5 Ways a Professional Project Management Makes Remodeling Projects Better

If you don’t care how long your project takes or how much money is wasted then this post is not for you.

But if you’re like most of us you need your project done as quickly as possible, with few mistakes, delays or added costs as possible. That is where professional project management play a big role.

Don’t All Remodeling Companies Have Project Manager?

Unfortunately no. A lot of remodeling contractors don’t hire project managers and instead rely on their sub contractors to work things out on thier own. The contractor will visit the job site occassionally but not enough to keep things running as smoothly as they should.

There are a few of reason for this:

• They don’t want the overhead costs and risk of having extra employees
• They don’t value project management and don’t understand the benefits to their clients
• They don’t have good systems in place to allow a project manager to succeed.

One of the things a project manager does is make sure the jobsite stays clean, organized and safe your family (including pets) 

5 Things a Professional Project Manager Should Do

A project manger should be on site every day making sure things are being built to plan and things are on time and on budget.

1. Communicate With You Daily

• • The Schedule – who to expect and when
  • Progress & any changes to the schedule
  • Questions or concerns

Having strangers working in your home every day is stressful. That stress is made a lot worse when they show up unexpectedly or you have concerns and are not sure who to ask.

Your project manager is there to be a single point of contact for any questions or concerns you have. They take care of the day to day running of the project so you can relax focus on what you have to do in your own life.

Our project managers send at least 3 updates each day via our online project portal

• • First thing in the morning outlinign what to expect today
  • Mid day while they are on site outlining progress (including pictures)
  • At the end of the day recapping what was completed and the plan for tomorrow

2. Review Plans & SOW with the Designer and Installers

Your project manager should work hand in hand with the designer on the project so they can understand the vision and can provide the right guidance to the installers and sub contractors on site.

We keep a hard case folder with all the plans and specification for a project on site and they are available digitally to all our trade partners.

But even with that information readily available a project manager still reviews everything with them daily. There are a lot of small details that are hard to capture in plans and often small changes are needed due to job site conditions.

3. Qualtiy Control Inspections

If your project is permited the city or county will due regular inspections. But those inspection are for meeting minimal code requirements only.

Your project manager should be on site every day inspecting the work and making sure it meets the higher standard set by you and your contractor.

They should also schedule periodic walkthoughs with you and the designer to review the work together and answer and questions.

They should keep a running checklist of all items that need addressing and get them taking care of quickly.

We call this our “completion list” and it’s updated twice daily. Any items on the list are taking care of within 5 working days.

4. Keep The Jobsite Clean, Organized and Safe

Keeping your home clean and safe is in the Scope of work description of every sub contrator on site for our projects.

Still, you need someone visiting the job site every day, holding people accountable and doing a deep clean / restetting jobsite protection regularly.

5. Predict and Trouble Shoot Problems In Advance

Mediocre project managers show up every day and react to whatever is happenning.

Great project managers spend time reviewing things every day and look for potential conflicts or issues that could affect progress so they can create alternative plans and be ready if things to go wrong.

Project management does not come naturally to most people. It takes some special talent but also specfic training to be really good at it. 

What Does it Take to Be a Great Project Manager?

Most contractors or tradesmen to make good project managers. The skills you develop swinging and hammer are different from the ones you need to supervise a project.

Our project managers undergo extensive training both internally and by attending outside training.

There are a few skills every project manager must have:

1. Planning

Planning is greatly undervalued in residential remodeling. Most contractors feeling is things are too unpredicatble to plan so they would rather show up and “figure it out” as it happens.

A great project manager should spend several hours a day reviewing project details in the office, double checking dimensions, orders and schedules to watch out for any potential issues.

2. Communication

The abilty to write and speak clearly is also undervalued in construction. There is a lot of jargon used and everyone uses different terms for the same thing. Jack studs for example are also commonly called trimmer studs or cripple studs.

Clients needs clear regular communcation and subs need clear descriptions of the work to be done.

3. Construction Knowledge and High Standards

Lots of guys have construction knowledge but they also have a “that’s good enough” attitude.

A great project manager has a deep knowledge of contruction, is staying uyp to date on new codes and techniques and has a high quality standard and attention to detail.

4. Conflict Management

The abilty to manage people witih different personalities and different goals is critical when dealing with clients and trade partners.