Owner's Construction Lead

Owner's Construction Lead

Dartmouth, NS

The OpportunitySomerled Properties is seeking an experienced Owner's Construction Lead in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This senior, hands-on role protects Somerled's interests across every phase of its projects, from early preconstruction and procurement through construction, commissioning, and handover.

Reporting directly to the President, the Owner's Construction Lead is Somerled's independent set of eyes on its construction activity. The role works through the Macklan group's construction partners, the Macklan Innovation Centre (MIC) and the group's construction manager, Dora Construction, rather than directing trades and design teams. This is not a passive monitoring role. It is the person who engages early, drives accountability, and protects the owner's schedule, budget, and quality expectations with the credibility and judgment to make it happen.

About the Organization

Somerled Properties is a Dartmouth-based real estate developer with an active construction program spanning multi-residential, commercial, institutional, and mixed-use projects across Nova Scotia. The company operates within a group of affiliated entities, the Macklan group of companies, with development partners including the Macklan Innovation Centre (MIC) and the group's construction manager, Dora Construction.

Somerled is at an inflection point, moving from one project every year or two to multiple multi-residential builds underway at once. The culture is founder-led and entrepreneurial, and decisions move at the pace of people, not committees.

The Role

Preconstruction: Engaged early, before ground is broken

• Evaluate potential projects from the owner's perspective, including whether to proceed and the right scope, size, and configuration
• Provide constructability oversight through design development to protect budget and schedule before construction begins
• Manage and report on preconstruction contracts, primarily through the Macklan Innovation Centre (MIC)
• Partner with MIC to assess where Modern Methods of Construction can be practically integrated into real estate development projects, providing field-informed insights, constructability input, and project case studies to support future adoption

Project Oversight: Owner's presence on every active site

• Represent Somerled through all construction phases, preconstruction to close-out
• Monitor progress against schedule, budget, and approved milestones
• Identify risks, delays, and deficiencies early and drive resolution
• Conduct regular site visits and document quality and compliance

Procurement & Contracts: CCDC management and cost control

• Oversee the construction manager's trade procurement strategy and challenge it in the owner's interest, from the bidders list through award
• Administer construction management contracts in coordination with internal stakeholders
• Review change orders, progress draws, and claims for accuracy and alignment with project goals
• Track cost control, contingencies, and exposure across all projects, and read the trade market to support the pipeline

Financial Management: Budgets, reporting and accountability

• Review and validate project budgets, estimates, and cash flow projections
• Manage and report on CCDC construction-management contract financial frameworks
• Manage related-party transactions with transparency and strict, industry-standard cost controls
• Prepare objective, defensible project reports for internal stakeholders and investment committees

Stakeholder Coordination: The owner's point of contact

• Represent Somerled's interest with the Macklan Innovation Centre and Dora Construction, who lead day-to-day delivery
• Attend site and progress meetings as the owner's representative, and make sure they run effectively in the owner's interest
• Monitor the status of approvals and permits handled by MIC, and keep Somerled informed
• Ensure timely communication of decisions, issues, and approvals between Somerled and its partners

Quality and Compliance: Standards, codes and design intent

• Monitor construction quality and adherence to design intent throughout
• Confirm the construction manager is coordinating inspections and that deficiencies are documented and resolved
• Confirm with MIC that code review is complete and regulatory requirements are met

Close-out & Turnover: Commissioning through occupancy

• Ensure the construction manager effectively manages project close-out, deficiency management, and commissioning
• Ensure delivery of as-builts, warranties, and O&M documentation
• Support transition to operations, leasing, or asset management

What we're looking for

• You engage early and stay ahead. In preconstruction before problems form, not writing reports after they surface. Proactive by instinct, not because you were asked.
• You build trust and challenge process. You keep trades, internal teams, and partners onside while holding everyone to schedule and budget. You push on the work, not the people.
• You read a site the way others read a room. You see what's progressing, what's stalling, and what's being concealed before anyone tells you.
• You represent the owner without overreaching. You make Somerled's position clear and fair, work through MIC and Dora rather than around them, and never burn the relationship.
• You're financially literate on project budgets. Cost control, contingency management, draw review, and investment-committee reporting are comfortable ground.
• You bring judgment, not just process. You keep the trains running on time and the team honest to milestones, and you know when to escalate without waiting to be told.

What you bring

• Degree or diploma in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related field
• 7+ years of progressive experience in construction management, project management, or owner's representation
• Experience across multi-residential, commercial, or mixed-use real estate development
• Strong working knowledge of CCDC contract forms (CCDC 2, 5A/5B, 17 or equivalent)
• Proven track record managing budgets, schedules, and multi-stakeholder environments
• Demonstrated ability to maintain objectivity within vertically integrated or related-party structures
• Experience representing ownership interests or working directly with developers is a significant asset
• Comfortable growing into broader scope as Somerled's pipeline scales.

What Somerled offers

• Report directly to the President, with real access, real influence, and decisions that land on the right desk
• Build the construction oversight function rather than inherit a rigid structure, a mandate, not just a title
• Entrepreneurial private developer culture with speed, trust, and genuine autonomy
• Active multi-residential pipeline across Nova Scotia, from Halifax to growing secondary and tertiary markets
• Broad exposure across the Macklan group, development, innovation, and construction management
• A sustained relationship with a single portfolio instead of project-to-project contractor churn
• A seat at the table for business decisions, investment-committee reporting, and transition to operations
• Room to grow with the organization as the pipeline scales over the next 12 to 24 months

Ready to Represent the Owner?

Let's start a confidential conversation. Hawthorne Recruitment is retained by Somerled Properties to conduct this search on an exclusive basis. All applications will be reviewed and responded to by the Hawthorne team. Somerled Properties is committed to building a diverse team and welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Accommodation is available throughout the recruitment process upon request.

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