Planning · Design · Permitting · Construction · Closeout
On the owner's side of the table.Independent owner's representative & building design consultant.
Private advisory for land developers and real estate owners. We read the drawings, budgets, bids, and change orders before you sign them, and put in writing what they will actually cost you — you decide, your architect designs, your contractor builds. Our only interest is yours.
If this is your first ground-up project — or your first in a while — everyone across the table does this every day. We level it.
Written recommendations within two business days · Nothing to prepare · Mutual NDA from the first conversation
↓ Schedule of servicesProject
Capital project advisory
Client
Developers & real estate owners
Issued for
Owner review
Date
2026
Sheet
G-001
The record behind the judgment
$280M+
In capital projects delivered
20 yrs
Design and construction, both sides of the table
Zero
Unplanned outages, live data-center upgrade
Secret
Active U.S. DoD clearance
Twenty years across design and construction — twelve at IBI Group managing public-sector work, then the owner's side of a $250M retail expansion and a healthcare portfolio through HCAI and CDPH approval. The full record and the principal →
Div 01–08 · Schedule of services
Advisory services for every phase — one obligation: the owner.
01
Owner's Representation
Your eyes and ears across the whole project. We keep the process, the paperwork, and every party accountable to your interests — so nothing reaches your desk unexamined.
Kickoff → Closeout
02
Capital Planning & Feasibility
Before land is bought or a loan is signed: feasibility budgets, phasing, and funding strategy, so the project starts with a defensible number instead of a guess.
Field note N-104 · Before you buy the land →Planning
03
Design Phase Advisory
Help selecting and contracting your architect and engineers, then keeping their drawings aligned with your program and your budget as the design develops.
Design
04
Drafting & Construction Documents
Floor plans and construction document sets, drafted clean and permit-ready. Where the jurisdiction requires it, documents are issued under the review, signature, and seal of your licensed A/E.
Design → Permitting
05
Permitting & Approvals
Guidance through zoning, entitlements, and agency review — what to file, in what order, and what each approval will cost you in time. Your licensed A/E signs and seals; we keep the path clear.
Field note N-102 · When plan check rejects your drawings →Permitting
06
Cost Consulting
Budgets, estimate reviews, bid leveling, and change-order scrutiny. We tell you what the work should cost, and whether what you're being asked to pay matches it.
Field note N-103 · Change orders: what the owner owes →Planning → Construction
07
Construction Administration
Pay application review, RFI and submittal tracking, field observation reports, and punch list follow-through — the discipline that keeps a job site honest.
Field note N-101 · How to review a pay application →Construction
08
Feng Shui Advisory
Site selection screens, floor plan review, and unit numbering for the markets where buyers screen for it. Free to fix on paper, expensive to discover at listing — findings in writing, at drawing stage.
Field note N-105 · Feng shui in site selection →Planning → Design
By requestClassical feng shui assessment of siting, orientation, and layout — integrated with the design phase rather than bolted on after.
Who does what
Advisory means advisory.
The Owner
Decides.
Every approval, every dollar, every direction — the decisions stay yours.
The Architect / Engineer
Designs.
Licensed A/E professionals carry the design and its liability.
The Contractor
Builds.
The licensed GC owns the means, methods, and safety of construction.
Aldermont
Advises.
We review, advise, and recommend. No design risk, no construction stake — which is exactly why our advice is independent.
In confidence, by default
Every engagement proceeds under a mutual NDA — accepted before your client portal opens. Your drawings, budgets, and negotiations are held in confidence, both ways, from the first conversation.
Owner's questions
Asked before every engagement.
What does an owner's representative do?
An owner's representative is an independent consultant whose only obligation on a building project is the owner. We review the architect's and contractor's work against your budget, schedule, and contract — drawings, pay applications, change orders, permits — and put our recommendations in writing so every decision reaching your desk has been examined first.
Field note N-101 · How to review a pay application →Can you review my architect's design and drawings?
Yes — design review is the core of the practice. We check drawings for completeness, constructability, coordination between disciplines, and alignment with your program and budget, then flag the issues in writing before they become change orders. The design itself stays with your licensed architect or engineer; our review is independent precisely because we don't compete for it.
Field note N-102 · When plan check rejects your drawings →I'm having design or construction problems mid-project. Is it too late to bring in an advisor?
No. Mid-project is when independent review pays fastest: disputed change orders, drawings that don't coordinate, a permit path that stalled, a schedule slipping without explanation. We come in, read the documents, and tell you what the contract actually entitles you to — and what to do next.
Field note N-103 · Change orders: what the owner owes →Do you replace my architect or general contractor?
No — deliberately. Aldermont holds no design or construction license, so our review of your architect and contractor is genuinely independent. The licensed A/E designs, the licensed GC builds, you decide; we make sure you decide with full information.
Where do you work?
Based in Los Angeles, with core practice across Southern California. Available statewide, and open to travel for critical-facility engagements.
What the review is worth measuring against.
Owner's representation is normally sold as a share of project cost or a monthly retainer, committed before you have seen how the advisor thinks. This is the inverse: a fixed fee, one session, a written deliverable, and no obligation on either side afterward.
The honest measure of the role isn't the hourly rate — it's what goes unexamined without it. A single front-loaded pay application or an unexamined change order can exceed a year of advisory fees, and neither announces itself. They arrive looking like paperwork.
Book a project review
Bring the project. Leave with recommendations.
A working session on your actual project — the parcel you're weighing, the drawing set, the budget, the permit path you can't see through. You leave with written recommendations you can act on, with or without us.
Not sure you need an advisor yet? There's a free 20-minute call and a written reply waiting just below — neither costs anything.
Deliverable
Written recommendations on your actual documents — yours to act on, with us or without us
Turnaround
In your hands within two business days
Fee
$350 · 60 minutes
Credit
Applied in full against your first invoice — engage us and the review cost you nothing
Prepare
Nothing. Send what is already on your desk, or send nothing and talk
Confidence
Every engagement proceeds under a mutual confidentiality agreement
Session focus · check at least one
Required — check at least one focus before booking.
Attach a document · optional
A drawing, photo, or document set — PDF, image, ZIP, or CAD, up to 25 MB.
Selections and attachments carry into your booking notes, so the session starts scoped.
Not ready to book a review?
Two ways to start. Neither costs anything.
Talk · 20-minute · no fee
Ask before you spend anything.
Fifteen minutes on your project, five on a straight answer: whether an advisor is worth your money at this stage, and what it would take. Nothing to prepare — and if you don't need one yet, that's the answer you'll get.
Book the free callWrite · replied within two business days
Or tell us where the project stands.
A few lines about your land or building and where it stands. Every note is read and answered personally by the principal, in confidence.
Or write directly: desk@aldermontadvisory.com