Do I need a project manager for my new home or renovation project? Custom residential construction projects are by nature complex and often involve multiple stakeholders. We don’t think anyone can deny that our lives frequently get busier and busier; more demands are placed on us in this modern day with just the run-of-the-mill life admin. It doesn’t take much for the wheel to fall off the cart with a slight hiccup. So, throw a new home build or extensive renovation into the mix, and it wouldn’t take much to feel completely overwhelmed and stressed. Stealing the joy and excitement of building from you!
Entrusting your build to a project manager’s hands gives you confidence that the project won’t incur avoidable mishaps. Without it, you can quickly encounter untracked, overbudgeted costs, schedule blowouts and finishes that don’t match your brief.
Project management is where key differences lie with custom home builders. Some builders are equipped to manage your build professionally; others are playing the ultimate juggling act as the only person in the office at night, risking your budget and schedule.
You could hire an external agent to manage construction on your behalf. Still, often, this increases the risk of lost communication through multiple parties.
Should you pay extra for an independent project manager?
If your home construction is particularly complex, your builder has multiple large projects and does not work from the site; then this could be a smart move. Large construction companies with numerous ‘project homes’ or ‘kit homes’ under construction at any one time will have a person in a project manager’s role. This isn’t necessarily a project engineer as the complexity of their builds is low. Still, they recognise the importance of keeping their home builds on schedule and budget by a project manager.
If your builder works on site to understand every detail of your build and the company has project management professionals in the office. Then you’ve chosen the right team for your custom home construction, and you shouldn’t need an external project engineer.
We suggest you choose a building company resourced with the right people with project management qualifications to manage your project professionally.
Your custom home will be built efficiently with a project engineer in your team as any arising matters will be dealt with in consultation with all key stakeholders then and there, not waiting for the builder to squeeze time into their day or the next. Residential construction companies without project management rely only on the on-site builder, causing delays.
With the high-level oversight of a professional project manager, you know your dream build is in the right hands.
What does a residential project manager do?
Effective residential construction project management for you as the client means:
- Quality Assurance – A construction company with a project engineer will have processes to spot any hiccups from plans before they occur. On-site teams will often be too busy to check the practicality of plan details, or they are only employed to construct precisely to plan. They are ultimately affecting the quality of your build.
- Timely responses – No matter what detail you are after from your design and construction team, a single point of contact will provide timely and consistent responses.
- Astute contract administration – The contract governing your project must be efficiently and effectively administered, from communication, budget planning, invoices and variations identification and management.
- Detailed pricing & scheduling – Regardless of whether your project costing is preliminary, a construction estimate or an itemised quote, it should be clear what is and is not included. The price and schedule presentation will be professional and transparent when it has been developed by a building company with project management capabilities.
- Online site meetings – It shouldn’t be an issue if you can’t make it to the site; with today’s technology, meetings can take place from anywhere when you have a project engineer as your representative.
- Follow-ups – You should receive clear and concise summaries from site meetings between all stakeholders (Engineers, Architects, Interior Designers, Landscapers etc.)
- Front-end planning – Project engineers work with the construction team to order material well in advance to avoid supply chain issues and identify the best-priced quality materials.
- A constant presence on and off site – The last thing your dream build needs is a team of carpenters and sub-trades that aren’t being led effectively. This can quickly lead to poor finishes, missed details and variations. But, you also need that high-level oversight to plan and track budgets off-site for your project to progress efficiently. A company with project management capability in addition to the on-site builder can ensure both.
Book a building consultation with our team if you are researching how to manage your custom home build to the highest quality and without mishaps. We’re just one conversation from something amazing!
