Planning & Construction Advisory Services
Proven Expertise in Pre-Construction & Project Controls
YA Group’s Planning & Construction Advisory Services is nationally recognized for providing pre-construction and construction controls, with core expertise in cost estimating, scheduling, and integrated design and constructability reviews. Since 1976, our experts have earned a trusted reputation for delivering accurate estimates, reliable schedules, and strategic insights from concept through execution. Our advisory solutions help clients align scope, schedule, and budget from the earliest phases of planning through project delivery.
Strategic Guidance from Concept to Completion
YA Group blends technical precision with practical execution, empowering owners, design teams, and construction managers to navigate complexity and make confident, informed decisions. Our multidisciplinary team of construction experts, architects, engineers, and certified estimating professionals provides independent guidance that ensures complete alignment of project controls. Through proactive communication, aligned partnerships, and a commitment to excellence, we deliver data-driven intelligence that transforms vision into reality.
Data-Driven Insights for Confident Decision-Making
Our goal is to provide clarity, accuracy, and actionable insight across every stage of the project lifecycle. We excel in cost modeling, scheduling analysis, and constructability review during planning and conceptual phases, leveraging a proprietary, regionally calibrated cost database and benchmarked schedule data refined through trade-specific bid results, vendor input, and labor market trends. This foundation enables robust early-phase cost and schedule intelligence for design option testing, feasibility evaluation, and transparent scenario planning.
AIA Continuing Education Provider
YA Group is an accredited provider of AIA continuing education courses, offering industry-leading training in cost estimating, scheduling, constructability, and project controls for design and construction professionals.
Nationwide Impact with Localized Expertise
We serve a diverse client base across public and private sectors, including federal agencies, municipalities, healthcare systems, higher education institutions, K-12 districts, cultural organizations, and private developers. Our professionals collaborate with owners, architects, engineers, and contractors to reduce risk, enhance alignment, and ensure delivery excellence from pre-design through closeout.
With a nationwide presence supported by localized market knowledge and discipline-specific expertise, YA Group adapts to projects ranging from targeted renovations to multi-billion-dollar, multi-phased capital programs. Our scalable advisory model delivers measurable value regardless of geography, size, or delivery method, ensuring solutions that are cost-effective, context-specific, and aligned with each client’s goals and constraints.
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Estimating Services
YA Group provides independent construction cost estimating services grounded in decades of hands-on experience across diverse project types and market sectors. While capable of supporting projects from inception through completion, our greatest value lies in delivering objective, reliable cost intelligence during planning and design. These services support budgeting, scope development, pro forma analysis, and ensure stakeholder alignment from the outset.
Our estimating methodology is structured around three core drivers: project goals, regional market dynamics, and the unique challenges of design and construction. This approach, coupled with the field-tested experience of our team, enables us to assess projects from multiple perspectives and produce accurate, market-informed estimates.
YA Group’s proprietary cost database reflects both lagging and leading indicators, ensuring regional relevance and forward-looking accuracy. Continuously refined through trade-specific bid results, subcontractor feedback, vendor input, Department of Labor data, and commodity trend analysis, our database allows us to anticipate market shifts and provide proactive guidance throughout design development.
Clients trust YA Group for our deep understanding of labor markets, independent positioning, responsiveness, and consistent senior-level involvement. Our team brings broad technical expertise that allows us to handle any scale of estimating, regardless of size or complexity, while providing valuable synergy with the design team in scope definition and trade space evaluation. At every phase, our goal is to deliver confidence in scope-budget alignment.
We support cost modeling and value engineering from early programming through construction documents, evolving from conceptual cost-per-square-foot estimates to detailed CSI-based breakdowns as designs mature. This iterative approach helps owners and design teams evaluate options, establish cost boundaries, and make informed decisions aligned with project goals. We emphasize transparency and clarity, accounting for general conditions, overhead, profit, escalation, phasing premiums, and other below-the-line considerations.
By delivering robust, regionally tuned, and constructability-aware cost estimates, YA Group is more than a consultant; we are a strategic partner driving value throughout the development process.
