Engaging a project manager to oversee your refurbishment can free up your valuable time so you can go and find the next project. Here are the key questions to ask them to get a feel for their practice and the services they offer so you can fit them to your project.
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK
As always, start with open questions to get them to talk about themselves and their business before you talk about your project.
“When did you start in this line of work and how long have you been doing it?”
This will get them to open up about what they do and how they got in to it, and you’ll be able to see their motivation and passion for their work. They may also tell you about their experience and any qualifications they’ve got, which will be really useful for you to establish if they are the right person for you.
If they have got qualifications then this is obviously a good thing, as it will show professionalism and that they take their position seriously enough to study for it. Look out for qualifications in surveying, such as RICS surveyor, and/or architectural qualifications.
Although, having qualifications isn’t strictly necessary, as you’ll be employing other qualified professionals such as structural engineers and architects too. It’s the project manager’s job to deliver the project on time and on budget and this means flagging up problems before they occur. A good PM will have done this many times before, and will delight in telling you all about their experience and expertise in this field.
“Tell me about your team and your office and your back up?”
You want to get a feel for how many people they work with. Do they work alone or do they have secretarial back up, in-house designers, builders or architects that they usually work with? How integrated a solution can they provide you? There’s nothing wrong with a one-man band, although it can be beneficial if they have some secretarial back up as well, to keep on top of all the critical paperwork.
If they can do all their paperwork promptly and efficiently then you’re less likely to get into problems with builders saying variations haven’t been totally nailed down and agreed in writing and that sort of thing.
“Who is your ideal client? And what is your ideal project?
Get them to talk about the sort of things they like doing and where they have been successful in the past. This will give you a good idea of the kinds of projects they’ve done before and will allow you to gauge their level of expertise to your particular project.
This will automatically lead onto the next question, which is, “Tell me about your last two projects.” It doesn’t matter if those projects aren’t exactly the same as yours, but it would be useful if there’s some overlap, as you know they’ll be competent to do it. If you’re converting a building into four or five flats, and the project manager is used to delivering supermarkets and multi-storey car parks, then obviously they’re not really the right project manager for you.
You’re probably looking for someone who has worked for a big construction company and has now branched out on their own.
They’ll have massive experience of contracts, site conditions, managing tradesmen and dealing with problems. You’re effectively employing them to overcome all the problems for you, so try to get some information about their problem solving abilities too.
PERSONALITY TRAITS TO LOOK OUT FOR
Look for your project manager to be:
• Organised
• Thorough
• Problem-solver
• People person
• Good communicator
• Efficient.
“What level of service do you provide?”
Are you just expecting them to oversee the builders on site, or do you want them to draw up contracts, draw up a specification, invite tenders from contractors and manage the budget? These are two very different roles and you need to be clear on what they can, and more importantly, can’t, provide.
It is always best to get them involved at the specification stage so they have input into the works going ahead. As they will have an opinion, so it pays to get it upfront, rather than further down the line, when changes will cost you money. Depending on the size of your project your specification may be drawn up by your architect, but you and the project manager will need some input on this too. So the earlier you can get them involved the better.
They can also help to provide the right level of information to enable the builder to provide accurate and detailed quotes, which will reduce the chance of any arguments, and any extras later on.
A GOOD PROJECT MANAGER WILL KNOW A LOT OF BUILDERS
When putting your spec out to tender, a good PM will be able to recommend a good team of builders to work with. They will probably have great relationships with a couple of really good builders who they know will do a good job for you. This is invaluable if you haven’t already got anyone lined up. And it’ll probably work better than finding a separate builder and forcing them to work together.
“What will you expect me to do during the project?”
You need to know from the beginning what your input will be throughout the project. Some project managers might want very little input from you, because you’ve sorted out all the specifications with them beforehand. Others might want a lot of input from you on a regular basis.
Will you be expected to attend site meetings? Or will you be happy to receive a report once a week?
Don’t forget, while you’re sizing them up to see if they’ll do a good job for you, they will also be weighing you up as a client to see how much hassle you’re going to be. They’ll be looking for someone who is good at communicating and can be decisive, as they will most likely have to contact you throughout the project to get quick decisions. If they have to wait a week for you to reply to an email then the whole project is going to grind to a halt, which nobody wants.
Are you decisive? Are you positive? Can you handle a few problems that are going to arise? Are you good to deal with? Are you responsive? This is what they’ll be looking for in you.
“What will the frequency of meetings be, and how much time will you spend on site?”
It’s up to them how they organise the site and the builders. It doesn’t make sense for them to be there every day, as they’ll just get in the way and put the builders off. But you should expect them to be on site at least once a week for a site visit, and then to pop in unannounced once or twice a week too, just to keep the tradesmen on their toes and ensure everything is running smoothly.
