Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 06, 2007 12:00 am As posted in an earlier thread (http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=2848), we are in final negotiations with two builders for our first custom home building experince - Hooray!
Given the scale of our project ($700k+) and the fact that we have no building experience, we are are considering hiring a Project Manager to oversee the more technical aspects of our construction. At this stage, we are leaning toward a medium-to-large custom builder who have built many good quality homes. They take on quite a few jobs at a time and we want to make sure someone is on top of them on the detail. Our home also have a fairly big site cut so there is some complexity involved with retaining walls, waterproofing, etc. We don't want a PM out on site a couple of times a week checking up on every little detail, however I would feel more comfortable having someone reviewing the major stages of construction beyond the manditory the Building Surveyors checks. Our Architect does provide project management services however given how busy he has been since completing our drawings and the fact that he takes ages to get back to us, we thought we should look elsewhere. A few questions I have are: 1) What are people's general experince with getting PM's to work between buyers and builders? 2) How do you position this with the builder without starting out on the wrong foot with them? 3) What sort of costs could I expect to pay for such a service? Do they get payed by the hour? 4) Where do I find such a person? Is this a service Building Surveyor's could/should provide? Greatly appreciate your insight on this topic! Re: Thinking of hiring a Project Manager for custom home? 2Aug 07, 2007 2:52 pm Hi Mr Ed,
We are also considering trying to get some QA inspections at the various stages of construction conducted and have been looking on the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors website (www.aibs.com.au) and using their Find A Building Surveyor service. The other alternative is getting the architect to do the contract adminstration of the project however depending on the budget the use of a QA service may be more cost effective. From the research which I have conducted so far QA Inspection service reports are charged based on a fixed fee per report and cover each of the major stages of construction. Just out of curiousity which custom builder did you end up selecting. Regards Novice Builder Re: Thinking of hiring a Project Manager for custom home? 3Aug 07, 2007 3:01 pm My advice - Don't use the arcitect.
You need very different types of skill sets in a PM I've seen 2 projects go awol for this very reason and another went awol because the PM only visited site 5 times for a $400K wine shed. So whoever you choose, grill them hard on their ability to PM a difficult project such as yours. Ask for references, project status etc. Good PM's are hard to find and expensive but they are worth the $$. You might find a freelance contractor who can work on your project, but be careful they do not take on more work than they can really manage. Good luck. Steve Re: Thinking of hiring a Project Manager for custom home? 4Aug 07, 2007 6:23 pm I’m unaware of personal PMs. That’s not to say they don’t exist!
Good luck finding one…… you will pay dearly for them though. I charge a percent of the overall project cost, you can expect to pay somewhere between, 10% to 20 % of the project maybe more depending on who you get. I agree with Steve……DON’T GET THE ARCHITECT TO DO IT! They charge an arm and a leg! Might be in your interest to offer the builder a bit more in his hand $$$$$ to project manage…..after all only they know what is next to happen onsite more than anyone else. This way it should get done properly……..just a thought. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Thinking of hiring a Project Manager for custom home? 5Aug 07, 2007 7:18 pm Thank-you all for your valuable advice!
I agree with the approach of not asking my architect. He is so flat chat at the moment that I highly doubt that he would have the bandwidth to dedicate the time required for such a complex project. Furthermore, although he has proven himself to be a good/creative architect, his time management skills leave much to be desired - to Yak's point, a good architect doesn't necessarily make a good PM! Building Surveyor's make an obvious choice, they understand the building regulations intimately, work in favour of the buyer (since they are payed by them!) and have probably seen enough jobs gone wrong over their time to pick where the problems are likely to be. My builder has committed to assigning a Project Manager to overlook our project, however I was looking to getting someone who was independent. Michelle, although I understand it is common for many architects and PM's to be payed based on a percentage of the project costs, I fundamentally disagree on this method on principle. Firstly, I find this system rather unfair for a buyer. If I decide to make a minor, yet expensive addition to my plans (ie. change floor tiles from $30/m2 to$90/m2) , why should they get payed any more if it doesn't necessarily require more work? The first architect we began working with was payed on 12% of the project costs. We found his 'know-it-all' approach to be anti-consultative and his knowledge rather lacking in certain areas. Instead we changed architects (luckily, early in the process) who was excellent creatively, understood the town planning issues of our council and best yet, worked on a fixed price based on an agreed set of deliverables. In my experience with dealing with 'consultants' in my own industry (IT), paying exorbitant costs doesn't guarantee a better or safer result. Just my two cents? If anyone has any recommendations for a good PM in Melbourne, would love to know. Regards, Mr Ed Re: Thinking of hiring a Project Manager for custom home? 6Jul 09, 2010 11:30 am Hi Mr Ed I know this a 3 year old forum topic but I was wondering if you got a project manager in the end ? we are about to build and have been told it is a good idea. I believe it would be good to get one independent of the builder but wonder how you go about finding one. Hope you can help. Suzanne If you need to pay for a project manager you would be well advised to just engage a builder who would take full responsibility for the build. As opposed to you OB where… 5 15083 isn't a garage level with the rest of the house a given? pretty sure they 'came around' long time ago. if you have a flat block, the garage is usually level with the rest… 1 17525 Hi all, Been browsing project builders' website and saw Masterton with attached granny flat design Seeing bad reviews from masterton in this website/facebook, does… 0 18301 |