OpenExamsFREE PRACTICE — ANY EXAM

Gold Seal Certification – Owner’s Construction Manager Exam — Information & Free Practice

100 free questions · Answer explanations · No signup required

Start free practice →

Exam Review

About Gold Seal Certification – Owner’s Construction Manager Exam

Gold Seal Certification – Owner’s Construction Manager Exam · CA

Key exam facts

Provider
Canadian Construction Association (CCA), through its Gold Seal Certification Program, owns and administers the designation examination; no separate exam owner or delivery vendor is identified in the reviewed official information.
Format
Online multiple-choice, written from the applicant’s home or office via the Gold Seal exam portal; randomized questions and answers. Experience-based knowledge examination.
Exam questions
Total questions: 180.
Time limit
3.5 hours for the Owner’s Construction Manager exam; approved accommodations may include additional time. Exam opens at noon Eastern time.
Passing score
70% and above; official passing mark is a percentage, not a scaled score.
Exam fee
Canadian program exam registration: $150 plus applicable taxes, effective January 1, 2026. Rewrite: $150 plus applicable taxes per current exam page. Separate enrollment ($490) and GSC application ($115) fees are additional; the FAQ and June 2024 guide still show older fees.

Topics covered

  • RELATED MANAGEMENT SKILLS

    • Communicate clearly and ethically
    • Produce written correspondence and reports
    • Make oral presentations
    • Conduct activities in a professional and ethical manner
    • Maintain good relations with stakeholders
    • Competently use computer software packages
    • Respect and comply with the owner’s policies and procedures
    • Understand levels of authority
    • Respect client confidentiality
    • Establish and maintain project communication protocol
    • Develop and/or implement a communications or public relations plan
    • Understand and apply dispute resolution mechanisms
    • Understand local labour agreements of construction trades and suppliers
    • Know role of provincial labour relations board
    • Understand employment standards
    • Understand how to negotiate contracts ethically
    • Identify and equitably resolve potential conflicts involving stakeholders
    • Understand arbitration and mediation processes
    • Understand purpose and impacts of litigation
    • Understand dispute resolution process according to CCDC 40
    • Conduct productive meetings
    • Establish a meeting agenda
    • Recognize the purpose and intent of the meeting
    • Know how to take accurate minutes
    • Schedule and conduct meetings
    • Allow all parties involved to discuss all relevant issues
    • Introduce all project stakeholders
    • Distribute meeting minutes in time frame as agreed upon
    • Understand legal documents implications of meeting minutes
    • Recommend the employing or termination of project team members
    • Understand legal responsibilities of the employer and the employee
    • Know interrelationships between the various parties involved in a construction project
    • Assess technical qualifications, education, work attitudes, and suitability of applicants
    • Review performance of the team
    • Understand employee rights
    • Manage owner’s project team
    • Lead project team
    • Recommend team members
    • Motivate team and maintain morale
    • Identify strengths and weaknesses of team members
    • Recommend professional development for team members
    • Establish roles and responsibilities matrix
    • Establish process for controlling internal documents
    • Understand transmittal documents
    • Understand filing practices
    • Understand management and control of documents and communication processes
    • Understand implications of improperly kept documents and records
    • Manage project documents
    • Keep current with trends in the industry
    • Understand current estimating practices
    • Understand and keep current on economic and business environment
    • Keep current with all applicable legislation, regulation and codes
    • Understand building information models (BIM), computer-based schedule programs, web-based file management and information systems and other engineering and construction technology tools