The builders will want to see them anyway to discuss any variations, and you will want to know that the communication between the builders and the project manager is effective.
Try to establish at the start that they’ll give you a weekly update. I recommend in writing, by email or minutes of the site meeting. Some people do it by video or taking photos. It’s up to you and the project manager to decide what method works best for you.
“Tell me about some recent successes and when you have saved money for your clients?”
A good project manager will have loads of examples of when they have been very efficient and have saved a client a lot of money, and they should be very happy to tell you all about it. Encourage them to boast a little bit. This is their chance to show off what they can do.
“There are several different project managers around, so why should I choose you?”
Put them on the spot a bit and get them to reiterate their strengths. You’re not looking for them to slag off their competition, but getting them to pitch for your business by giving some more positive reasons why you should choose them is always good to hear.
“Can I see a copy of your Professional Indemnity insurance?”
They need to have professional indemnity insurance (PI insurance), so if they do muck up with any professional advice they are covered and you could claim against their insurance company. Always ask to see a copy of this. You’re looking for enough cover to cover your project, so if your project is worth £500,000 and their cover is only for £50,000 then it’s not enough. Judge it in relation to the size of your particular project.
“What are your fees?”
Now you’ve got a feel for how they work and what service they provide, you can talk about your project and ask them how they would envisage charging for their services. Obviously they’re a professional, they need to be remunerated well, so don’t necessarily go for the cheapest because they are not necessarily the best.
They will talk about how they usually structure their fees and how they propose structuring fees for your project.
Some work on a time basis, which can be good if the project is quicker than envisaged, but that’s rare. It is more likely to get out of control if they have to do more than they were expecting, which then increases your costs. So this level of uncertainty can be uncomfortable especially when you have a tight budget.
Others work on a percentage of the build cost – usually between 8% and 12%. You might think that’s dangerous because they’re incentivised to increase the build cost and take a percentage of that higher figure, but it’s much more certain than working on a time basis, as you’ll agree a contract sum with the contractor, so can work out the PM’s fee from that. Obviously if there are some variations then the build costs might go up, in which case their fees would go up too. Just see how they want to work and compare that with the other couple of project managers you go and see.
A good PM will provide a written quotation, as well as their terms of business. And if you are using a JCT contract their role will be partly covered by that contract as a contract administrator.
“Can I talk to some of your previous clients to get some references?”
They should be very willing to give you phone numbers of two or three people who they’ve worked for before. Obviously they may have to check that it’s okay with those people for you to call, but they shouldn’t have any worries about giving out recent references. If they’ve had delighted clients in the past, then they’re almost always very willing to talk about it and share their positive experience.
“If I instructed you now, when could you start?”
You’re trying to find out here how available they are and how much lead time they need in order to fit you in. Have they got five or six projects at the moment that are going to last for two years and so they won’t be able to fit your project in? Sometimes that can be the case for a good PM.
If they’re totally snowed under with work, they may rush your job and not provide you with a particularly good service. The thing is if they’re good, they’ve probably got lots of work. If they’re bad, they probably haven’t got much. It’s a bit of a difficult one that you have to judge.
Because of this, it’s sometimes worth looking for a project manager before you actually need one. That way when the project comes along you can instruct them immediately.
ADVANTAGES OF GETTING A PROJECT MANAGER
Employing an experienced PM comes with plenty of advantages:
• Your project should run more smoothly, as the PM should be able to predict a problem before it happens as well as seeing things the builders may have overlooked.
• They should be adept at bringing a project in on budget. They should have good relationships with suppliers and know where to get the best products for the best prices.
• They know all the milestones to be able to deliver the project on time and will be able to tell if the builder is slipping behind schedule and be able to manage that to get it back on track.
• Their expertise should save you money.
• You are free to get going on the next project.
Ideally you want to get to the position where you are effectively the CEO, who has the vision, finds the projects and organises the funds, so you can just hand the keys over to your project manager and a building company and say, “Bring me some finished units back in six or nine months”. When you’re working like this, you’re the visionary in the middle with everybody reporting to you, which means you can run three or four projects at the same time. Then you will really scale your property investment development business enormously.
In summary, a good project manager should be more of an expert than you. They should be able to bring a project in cheaper and earlier than you can. They will free up your time to create your property business, and you’ll be able to scale it a lot better once you delegate that role.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Andrew
CONTACT DETAILS
andrew@featherstoneproperty.com
www.featherstoneproperty.co.uk
For free video guides for beginners and to shadow projects visit www.andrewfeatherstone.co.uk