Owner’s representation and project management in industrial construction

Clarity beats complexity.

We represent mid-sized industrial and family-owned companies as the building owner. From site selection to commissioning, in Germany, the USA and worldwide.

Discuss your project International projects

> 250 € million: project volume currently under management
15+ years: of experience in national and international industrial projects
Europe + USA: Projects in Germany, elsewhere in the EU and in the USA

Projektleiterin mit Schutzhelm und clary.ON-Weste in einer Industriehalle

The situation

Your plant is growing.
Your construction team isn’t.

The occasion

A new plant or an expansion. The project will shape the future of your company. You have no construction department of your own, or only a small one.

The pressure

The construction project runs alongside day-to-day business. Often the head of production takes on project management on top of operations and team. Planners and contractors bring their own interests. Without the time or know-how to review their proposals, you soon end up only reacting.

Our approach

Someone on your side of the table. We lead your external project partners from your perspective, whether planners, authorities or contractors. We put options in context, ask critical questions, make risks understandable and prepare decisions. Your project owner keeps the overview and gains time for production.

Where are you right now?

We’re planning a new plant Our project is on fire We’re building internationally

Services

We take on your role as the building owner.

We lead the project on the owner’s side. From strategic support in early phases and targeted individual reviews to managing critical project situations.

At the core · Responsibility on the client side

Owner’s representation

No construction department of your own. The project runs alongside day-to-day business.

We take on the owner’s role at your side. Your team keeps the decision and gets it prepared and on the table.

Frequently asked questions

Do we then have to coordinate yet another party?

No. We bundle topics, talk to planners and contractors and only bring you the decisions that really lie with you. In short: you coordinate less, because we take over coordinating the parties involved.

How do we keep track while running our core business at the same time?

You get a clear project overview instead of many individual messages: what has been decided, what is pending and by when. We pull everything together and provide structured reporting.

The general planner wants decisions that are only possible after our production equipment has been awarded. What now?

We clarify which decisions are really needed now and which can wait. Where necessary, we make sensible assumptions with you so the project moves forward, and represent them to the planner.

Ein Mitarbeiter steht am Besprechungstisch und erklärt, drei Kolleginnen und Kollegen hören zu

At the core · Leading complex construction projects

Project management and control

Many parties, many interfaces. Every decision affects investment and operations.

We lead your project, control cost, schedule and quality, and report deviations while there is still time to correct course efficiently.

Frequently asked questions

We have a construction department, but more projects than staff. Can you take over project management temporarily?

Yes. We then work embedded in your organisation, with your processes and contacts.

How do you make sure decisions get made when many parties are involved?

With clear responsibilities, fixed decision dates and regular personal exchange.

Join from the start. Or when things are on fire.

From the start

Early clarity for investment decisions

We clarify site and feasibility questions, review existing studies and develop first foundations on use, cost, schedule and risk. From the outset, we think consistently in terms of industrial construction, not just architecture.

Result: a transparent and robust basis for deciding whether, and under which conditions, to pursue the project.

We have a feasibility study by a local architect. Does it take the requirements of an industrial building into account?

We review the study from the perspective of your operations and the requirements of an industrial building. We show where it holds and where it doesn’t, check costs and make risks transparent.

Is our budget robust?

We disclose the assumptions it is based on and which of them still need to be verified.

How realistic is our schedule, for example with a permitting procedure under the German Federal Immission Control Act?

We assess the schedule against the permitting steps your project actually requires. If needed, we bring in experts for scheduling and BImSchG procedures.

What should we clarify before management and shareholders decide?

We name the open questions and the next steps so the decision is made on a clear basis. The focus is on a viable, future-proof concept, the costs and the schedule up to market launch (time-to-market).

Midway

Independent review and quality assurance

We review studies, designs, technical concepts and bids, question assumptions and make risks visible.

Result: you know which foundations hold, where rework is needed and which decision is due.

Can you join when a study, design or bid already exists?

Yes, that is exactly what this service is for. We determine where the project really stands and agree the starting points together with you.

How do we know whether figures on cost, schedule and quality are reliable?

We examine the assumptions behind them and state what is substantiated and what isn’t.

What do we receive after the review?

