Do you have the necessary experience to complete your project?
How much do you value your time and could it be better spent on other things in your life?
Do you have the relevant contacts to complete a successful project?
All relevant questions you should ask yourself at the start of your project. Early on in my career I made the mistake of taking it all on by myself and I learned the hard way. A relatively small project I did could have been much more straight forward and stress free so I employed a project manager for my next development and not only was the stress removed but I learnt from a professional, passionate person who I remain on contact with today. A good project manager has all of the personal qualities required to complete a successful project including patience, focus and resourcefulness but who also understands the complexities and issues that are often associated with residential projects.
Key traits of a good project manager you should look for include:
1. Technical competence; 2. Excellent people and communication skills; 3. Resourceful, excellent problem solving skills
4. Self-disciplined
5. An ability to see the big picture and recognise “the wood for the trees”.
6. Pride in their work and a sense of humour!
Good Project Management
The first thing a project manager needs to do is LISTEN. What is the project, why are you doing it, what are your timelines, what is the goal and critically to understand the “project triangle”; the tension between cost, time and quality.
The Role Of The Project Manager
The Project Manager will oversee all aspects as required including;
Pre-start Prep
Tender of costs, organisation of contractors, inspections, preparation of a building contract to include payment and work schedules.
Quality Assurance
As part of the quality assurance on your development, a project manager conducts ongoing evaluations of all the relevant trades as they work on your site to ensure quality at every stage of the project. They will also ensure that the builder adheres to the specifications which form part of the building contract.
Cost & Time Management
Weekly summary of costs vs budgets, sign-off of completed works at key stages, verification of payment requests vs works completed, organisation of contractors and materials, weekly progress reports and much more ......time is money and delays on your project can prove stressful and very costly.
It never ceases to surprise me how many people completely underestimate the time and work involved even in a small project. There is a multitude of people doing tasks that are dependent upon others completing their tasks, dependent on materials arriving on time which means constant coordination and crystal clear communication is absolutely critical.
That is why it is highly advisable to engage the services of a qualified project manager as part of your team.
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