike architects, engineers, or general contractors, we have no design fees, construction margins, or vendor relationships to protect. Our incentive is your project success. We advocate for your budget, schedule, and performance requirements across every phase. When we flag a design issue, recommend a different contractor, or push back on a change order, it's because we're weighing the decision solely against your interests.

Why This Matters

Data center developers — whether building their first edge facility or their tenth campus — often lack the independent oversight needed to keep every stakeholder aligned. Without it, a single misaligned decision — specifying the wrong cooling approach, undersizing electrical infrastructure, or choosing a contractor without mission-critical experience — can cascade into six- or seven-figure consequences.

Mission-critical facilities have no margin for error. A 2MW edge deployment has no redundant building to absorb an outage. A 20MW phased campus has no room for compounding design drift across phases. The methodology adapts to scale — edge deployments, AI inference infrastructure, enterprise builds, colocation, and campus developments.

Full-lifecycle representation adds another dimension: context carries across phases. When we manage site selection, we know what the design team will need from the programming document. When we oversee construction, we know what commissioning will require for IST. No handoff gaps, no re-explaining requirements, no institutional knowledge walking out the door between phases.

Typical Timeline

  • Site selection & due diligence8–12 weeks— Power availability, fiber, zoning, team assembly
  • Design (SD through CD)4–6 months— Schematic, development, construction documents
  • Permitting2–6 months— Varies by jurisdiction
  • Construction8–14 months— Depends on scope and build methodology
  • Commissioning6–8 weeks— Component testing, IST, turnover

How This Plays Out

Scenario

An AI inference operator needed to evaluate three potential sites across two states. Power availability and interconnection timelines varied by two years between sites. Without power-first analysis, they would have committed to a site with a 4-year queue.

Outcome

Our due diligence identified a utility substation with available capacity and a 14-month interconnection timeline. The operator secured the right site and avoided a multi-year delay. Project went live 18 months from site selection.

Scenario

A first-time developer engaged us for construction oversight. The GC proposed a cooling equipment substitution that would have reduced upfront cost but increased PUE and operating costs by 15% annually.

Outcome

We flagged the substitution during submittal review, quantified the lifecycle cost impact, and worked with the team to source the originally specified equipment. The owner avoided $2.1M in excess operating costs over 10 years.

Scenario

For a 20MW phased campus deployment, the same preconstruction methodology identified a utility interconnection strategy that consolidated three separate service requests into a single phased delivery — reducing interconnection costs and aligning power availability with the build schedule.

Outcome

The consolidated approach saved $4.2M in interconnection fees and eliminated a 14-month gap between Phase 1 power delivery and Phase 2 construction start. Methodology scales with the project.

Ready to discuss your project?

Schedule a call to learn how we can help with owner's representative.

Schedule a Call