A clear assessment as the basis for your next decision.

When things are on fire

Stability in critical project phases

If a key person drops out or decisions stall, we temporarily take over management tasks, clarify responsibilities and structure the next steps.

Result: a clear picture of the urgent problems, named owners and a plan that gets the project running reliably again.

Can you step in at short notice if our project manager drops out?

Yes. Depending on project size and available capacity, we will find a suitable solution together.

How do you quickly get a reliable overview?

We start by talking to the parties involved and reviewing the documents that show the current status.

Do you take over management permanently?

For as long as you and we see added value in it for your project.

International project preparation

Building internationally?

We describe your project so that local partners can reliably build on it, whether elsewhere in the EU or in the USA.

Go to International

Blick durch eine Glasscheibe auf eine Besprechung am großen Tisch

For general planners and architecture firms

Leadership capacity for large industrial projects

Have you taken on a large or industrial project? We reinforce your team temporarily in project organisation, leadership and processes, with experience from the management level of a general planner.

Also for

Project developers
Family offices
Industrial groups
Logistics real estate
Data centres
Hospitals

How we work

Responsibility, not administration.

Lists, deadlines and reports are part of the job. What matters is who raises problems early, makes decisions possible and moves the project forward in the owner’s interest.

Site and feasibility

We clarify what your operation needs and check whether site, budget and schedule fit.

Early clarity
Planning and review

We review designs and bids from your point of view and prepare the decisions that are due now.

Independent review
Execution

We lead the parties involved, keep quality, cost and schedule in view and are on site when it counts.

Project management
Commissioning

We support your project until handover to operations, so the building works the way you need it to.

Owner’s representation

Attitude before method.

The same method can speed a project up. Or block a team.

When a project stalls, the method often gets changed. Usually the problem lies elsewhere.

»This isn’t a method problem. It’s a leadership problem.«

Benedikt Gondolf · Erfahrungsaustausch Industriebau 2026

That’s why we rely on personal contact, at the on-site kick-off and in regular jour fixe meetings.

Study

80 %

efficiency gain in teams with psychological safety and a culture of trust

Source: Google Project Aristotle; Amy C. Edmondson, Harvard Business School

Network

»My aim is to have a solution for 99.9 % of the challenges our clients face. Either we support them ourselves, or we bring in someone from our network.«

Benedikt Gondolf · Founder and CEO

Where specialist knowledge is needed, we draw on a network of planners, specialist engineers and industrial partners, in Germany and abroad. Your point of contact stays the same.

International

Building internationally.
With clear requirements.

Whether elsewhere in the EU, in the USA or in other markets: we lead your project on the owner’s side there too. Local questions are clarified with partners from our network.

Clear requirements. Together with your teams at home and abroad, we define what the building has to deliver, in the form local partners need.
The right partners. We help select local planners and contractors and lead them from your perspective.
Overview from afar. In Germany, you always know where your project stands.

Example: USA

In the USA, a single partner often designs and builds.

That makes it all the more important to agree your requirements clearly. Together with you, we develop the Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR), find the right partner and support the execution. Currently, for example, for a new warehouse at an existing production site in Indiana.

Building in the USA

Team

The people behind your project.

For years we experienced industrial projects from the perspective of general planning, site management and project controlling. Today we are on the owner’s side.

Our mission

We enable you to make better decisions and bring your project reliably to its goal.

With structure, clarity and leadership. So that quality, cost and time stay in balance.

Founder and CEO

Benedikt Gondolf

Benedikt is your central point of contact. He advises across all service areas and supports strategic questions and important project decisions. An architect with a master’s degree in Industrial Real Estate Management, he brings more than 15 years of experience with national and international industrial projects, above all for the food industry. It matters to him to raise difficult issues early and openly and to take responsibility.

since 10/2025Founder and CEO, CLARY.ON GmbH
2022–09/2025Chief Operating Officer, Kohlbecker Gesamtplan GmbH
2017–09/2025Head of the Cologne office, member of the management board, Kohlbecker Gesamtplan GmbH
since 2017Lecturer at the University of Stuttgart
2014–2016M.Sc. Industrial Real Estate Management
2010Dipl.-Ing. Architecture, KIT

Project experience from previous positions: new plants and plant expansions for manufacturers in the food and automotive industries in Germany, the USA and China, including numerous projects with construction volumes from €100 million to over €600 million.

