Frequently Asked Questions

Lighthouse CMC is a boutique construction management consultancy based in Concord, California. We provide project leadership, on-call consulting, and leadership development for clients across the building industry. Our tagline is "Practical Project Delivery."

Melissa Cherry is the Founder and Principal. She has 30 years in construction, most recently as Assistant Director of Project Delivery at UCSF, where she led a team of 14. She recently retired from UCSF to start her own consultancy.

We're based in Concord, California, and serve clients throughout the Bay Area and Northern California.

Lighthouse CMC is a boutique practice. That means you work directly with Melissa.

Three service lines: Project Leadership & Owner's Representation, On-Call Consulting, and Lighthouse Leadership Philosophy Engagements.

An owner's rep represents your interests on a construction project — managing the design and construction teams, controlling scope, schedule, and budget, and making sure what gets built is what you asked for. You have a business to run; we run the project.

It's Melissa's framework for building teams that actually deliver, drawn from three decades of running projects and departments. Engagements range from workshops to ongoing advisory work with construction leadership.

Not every situation needs a full engagement. On-Call Consulting is for when you need experienced judgment on a specific problem — a project that's stalled, a dispute that needs analysis, a decision you want a second opinion on, or a team that isn't working. You get Melissa's time without a long-term commitment.

No. We don't build and we don't design. We represent the client — which means we're on your side of the table, with no conflict of interest.

Anyone in the building industry with a project that isn't going the way it should. Owners who need someone on their side of the table. Architects caught between an owner and a contractor. Contractors dealing with owners, designers, or subs. Thirty years on every side of that table means we understand what each party is actually trying to accomplish — and where the real problem usually is, which is rarely where people think it is.

No. Owner's representation is one service line, but On-Call Consulting is open to anyone on the project. If you're an architect, a contractor, or a sub with a situation that's stuck, that's exactly the kind of call to make. We don't take conflicting engagements on the same project — whoever calls first is who we represent.

We work across a range. The better question is complexity — the more challenging the project, the better the fit.

Thirty years on every side of the table: contractor, division manager, and owner-side leadership at a major institution. Melissa's strengths are reducing complexity, building teams, building consensus, troubleshooting, and forensic analysis.

That's often when we're most useful. Troubleshooting stalled or troubled projects is core to what we do.

It depends on the engagement. We work hourly, on a percentage of project cost, on a fixed fee, or a hybrid. Melissa will walk you through what fits your project on an intro call.

Our standard consulting rate is $236 per hour. Longer engagements are often structured differently.

Let's talk. I'm happy to visit the site or review the plans, or sit in on a meeting at no charge. Every project is challenging in its own way. Let's have a look.

Depends on current commitments, but as a boutique practice we can typically move faster than a large firm. Melissa will give you a straight answer on the intro call.

Melissa can be reached at melissa@lighthousecmc.com or (925) 678-5827. More information is at lighthousecmc.com.