Scheduling Services
YA Group delivers comprehensive scheduling and delay services that integrate seamlessly with our cost estimating expertise, recognizing the critical link between time and cost on every project. Our schedulers support both planning and execution phases, developing detailed, reliable schedules using industry-standard platforms such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, enhanced with Schedule Validator to validate and improve schedule quality. This precision provides stakeholders with clear visibility into milestones, dependencies, and the critical path forward.
We view scheduling as a strategic planning tool, not just a reporting exercise. Our team evaluates internal and external constraints, defines key milestones, and highlights the activities most influential to overall completion. The result is a realistic and achievable schedule, aligned with broader project goals. We also produce cost- and resource-loaded schedules, providing an integrated view of time, budget, and resource allocation that supports proactive decision-making and progress tracking.
Our services are particularly valuable during preconstruction, where clarity around sequencing, phasing, and durations reduces risk and informs procurement strategies, design deliverables, and contractor expectations. In the field, we provide ongoing monitoring, expediting, and project oversight to help ensure work remains on track.
In addition, YA Group offers robust delay and forensic scheduling services. Our experts bring deep backgrounds in construction, engineering, and scheduling to analyze delays and disruptions, assess impacts from insured incidents, and establish reasonable restoration periods for affected facilities. We specialize in Builder’s Risk, Delay in Start-Up (DSU), and Business Interruption (BI) claims, as well as litigation support, expert testimony, and transparent delay analysis to help clients resolve disputes and maintain project momentum.
Whether developing baseline schedules, monitoring complex multi-phase programs, fast-tracking renovations, or evaluating delays midstream, YA Group provides clarity, accountability, and confidence. By aligning scope, sequence, and schedule, we help clients navigate uncertainty, minimize risk, and deliver projects on time and within budget.
Constructability Reviews
A Group delivers high-impact Interdisciplinary Design and Constructability reviews that enhance project outcomes by identifying risks and opportunities early in the design process. Our team is comprised of professionals with deep and varied experience across the architecture, engineering, and construction industries, including Licensed Professional Engineers, Project Managers, and former Tradesmen. This diversity ensures that each review is informed by a broad, real-world perspective, enabling our team to anticipate and flag potential issues before bid documents are finalized.
At the heart of our approach is the pursuit of project harmony, a state in which the Owner, design team, and contractors are fully aligned in scope, cost, and execution strategy. Our scalable review process can be customized to meet the needs of each project and client, ranging from high-level assessments of drawing quality to in-depth constructability analyses, value engineering efforts, and targeted recommendations for cost and schedule optimization.
YA Group’s unique market insight, shaped by the development of thousands of estimates annually and access to current bid results, enables us to recognize design oversights that may lead to construction challenges or increased costs. We not only identify issues but also offer actionable solutions, including alternative design approaches and practical frameworks for implementing quality assurance during construction.
Recognizing the accelerated timelines common in today’s projects, our early engagement allows design teams to minimize RFIs, reduce construction administration demands, and maintain momentum during construction. These proactive reviews lead to measurable benefits across the project team:
- More competitive / tightly grouped bid results
- Reduced construction admin effort and cost
- Fewer change orders and field issues
- Enhanced collaboration with subcontractors
- Support for less experienced designers
- Greater value for the Owner by reducing risk premiums
- Identification of code-related concerns before permitting
- Expedited review through Authorities Having Jurisdiction
Through our Integrated Design & Constructability Review services, YA Group not only protects project budgets and schedules but strengthens the alignment of all stakeholders—serving as a trusted advisor, committed to building project success from the ground up.
Owner's Representation
YA Group’s deep experience collaborating with Owners, Architects, Engineers, and Contractors across hundreds of projects has shaped a proven approach to delivering on time and on budget. Our owner’s representative services are built on a foundation of cost estimating, design coordination, and strategic planning, enabling us to guide projects from concept through construction. We support owners in selecting and managing design teams, aligning final designs with budget and schedule goals, and ensuring stakeholder collaboration. From pre-construction through execution, our holistic project management approach sets each project up for success.