Benedikt on LinkedIn

Talks and teaching

Lecturer at the University of Stuttgart since 2017
Erfahrungsaustausch Industriebau, 2025 and 2026
GLCI, Frankfurt 2024, and GLCI 2021
European Battery Gigafactory Summit, Berlin 2023

»What I value about Benedikt Gondolf as a speaker is the combination of many years of experience in industrial construction and a view beyond purely technical topics. Whether sustainable gigafactory planning or the human factor in an increasingly digital construction world: he manages to connect relevant future topics with concrete experience from project practice and to get to the point in an understandable way.«

Tim Woltering · Key Account Manager Industrial Construction, Sika

Senior Architect / Project Manager

Roger Adaime

Leads early project phases, develops concepts and works out owner’s requirements. Architect with a master’s degree in Construction and Real Estate Management, more than 20 years of projects in various countries.

Working across disciplines and borders shapes his work.

Construction and Project Manager

Amelie Stawinoga

Represents owner’s tasks directly on site: tracks the work of the parties involved, coordinates open issues and brings questions from the site into your decisions. Experience in site management at a general planner and at an architecture firm in the USA.

Direct, open, reliable: she raises issues and follows up on what has been agreed.

Financial Controller

Andreas Raupp

Contact for commercial questions, invoicing and the status of project figures. Previously project controller and team lead in project controlling at a general planner.

Figures should help to understand the status and make good decisions.

Chief Culture, Communications & People Officer

Jennifer Gondolf

Responsible for communications, culture and people, and the first point of contact for applicants. Background in business psychology, recruiting and coaching.

Approachable and clear, from the very first conversation.

Projects and voices

What owners say.

Visualisierung der neuen Großbäckerei in Erlensee mit langgestreckter Produktionshalle

Visualisation of the new plant in Erlensee, as of July 2026

Reference · HARRY-BROT

New plant Erlensee

Together with the REWE Group, HARRY-BROT is building a new large-scale bakery with eight baking lines in Erlensee. CLARY.ON works on the owner’s side for HARRY-BROT.

Investment: > €200 million
Production hall: approx. 390 × 150 m
Start of production: Q2 2028
Our role: Owner’s representation and independent review

Industrial construction experience

Stahlbau eines Hochregallagers vor Himmel

Careers

Responsibility from day one.

With us, you lead projects instead of just assisting. Decisions are made quickly, and you help build a young company.

Ownership. You are responsible for your projects.
Short paths. Decisions without detours through hierarchies.
100 % remote, deliberately personal. We work location-independently and meet on purpose: at kick-offs, in regular jour fixe meetings and at team workshops and events.

Open position

Senior Project Manager / Consultant (m/f/d) Industrial Construction

You lead industrial construction projects on the owner’s side, not in the classic way along work stages, but with clarity, structure and smart decision-making ability.

Full-time or part-time · remote-first · projects in Germany and abroad

View position

Your contact

Jennifer Gondolf

Applications to bewerbung@clary-on.de, Questions to jennifer.gondolf@clary-on.de

Zwei Kolleginnen lachen im Gespräch am Besprechungstisch

Contact

Tell us about your project.

A few sentences are enough. You will receive a reply within 48 hours.

Your contact

Benedikt Gondolf

Founder and CEO

Prefer to book a meeting right away

Owner’s representation and project management in industrial construction

Your plant is growing.Your construction team isn’t.

We take on your role as the building owner.

Owner’s representation

Project management and control

Early clarity for investment decisions

Independent review and quality assurance

Stability in critical project phases

Building internationally?

Leadership capacity for large industrial projects

Responsibility, not administration.

Building internationally.With clear requirements.

In the USA, a single partner often designs and builds.

The people behind your project.

Benedikt Gondolf

Roger Adaime

Amelie Stawinoga

Andreas Raupp

Jennifer Gondolf

What owners say.

New plant Erlensee

Responsibility from day one.

Tell us about your project.

Your plant is growing.
Your construction team isn’t.

Building internationally.
With clear requirements.