  • PROJECT PLANNING

    • Prepare a business case
    • Understand statement of requirements
    • Understand project risks and prepare and recommend and manage mitigation
    • Understand tender documents
    • Prepare options in response to the statement of requirements
    • Understand and model the project charter
    • Analyze owner needs and functional operations
    • Analyze capital, life cycle, operations and maintenance impact of scope options
    • Assess contract delivery options best suited for the project
    • Present multiyear analysis to produce the best long-term case
    • Prepare business case
    • Prepare project plan
    • Develop statement of requirements
    • Establish defined scope of work
    • Select delivery method
    • Define tendering process
    • Evaluate tender
    • Obtain approval for scope, budget and schedule
    • Prepare work breakdown structure, sequence of activities, project schedule, project cost and resources schedule
    • Prepare a project budget
    • Complete financial forecast for project
    • Understand components of a budget
    • Prepare construction estimate
    • Understand importance of budgeting
    • Identify soft costs that impact the project
    • Assess cash flow requirements
    • Assess multiyear budget
    • Prepare project budget and construction estimate
    • Understand all municipal by-laws and requirements that could impact budget
    • Develop a project schedule
    • Understand critical path process
    • Understand resource levelling throughout project
    • Identify key milestones
    • Schedule financing, design, construction and turn over activities
    • Know project deliverables
    • Understand project sequencing
    • Understand project methodology
    • Implement a budget control system
    • Know budget and schedule constraints
    • Analyze contract size and complexity, critical construction operations and contractual requirements for reporting costs/progress
    • Identify cost overruns and take corrective action to mitigate
    • Maintain accurate estimate for project duration
    • Determine reasons for budget variance
    • Analyze costs of risks and update regularly throughout project
    • Identify cash allowances and contingencies and manage throughout duration of project
    • Perform cash flow analysis, review with owner and manage throughout duration of project
    • Develop financial management plan with owners’ finance team
    • Understand cost code formatting of a budget
    • Know importance of appropriate level of detail within a budget
    • Develop and manage payment schedules
    • Know discretionary and mandatory provincial holdback provisions within the contract
    • Understand owner’s accounting procedures
    • Review progress invoicing, invoicing from owner suppliers and advise owner of payment
    • Manage selection process for consultants
    • Develop scope of work for consultants
    • Negotiate scope of work and cost with consultant
    • Understand methods for selecting consultants
    • Evaluate proposals based on scope of work and cost for the owner and make recommendations to owner
    • Develop the selection criteria
    • Develop consultant agreements and execute with owner
    • Understand errors and omissions insurance requirements
    • Manage design process
    • Monitor and control design progress
    • Coordinate consultant with the user group
    • Monitor and control the design schedule
    • Conduct regular review of consultant design to confirm to owner intentions and adherence to the program
    • Implement value analysis
    • Understand the duties of the prime consultant
    • Prepare construction documents
    • Know hierarchy in contract documents
    • Ensure tender documents are drafted fairly and equitably
    • Know drawings and specifications at all phases of the design and construction process
    • Know environmental impacts and owners’ and contractors' obligations to local and provincial authorities
    • Ensure tender documents include the owners project specific requirements
    • Ensure integration of owner supplied equipment and services with the project construction schedule
    • Identify submittal requirements
    • Assess impact on budget and schedule resulting from consultant errors or omissions
    • Mitigate risks associated with potential liabilities
    • Ensure owners’ interests are protected against potential legal liability
    • Ensure bid documents equitably address risk management and risk transfer
    • Know contract law with respect to the owner, consultants and contractor
    • Detect discrepancies, ambiguities, omissions in contract documents
    • Establish commissioning requirements
    • Know commissioning requirements and procedures
    • Ensure scopes of work for the commissioning process and procedures are defined
    • Ensure commissioning requirements are captured in the tender documents
    • Manage selection process for contractor
    • Develop scope of work for contractor
    • Manage tender process including addenda responses and site visits
    • Understand tender and request for proposal processes
    • Assess contractor suitability
    • Evaluate tenders based on compliance with bid documents
    • Know tendering laws in Canada
    • Know requirements for bid security
    • Perform engineering and design studies
    • Know requirements for or perform the tasks of an engineering or design study
    • Manage land development study
    • Develop a land use analysis
    • Analyze development studies and land use studies and report to owner
    • Ensure all owner and contractor insurance and contract securities are in place
    • Understand contract requirements for insurances
    • Ensure contractor has required project insurance
    • Understand labour and material bonds
    • Understand performance bonds
    • Understand the conditions under which to “call a bond"
    • Understand forms of contract securities
    • Assess client's risk exposure
    • Provide advice and consultation on project design
    • Understand common construction design and methodology
    • Know and compare commonly used products and materials
    • Direct and facilitate expertise of consultants throughout the analysis
    • Understand value engineering
    • Develop scope of work for consultants and contractors
    • Manage selection process for owner supplied services and equipment
    • Develop owner’s supplied services and/or equipment list
    • Develop scope of work, for owners’ supplied services and/or equipment
    • Tender owner’s supplied services and/or equipment
    • Select and negotiate with successful bidder
    • Negotiate long-term owner maintenance contracts
    • Organize and schedule delivery of owner’s supplied services and/or equipment
    • Coordinate services with consultant and contractor
    • Manage delivery and placement of owner’s supplied services and/or equipment
    • Issue and confirm purchase orders for owner’s supplied services and/or equipment
    • Understand applicable taxes, customs duties, brokerage fees and typical discounts
    • Understand onsite and offsite handling technique
    • Understand current methods of procurement
    • Organize and chair owner’s preconstruction meeting
    • Organize and schedule owner’s preconstruction meeting
    • Know who is to attend
    • Create and distribute the meeting agenda
    • Know the items to be included on the owner’s preconstruction meeting agenda
    • Introduce and review the project charter
    • Chair the meeting
    • Distribute the minutes
    • Review project testing and inspection requirements
    • Know testing and testing requirements to be included in the contract documents
    • Identify systems that require specific testing and inspection
    • Understand procedures for inspections/testing
    • Know regulatory required testing and inspection
    • Know how and when to engage the use of a third-party testing agencies
    • Manage site-specific planning and approvals
    • Understand municipal site plan approval process
    • Engage municipal authority to create support for the project
    • Identify studies and reports that are required for site plan approval
    • Identify provincial permits or other approvals that will be required
    • Understand owner’s rights throughout the site plan approval process
    • Represent owners’ interests throughout the site plan approval process
    • Understand impact of changes required by the site plan approval process on cost and schedule
    • Understand municipal planning bylaws and zoning
    • Understand municipal planning bylaws and zoning
    • Coordinate work with urban/land planning consultants
    • Understand potential environmental impacts on the community
    • Understand jurisdiction of provincial authorities
    • Maintain good relationships with public and municipal authorities
    • Maintain good relationships with local municipal authorities
    • Maintain good relationships with local community
    • Organize and facilitate town hall meetings
    • Understand and accommodate local needs and requirements
    • Maintain good relationships with local municipal councilors
    • Understand legal considerations impacting project
    • Coordinate with legal counsel in the preparation of leasing, land purchasing and selling documentation
    • Understand contract law and legal implications of the scope of work for entire project
    • Understand legal requirements and implications of buying and selling land/property including deeds and real estate transactions
    • Understand legal and cost implications of leasing properties prior to site plan approval
    • Assemble and manage owner’s project team
    • Understand roles and responsibilities required for the owner’s project team
    • Develop and maintain reporting structure for the owner’s project team
    • Directly hire, or participate, in hiring of owner’s project team
    • Manage owner’s project team for duration of project

  • CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

    • Manage service and equipment contracts
    • Know statutory regulations governing “constructor”
    • Know statutory regulations governing “owner”
    • Receive, review and process shop drawings for owner supplied services and equipment
    • Manage delivery schedules
    • Ensure required permits are in place for owner supplied services and equipment
    • Ensure project permits are in place
    • Understand federal and provincial regulations and municipal bylaws impacting construction
    • Identify permit requirements
    • Understand permit application and review process
    • Ensure required permits are obtained
    • Understand owner’s commitments
    • Review permit status with consultants and contractor prior to and during construction
    • Ensure a quality control process is implemented
    • Understand damage claims
    • Understand quality control procedures
    • Ensure inspection of custom-made materials at place of manufacture, and materials when delivered on site
    • Ensure contractor has a quality control process in place
    • Observe quality of construction installations
    • Review contractor and consultant quality review reports
    • Ensure that all nonconforming works is rectified and accepted by the consultants
    • Ensure a safety program and a site-specific safety plan is in place
    • Understand health and safety legislation and obligations
    • Understand owner’s safety policy
    • Know the contractual safety requirements
    • Ensure safety responsibilities are assigned
    • Develop a safety monitoring policy for the project
    • Understand good safety practices
    • Know the accident investigation and reporting procedures
    • Understand liability issues
    • Receive and review contractor safety reports
    • Receive and review all provincial authority’s safety reports
    • Ensure that all safety infractions have been rectified
    • Know owners’ rights when contractor continuously violates provincial safety regulations
    • Develop and/or know the owners’ publicity policy for critical accidents on site
    • Ensure required testing and inspection is conducted
    • Know testing requirements included in contract documents
    • Understand procedures for inspections/testing
    • Receive, review and monitor testing and inspection reports
    • Ensure rectification of failed systems
    • Create scope of work, issue request for quotations, review quotations and issue purchase order for 3rd party testing companies
    • Manage construction claims process
    • Know contractual responsibilities of all project parties
    • Maintain written records (including photographs of all potential claim situations
    • Analyze impact on the schedule and costs
    • Mitigate potential claims
    • Identify potential claims
    • Understand claim process and role of all stakeholders
    • Ensure all claims are resolved
    • Identify when to involve legal counsel
    • Maintain accurate and continuous record keeping
    • Represent owner in all claim situations
    • Understand claims resolution procedures for outlined in the contract
    • Manage contract documents
    • Review and identify work that is not specified in contract documents
    • Manage project queries log request for information system
    • Manage contract change management system
    • Propose changes as required
    • Report potential changes and including impacts to owner
    • Assess validity of potential change to contract
    • Document reasons for all changes
    • Understand purpose of a supplemental instruction
    • Understand purpose of a contemplated change
    • Understand purpose of a change order
    • Understand purpose of a change directive
    • Manage project invoicing
    • Understand invoice approval and payment process
    • Implement the contract terms and conditions for payment
    • Review completed work and deliveries and compare to invoice
    • Maintain purchasing records
    • Review and recommend payment of invoices to owner
    • Maintain financial records including changes to contracts
    • Manage submittal process
    • Know the procedures for expediting, preparation, delivery and approval of submittals
    • Understand purpose of submittals
    • Understand how submittals are tied to construction schedule
    • Understand role of consultant in the review of submittals
    • Understand responsibilities of the contractor in reviewing and providing submittals
    • Understand importance of a submittal schedule
    • Consult with and advise consultant regarding the materials and assemblies will require submittals
    • Understand value of shop drawings and mock-ups
    • Manage liens process
    • Understand provincial lien legislation
    • Ensure contractor responsibility to "bond off" the lien are contained in the contract
    • Understand owner’s obligation to pay progress payments in a lien situation
    • Understand owner’s obligation to retain mandatory holdback
    • Search property title for liens before payment is released
    • Understand impact of liens on receiving funds from lenders
    • Monitor sustainability initiatives
    • Understand project sustainability strategy
    • Maintain required documentation
    • Review, track and report on sustainability requirements
    • Manage progress of work throughout project
    • Understand contract documents and required deliverables
    • Ensure contract documents are administered fairly and equitably
    • Know contractual relationships between the parties
    • Encourage, support and model maintain cooperative positive working relationships
    • Ensure submittal of required documentation
    • Ensure consultant field review reports are completed
    • Maintain records of construction progress
    • Determine items to be included in the owner schedule updates
    • Monitor quality of work
    • Understand methods for measuring construction in place
    • Monitor construction schedule to determine if there are slippages
    • Report construction progress and project financials to owner
    • Ensure consultants are meeting contractual obligations
    • Develop mitigation/recovery strategy

