What an employer's agent actually does on a design-and-build project
On a JCT Design and Build contract, the employer's agent is the client's representative on site. Here is what the role covers, and where it earns its fee.
If you are procuring a building under a JCT Design and Build contract, you will be asked, fairly early, to appoint an employer’s agent. The title is a little opaque, and clients often arrive at the first meeting unsure what they are paying for. This is a short, plain answer.
The short version
The employer’s agent represents you — the client, or “employer” in contract language — once the contractor has taken on responsibility for both design and construction. The contractor runs the work; the employer’s agent makes sure they run it to the contract you signed, and that you only pay for what you actually get.
It is an administrative and protective role rather than a design one. You are not buying creative input at this stage. You are buying someone who reads the contract carefully and applies it evenly.
What the role covers
In practice, the work falls into a few areas.
Administering the contract
The contract sets out a process for almost everything that can happen on site — instructions, variations, payments, extensions of time. The employer’s agent operates that process: issuing instructions in the correct form, keeping records, and making the decisions the contract reserves to the client’s side.
Certifying payment
The contractor applies for payment, usually monthly. The employer’s agent assesses each application against the work genuinely completed and the contract sum, then issues a payment notice for the right amount. This is where a careful agent quietly pays for themselves: an application is not the same as an entitlement.
Managing change
Almost no project finishes exactly as drawn. When something changes, the employer’s agent values it, records it, and makes sure its effect on cost and programme is agreed before it disappears into the general churn of the job.
Inspecting progress and quality
The agent visits site, checks that the work matches the employer’s requirements, and raises issues while they are still cheap to fix. They do not supplant the contractor’s own quality control, but they keep an independent eye on it.
Completion and defects
At the end, the employer’s agent decides whether the building has reached practical completion, manages the list of outstanding items, and oversees the defects period that follows.
Where it earns its fee
The value of the role is rarely visible on a good day. It shows up on the difficult ones.
A well-run design-and-build contract can feel almost uneventful from the client’s seat — which is the point. The employer’s agent absorbs a great deal of routine friction, and is there with the contract in hand when something is genuinely disputed. The cost of getting that wrong, on a project of any size, dwarfs the fee.
If you are weighing up a design-and-build route and want to understand how the role would work on your scheme, we are happy to talk it through.