Project Management - Pro's and Cons

i want to hear the pro's and cons of using a team to Reno, i.e. Project managed?

I'm a handy person and can do almost all the things required in my reno's to a good standard. I work full time, but have a lot of time at work to strategise and analyse (i.e bludge!) i know i'de have to pay people but i really think my time would be better suited to managing the project and/or spend time analyzing the deals + reno's. Also the added benefit of not getting fatigued.

Has anyone hit this crossroad? Solutions?

 

Sounds like a good plan, if you can find the good deals and save money that way it is likely to be good $savings than what you'll save busting your but on the tools... depending on the Reno though

Having hands on knowledge you will be able to communicate with tradies and also understand any issues they come across.
You will pay a premium for the tradies but as long as your using them efficiently and for best value add work your time will be better spent looking for the next deal. Plus sourcing materials and appliances cheap is easy to do with your time at work.

Cons is the definitely the labour costs, and that is where you can save good $$. But I'd say you'll still want to get hands on for some tasks, I know I would have a hard time sitting back

Roughly if say your doing a kitchen, a comparable prop may be $20k more. You could contract the lot out for 15k, or you can project manage and save on the appliances and kitchen install and do it for 10k. If you went diy kitchen and install you might save another 2-3k but I think given what your trying to do you'll find a happy medium

 

@bob shovel yeah i agree with you 100%. i think i wouldn't stand back on some tasks and leave the 'annoying' ones to the trades+ focus on the deals themselves. Also the saving on appliances is a bonus.
I have the added benfit of my brother who does full house fitouts, kitchens, bathrooms for next to nothing (i still think he charges way too low - but i spose he gets a lot of business that way) and i could fly him into any city with a few tools and still save a heap of money.

Pro's vs Cons Summary so far:

So Pro's:
$$ saved finding better IP deals
$$ saved structuring / planning reno
$$ saved on appliances

Cons:
$$ of labour

I might have to make a list of the really 'annoying' fatigue , time consumung labour issues i personally have and i think i could get the best of both worlds

 

See this is the problem with being able to do stuff. You wind up with a stupidly long to do list.

I would gladly pay someone a reasonable amount of money to come and help me on a project. However I dont trust any of them. The people Ive had to pay to do stuff are the ones who have screwed up jobs at my house and I have to do double the work to fix the stuff ups.

Even a labourer would be helpful at my project but I dont trust them to not hurt themselves and then sue me.

But that fatigue I know all about that. Right now while I text this my thumb is shaking making it really hard to type because the muscle in my arm is so worn out from shifting 3.5 t of steel so far this week.

If youve got your brother that you trust to do a good job then id be jumping at that.

 

I guess it depends on your current time commitments, if you struggle to do it all yourself or are looking to take on more work, then start hiring people.

 

Exactly this!

Delegate where possible. The job won't be done perfectly, but it will actually get done!

 

Do you mean- analysing other deals in that spare time?
How much time do you think a reno will take?
We pretty much get in and out as quickly as possible (usually 5 weeks for a full reno). Yes fatigue sets in but if you get organised and get in and out quick it's OK. If it goes on much longer it's not fun.
I could not pay someone to rip out stuff and other stuff that anybody could do.
Things that require specialist knowledge, different story. It can sometimes take twice as long for you to do it yourself as opposed to paying a professional. You need to weigh up that.
If you got others to do it would you really spend the extra time doing the other things you mentioned? Are you doing them now? Will doing the reno stop you from doing that?

 

We didn't have much choice, we are in Melbourne and settled on a house in Brisbane at the end of November. Initially we were just going to get a painter through and new carpet but the BA passed the details of a project manager to us.

She went through the whole place, made a hit list of must-do's and nice-to-do's, ball park estimated everything and gave us a fixed fee for her services, we decide what to do on the list, (basically everything), paid her deposit and she set to work booking the trades in and finalizing all quotes.

She sourced all materials and trades and no additional mark up on anything.

She was amazing, en e-mail update every night and photo's of that days work dropped into a shared Dropbox folder. Finished about $5k under budget and a week ahead of schedule.

Works included removal of an internal wall, repair of leaking plumbing and fixing all water damage, paint over all tiled areas, new shower screens and mirror robe doors, new toilet suite, all new tap ware, door & cupboard handles and blinds throughout, air con installed, new range hood and painting all the kitchen cabinets (they were dark blue and black originally), shower wall replaced and re-tiled and MegaSealed walls & shower base, patched up all walls and sagging ceilings and a full paint job including laundry trough and laundry floor. New front door, new tiles entry landing and new carpet throughout. Pressure cleaned all outdoor areas, sorted out the jungle of a garden and installed a new side-gate.

Very VERY happy, she was an incredibly hard worker, not just in terms of running the job but she wasn't scared to get her hands dirty and chop in with the tradies too.

The work was finished yesterday and is getting photographed for the advertising this morning.

I'm planning on doing a full write up with costings etc for the forum at some point as it is quite interesting and is a good case study for interstate investors looking to remote renovate.

Here are her before & after photo's she sent me last night.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/132245753@N05/29e381

 

@Propagate great Reno! Keen to see the details and more info. Also the pm that liked after it. I wouldn't mind getting into that sort of work

 

Thanks @bob shovel I'll definitely do a proper thread on it once I get the last lot of photo's through.

 

@Travelbug

I find too many times that if i am using my brain more than my physical skills i tend to make more money. I.e. if i sat in the air-con longer and alaysed specifics of a deal/reno/tax/materials/financials etc etc , i find i have found money elsewhere 'on paper'. Meanwhile joe blow labourer is sweating his ass off doing the labour side of the reno. At the moment its a mixture, but i often wonder (after its already happened) "what i sat down even longer and looked at alternatives?" i.e. deal/reno/tax/materials/financials etc etc.

its the bottom line that counts, and lots of aspects to a 'reno deal' which has made me raise the Question.

@Propagate awesome pics and can't wait to read and see more pics on your one!

 

@Propagate you used megaseal. We have a leaking shower. And our PM suggesting using Megaseal. Was their diagnosis of the problem accurate and did it work well. and what made you go this method rather than redoing the shower? (ie ive read some people on reviews found megaseal last some time, but not long.

 

To be honest, I can't remember why we went with them. I'd guess it was the most cost effective option at the time.

Seemed to have done the trick for the moment, but it was only a year or so ago.