Colony Construction Management
uses years of boots-on-the-ground experience to represent commercial real estate developers around the country throughout the design, construction, and closeout process of multifamily, industrial, self storage, adaptive reuse, and upfit projects.
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We act as your strategic advocate and project manager from day one, coordinating between architects, engineers, consultants and the development team to ensure the design aligns with your budget and timeline. We review SD, DD and CD sets for constructability issues and scope gaps, and manage value engineering efforts without compromising the quality of your development. Throughout the design process, we keep the team organized and operating like a well oiled machine while providing real time cost and schedule feedback.
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We leverage our extensive construction background and hands-on experience to serve as your on-site advocate and technical expert. We oversee the general contractor to ensure the work is executed according to the contract documents, schedule, and budget. With our decades of field knowledge, we identify issues before they become costly, push for creative solutions, and verify that critical details are installed correctly the first time. We manage pay apps, change orders, RFIs, and submittals while keeping communication transparent and proactive. With a deep understanding of construction, we maintain accountability, protect your interests, and drive the project toward a timely, high quality completion and a smooth handoff to operations.
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We ensure the project is truly complete and ready for occupancy by managing punch lists, final inspections, commissioning, and documentation to verify that everything works as intended and no details were overlooked. We secure all warranties, as-builts, manuals and permits while resolving the final issues with the contractor and guiding your operations team through training and turnover.
“Our team has worked with Colony on two ground up multifamily development projects in Charlotte. Both projects presented the design and construction teams with considerable challenges typical of mid-rise development in an urban environment. Colony has been instrumental in helping both the design and construction teams come up with creative solutions throughout the predevelopment and construction process that has significantly improved efficiency and saved costs throughout the project along with producing excellent, attractive, and easy to read reporting tailored to the needs and interests of the ownership team. Unlike other construction management firms, Colony is not just there to ask questions and keep the team honest, they have the knowledge and skillset to be solution-oriented and on multiple instances have helped our general contractor through issues with the subcontractors and local building inspectors.”
Mason Ellerbe | Partner, Abacus Capital
“We worked with Colony Construction Management to build out our new corporate headquarters and are extremely pleased with the final product. They managed our project with great interest and care on every detail. Communication was excellent throughout the entire project and there were no surprises in the scope of work or final billing. The quality of their work and management of all subcontractors was excellent. We as a company would highly recommend Colony Construction Management to anyone for any project. Thank you for making our ideas for a new space on paper turn to reality in a very successful partnership.”
Jason Brafford | CFO, Lightserve
“Colony Construction Management has been a fantastic partner to work with as a builder. Their team has great knowledge and understanding of the overall construction and development process and a team mindset where they can see issues through multiple lenses. We have been able to count on them to help us quickly and smoothly navigate situations that arise with the owner, design team, and multiple third party entities. They can balance the need to provide the support necessary to create a strong team dynamic while still representing the owner’s best interests on a project, and we would enjoy any opportunity to work with Colony in the future.”
Josh McConaughey | Vice President - Commercial Group, JE Dunn Construction
“I cannot speak highly enough about the exceptional construction management services provided by Colony Construction Management for our climate-controlled storage facilities. From the outset, their team demonstrated a remarkable blend of expertise, knowledge, and understanding of the self storage construction cost and process. They have navigated the complexities of the design and construction process with finesse, ensuring our facility not only met by exceeded industry standards. Colony Construction Management’s commitment to transparent communication and problem-solving made the entire experience seamless and highly satisfying. I wholeheartedly recommend them for any construction project.”
Brody Glenn | Owner, Centennial American Properties
Our Team
Ryan Derrick
Partner
As Construction Manager, Ryan is responsible for overseeing all construction-related activities. In this role, Ryan is responsible for pre-construction pricing, budget optimization, day-to-day management of capital improvement projects, and the overall execution of the firm’s value enhancing initiatives.
Prior to joining Colony, Ryan was a project manager and oversaw the Charlotte region for a leading institutional general contractor. In addition to the Charlotte region, Ryan also completed many other projects across the US. Ryan is a graduate of North Carolina State University where he majored in Civil Engineering and Business and brings over 15 years of experience in the construction industry. Ryan serves on the Trustee’s and Building comittees at Thrift Methodist Church and enjoys coaching soccer and spending time outdoors with his family. Ryan holds his General Contractor’s License in NC and SC.
Drew Smith, PE
Drew Smith joined Colony Commercial in 2021 as a Construction Manager, where he oversees the execution of projects from design through construction. Drew is responsible for preconstruction activities, including design and value engineering reviews, as well as the firm’s day-to-day management of clients’ capital improvement projects.
Before joining Colony Commercial, Drew worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 12 years in three different districts, which included Savannah, Germany and New York City. Drew has a broad range of experience managing a multitude of military, marine, ground-up construction and renovation/adaptive reuse projects. In addition to managing construction, Drew ran the Army Corps Value Engineering Program for several years.
Drew graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS in Civil Engineering and later earned a Master of Building Construction from Auburn University. Additionally, Drew is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina and Georgia.
Construction Manager
Lauren Shirley
Senior Construction Manager
As a Construction Manager, Lauren’s primary focus is on multifamily construction while also assisting in the management of Colony Commercial’s upfit projects. Lauren's early involvement is concentrated on design coordination and efficiency review. Her day-to-day participation for active projects includes management of financials, schedule, and personnel coordination. Her client-focused efforts remain consistent through construction completion and project turnover.
Before joining Colony Commercial, Lauren worked as a Construction Administration Manager for a Commercial Architect in Charlotte, NC. Her primary roles were to enforce the Contract Documents and act as a liaison between the General Contractor, Ownership, and the Architecture teams. Her main focus was Multifamily and Senior Living projects across the Southeast.
Lauren graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Civil Engineering and a focus in Construction Management.
Senior Construction Manager
As a Construction Manager, Sam’s main focus is on multifamily construction while also assisting in Colony Commercial’s adaptive reuse projects. Sam is involved in the early stages of design where he assists with design optimization and constructability, and then handles the day-to-day management of the multifamily projects.
Before joining Colony Commercial, Sam worked for a Civil Engineering firm in Charlotte, NC for 3 years where he assisted on multifamily, office, retail, and mixed-use projects all around the city. Prior to working as a Civil Engineer, Sam worked for a Structural Engineering firm in Raleigh, NC doing residential structural design and inspections.
Sam graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS in Civil Engineering and is a licensed engineer in North Carolina.