Corven & Ashby, cost and risk advisory

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Four ways to take the same work

The modules are the work. A package decides how much of it you take, how fast it comes back, and who the memo is written for.

How we are set up:

  • We act on the owner’s side only
  • No fee is tied to what the review concludes
How a client buys

The same method, bought in four different shapes

Every package draws on the same four modules and the same reading. What changes is scope, speed and the reader the memo is written for.

We quote per project, after we have seen the documents. A fee named before anybody knows what is in the set is a guess, and you would be right not to trust it.

No fee is tied to what a review concludes. We are paid the same whether the memo says sign it or says reopen three items, which is the only arrangement under which that sentence means anything.

The four packages

Pick by your signing date, not by the price of the job

Every package draws on the same modules and the same method. What changes is scope, speed and who the memo is written for.

Rapid GMP Review

Five to ten working days on the largest exposures.

TurnaroundFive to ten working days

Best for

A signing date that is already close, and a price nobody outside the contractor’s team has read.

What is not in it

The schedule, the package interfaces and the change machinery. Those need the full review.

What it includes

  • Allowances, qualifications, exclusions and contingency, read for the largest exposures only
  • One GMP Risk Register, ranked by money
  • One call to walk it through before you sign

Full Pre-GMP Owner Protection Review

All four modules and one consolidated owner memo.

TurnaroundThree to four weeks

Best for

A price you are about to lock for the life of the project, with time to do something about what we find.

What is not in it

Nothing from the four modules is left out. This is the whole method.

What it includes

  • All four modules, run against the same set
  • One consolidated owner memo instead of four reports to reconcile
  • The registers, the coverage map and the contingency assessment
  • One call before your signing date and one after the negotiation

Lender and Investment Committee Memo

Written to be read by people who are not builders.

TurnaroundFive working days after the underlying review

Best for

A drawdown approval, an investment committee, a board paper or a partner who needs the position in two pages.

What is not in it

It is not a separate review. It needs at least one module underneath it.

What it includes

  • The findings of whichever modules you ran, rewritten for a financial reader
  • Construction language taken out, the exposure left in
  • A position that survives being read by somebody who has never seen a schedule of values

Monthly Owner Cost Assurance

This is Costwitness, after signature.

TurnaroundMonthly, on your payment cycle

Best for

The eighteen months after you sign, when the exposures we named start to arrive one at a time.

What is not in it

It does not replace the pre-signature work. It is what the pre-signature work is for.

What it includes

  • Monthly review of payment applications and change orders
  • Each one read against the register we built before signature
  • A short owner report on the same cycle as your payments
How the four compare. Fees are quoted per project once we have seen the documents.
 RapidFullLender memoMonthly
Modules coveredPart of oneAll fourWhichever you ranFollows the register
Turnaround5 to 10 days3 to 4 weeks5 days afterMonthly
Written forThe ownerThe ownerA financial readerThe owner
When to run itSigning date is closeTwo weeks or more before signatureAfter a review, before a committeeAfter signature
Call includedOneTwoOneMonthly
Before you commission anything

Questions owners ask

Send the documents and your signing date. We will say which package fits, or tell you that none of them do in the time that is left.

What does it cost?

We quote per project once we have seen the documents. The fee follows the size of the set and the number of trade packages, not the value of the contract.

Do you charge a percentage of savings?

No. A percentage gives the reviewer an interest in the conclusion, which is exactly what an owner does not want from an independent read. We charge a fixed fee for the work.

Can we start with one module and add the rest?

Yes. Starting with the price and adding the others once you have seen the first register is the usual way round. You pay the difference, not a new engagement.

What if we are already past signature?

Then the pre-signature work is behind you and we will say so. Monthly Owner Cost Assurance is the one that still helps, because the exposures are still arriving.

Who owns the deliverables?

You do. They are written for you, addressed to you, and we do not reuse them on another engagement.

We quote after we read, not before

Where a review pays for itself $10M

to $150M guaranteed maximum price. A fit statement, not a rule. We will tell you when a review is not worth the fee.

The four modules
The work itself

Four modules, one set of documents

Whatever you take and whoever you are, the reading is the same. Send the documents and we will say which module we would run first.

All four modules