If you don’t have hands-on experience hiring tradespeople — or the time and skills to project manage a site yourself — it’s worth thinking carefully before taking the direct labour route for a major extension or renovation.
A project manager on a build project of any kind, be that an extension, renovation or self build, is there to coordinate everything and to see that the project is completed on time, within budget and to the expected standards.
Coordinating a major extension or renovation means managing the various trades involved (builders, plumbers, electricians, roofers and so on) to work on each element of the job at the right time. In addition, a project manager must liaise with and organise suppliers and designers — for example the kitchen supplier, glazing supplier and flooring fitter.
They might also organise other essentials, such as skip hire and schedule deliveries of materials in such a way that they won’t cause delays or clash with one another.
To take on this role yourself, you really need to have some experience and knowledge of how building projects work. You need to be a natural organiser who knows how to run a good to-do list.
You’ll also need a head for numbers to avoid going way over budget and be good at negotiating. Confident negotiation skills will get you the best deals on materials as well as ironing out ‘misunderstandings’ between trades.
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