  • PROJECT CLOSEOUT

    • Manage closeout and turnover of the work alongside the consultants and contractor
    • Ensure all contract deliverables have been completed
    • Ensure all project documentation has been received and reviewed
    • Attend turn over meeting with contractor and consultants
    • Participate in transfer procedures required for commissioning
    • Understand impact of partial completion
    • Manage deficiency resolution process
    • Manage and participate in deficiency inspections with consultants
    • Know current electronic formats for managing deficiency review and approval
    • Ensure contractor has provided deficiency list prior to owner/consultant inspections
    • Review all work completed under contract
    • Review list of deficient and incomplete work and confirm cost to complete the work
    • Retain sufficient funds from progress payments to ensure completion of outstanding or deficient work
    • Understand use and constraints of mandatory legislated holdback
    • Understand contractual process for owner to complete or rectify the work if the contractor fails to do so
    • Understand acceptable parameters for reviewing deficiencies
    • Support consultant, contractor and authorities having jurisdiction through the occupancy process
    • Provide all owner information required for occupancy
    • Ensure consultants provide required letters for municipal authorities
    • Ensure authorities having jurisdiction have deemed the project acceptable for occupancy
    • Ensure utility companies have been notified of building ownership
    • Ensure insurance company has been notified
    • Support consultant and contractor through the substantial performance process
    • Understand difference between qualitative and quantitative observations
    • Know provincially legislated terms and conditions for achieving substantial performance
    • Assist consultant in determining if substantial performance has been achieved
    • Know all required contractual deliverables for substantial performance
    • Ensure appropriate provincially required certification of substantial performance has been issued to the contractor
    • Know significance of the issuance date of substantial performance or the date that the certificate of substantial performance is published
    • Obtain payments certificate and conformity letter
    • Coordinate and organize training of facility maintenance staff with contractor
    • Observe, track, report, advise and coordinate the closeout and turnover of the work alongside the consultants and contractor
    • Review, reconcile and release all final payments
    • Review holdback invoices and release holdback monies
    • Know contract requirements for release of final payments
    • Reconcile all financial accounts
    • Understand deficiency holdback procedure with respect to work outstanding
    • Understand statutory lien holdback procedures and obligations
    • Understand who and why searches on the property title for liens are required before payment is released
    • Ensure letter of completion is prepared and issued
    • Ensure all outstanding claims are resolved
    • Manage and resolve liens that are placed on the property
    • Ensure that the contractor warranty program is in place
    • Ensure building staff are following the warranty program when issues arise
    • Know warranty responsibility of stakeholders

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

What is the exam format?

Online multiple-choice, written from the applicant’s home or office via the Gold Seal exam portal; randomized questions and answers. Experience-based knowledge examination.

How many questions are on the exam?

Total questions: 180.

How long is the exam?

3.5 hours for the Owner’s Construction Manager exam; approved accommodations may include additional time. Exam opens at noon Eastern time.

What is the passing score?

70% and above; official passing mark is a percentage, not a scaled score.

How much does the exam cost?

Canadian program exam registration: $150 plus applicable taxes, effective January 1, 2026. Rewrite: $150 plus applicable taxes per current exam page. Separate enrollment ($490) and GSC application ($115) fees are additional; the FAQ and June 2024 guide still show older fees.

Official sources and references

Confirm current exam arrangements with the exam provider.