Independent capital project oversight, from scope to closeout.

We act as your independent owner's representative: tracking the work and verifying scope, progress, and completion before you pay, with no ties to any contractor.

Fixed Fee, Quoted Up Front No Contractor Ties or Referral Fees Verified Before Every Payment Start at Any Stage

Why Projects Go Sideways

The contractor has done this many times. Most boards are doing it for the first time.

Scope

Without oversight: Written by a bidder.

With oversight: Based on an independent condition baseline of what the property needs.

Bids

Without oversight: Can't be compared, because each one prices different work.

With oversight: Lined up like for like: the same work at the same quantities.

Payments

Without oversight: Go out on the contractor's own progress report.

With oversight: Released after each milestone is verified, with dated documentation.

Change orders

Without oversight: Turn a fixed price into an open-ended one.

With oversight: Logged as they happen, with every markup on the record.

Fees

Without oversight: Surface that nobody disclosed before the vote.

With oversight: Every fee any party earns from the project in view before the vote.

None of that requires bad intent. It only requires that nobody on the owner's side is independently checking. That is the role we fill.

Read what good project management looks like, phase by phase

Three phases where independent oversight changes the outcome

  1. 01

    Before you sign

    The decisions made before the contract is signed are the ones with real leverage.

    What we do

    • An independent condition baseline
    • A scope check against what the property needs
    • A like-for-like bid comparison
    • Every fee in view before the vote
  2. 02

    While the work is underway

    The board hears where the project stands from someone other than the contractor.

    What we do

    • Existing conditions documented by drone before the first crew arrives
    • Work and schedule tracked against the contract timeline
    • Each milestone verified before you release the payment
    • A running log of every change order, markup, and fee
  3. 03

    At closeout

    Final payment is the last leverage you have.

    What we do

    • A closeout inspection before you release it
    • Damage recorded against the baseline confirmed repaired
    • The full project record, yours to keep

What's included.

Every project is different, so oversight is scoped on a free consultation and quoted as a fixed fee. The fee is not a percentage of the contract, so we gain nothing if the price goes up.

Per project

Capital Project Oversight

Fixed fee, quoted before you commit / scoped per project

  • Scope and bid review
  • Verified before each payment
  • Change order and fee log

What this protects

  • Hard savings
  • Risk reduction

Your contract price: payment released only for work that has been verified, with every change order and fee on the record.

Details and deliverables

A roof replacement, repaving, or exterior project is often the largest check a board or owner writes, and the work is usually verified by the party being paid for it. Capital Project Oversight gives you an independent owner's representative from scope to closeout, so every payment is tied to work that has been checked, and every change, fee, and promise is on the record.

  • Pre-contract review: an independent condition baseline, a scope check, and a like-for-like bid comparison before you sign
  • Existing-conditions documentation by drone before work starts, so damage to sidewalks, irrigation, and landscaping is settled against a record
  • Progress and schedule tracking on your behalf, reported against the contract timeline
  • Milestone verification before each payment, with dated drone and photo documentation
  • Change order and fee log: every change, markup, and third-party fee recorded as it happens
  • Closeout inspection and a complete project record for your files
Best for:
HOA and condo boards, property managers, and owners planning or running a roof replacement, repaving, or other major exterior project, on one building or many.

Case study: a 132-townhome Tampa HOA

33 buildings, one roof project, and no independent oversight.

This is the board our founder served on as Vice President and Treasurer. It's the project Highground IQ was built from.

Read the full story

  1. The situation

    For five years the board budgeted for roof repairs instead of commissioning an independent assessment of the roofs' remaining life. Then roofs began leaking across the community, and what could have been a planned replacement became an urgent one across 33 buildings. By the time the project started, repairs and patching alone were projected to cost $120,000 to $180,000.

  2. What surfaced

    With little time and few options, the association negotiated from a weak position. Assurances that damaged sidewalks and irrigation would be repaired “at the end” left the board with little leverage. And once the old roofs came off, leaks no one had seen turned out to have damaged structural framing, which had to be repaired by change order.

  3. The outcome

    With no independent oversight in place, a board member supplied it. Our founder ran the project unpaid, in place of project management bids of $60,000 to $245,000, and built the board’s own record of scope, progress, and every fee, so every question about the project could be answered from the file.

New roofs and gutters on 33 buildings
$4.8M
132 townhomes, about $36,000 a home. Double underlayment and a 30-year labor and materials warranty.
Spent on change orders
$150,000
Half of the $300,000 contingency in the contract, including structural framing repairs from leaks no one had seen.
Quoted for project management alone
$60K to $245K
With no part in the RFP and no help with financing.
Given unpaid by our founder
720 hours
Over a year from RFP to finish, plus about 42 hours of board work.

Most boards have no one who can give 720 hours. Capital Project Oversight exists so the board’s own record does not depend on finding one.

What would have changed the outcome

  • An independent roof assessment years earlier, while the replacement could still be planned. Essential Scan
  • Verification at every milestone, before each payment, by someone the contractor doesn’t pay. Capital Project Oversight
  • Every fee any party earns from the project, disclosed in writing before the vote. 8 questions to ask first
Get Your Free Risk Pulse

What It Takes Off Your Board

The hours a capital project asks of volunteers.

Your property manager still coordinates the project day to day. These are the jobs we take off the board's hands.

  1. Lining up the bids

    One like-for-like comparison, checked against an independent condition baseline, before the vote.

  2. Checking the work against the invoice

    Each milestone verified, and reported against the contract timeline, before you release the payment.

  3. Keeping the record

    Every change order, markup, and fee logged as it happens, and the complete record handed over at closeout.

What This Is and Isn't

An owner's representative, not a project manager.

  • Builds

    Your contractor

    Does
    Perform the work and direct the crews.
    Doesn't
    Independently verify its own progress before it is paid.

  • Coordinates

    Your property manager

    Does
    Keep coordinating the project day to day.
    Doesn't
    Supply the independent record of scope, progress, and completion.

  • Verifies

    Highground IQ

    Does
    Track progress and the timeline, verify what has been done, and report to the board.
    Doesn't
    Perform or manage the work, recommend or select a contractor, or accept referral fees.

Your board gets

The work, the coordination, and an independent record of both. The contractor selection stays with you.

Our fee is paid by you and fixed up front, so it does not rise if the project grows. The independent record protects the board and the manager alike if a fee or quality question comes up later.

Have a project coming up, or one already underway?

Oversight has the most leverage before the contract is signed, but it can start at any point. In 20 minutes we'll walk through where your project stands and what independent verification would cover.

Still gathering bids? Start with the eight questions to ask before your board approves a contract.

Read the 8 Questions