Mike Hardwick looks at how to go about hiring a great team for your project

Whether you’re taking on a project manager, general builder or individual trades, putting good contracts in place will protect both your interests

As part of the design process, Nimtim Architects (www.nimtim.co.uk ) create handmade scale models of each scheme to help homeowners visualise the various possibilities for their project

FRENCH + TYE

In the simplest terms, project management encompasses the skills needed to produce a defined outcome (in this case a new house) within the constraints of the resources available (your budget) and within a certain timescale. The latter can be flexible, but usually manifests itself as “in the house before Christmas.”

We encounter project management in our day-to-day lives without giving it a second thought. Arranging a family holiday, planning a wedding and organising a party are all projects that we are happy to approach with little or no prior experience - and more often than not, we’re able to successfully deliver them with great success.

Building a house is no different. People have constructed homes for centuries. Quite a few builders and tradesmen know how to do it rather well because, for most projects, it’s not rocket science. Leaving aside oneoff conceptual designs and instead focusing on the typical houses that we might contemplate building for ourselves, the sequence of events is based on common sense.

The real art is in finding the right materials and sourcing the right people to do the job to the standard you require, for a price you can afford.

Should you use a professional?

A good project manager can save you some, most or even all of their fees by bringing greater efficiency to the site. By buying materials cannily (using access to their trade discounts), foreseeing and avoiding costly delays and minimising the need for rework, the build will be completed on time, on budget and with minimum fuss.

There are undoubtedly plenty of professional, independent project managers out there who can take dayto- day control of your build, but the clue is in the ‘professional’ bit. These specialists don’t come cheap (expect to pay around 15% of your build budget) and most self builders have finite funds, the majority of which needs to be allocated to the physical build by way of materials and labour.