Has anyone had experience in project managing home extensions/renovations?
I'm really trying to figure out if its worth project managing to save money.
Thanks
Home Extension and Renovations
niagraBozO on 19/06/2020 - 13:33
Comments
If you have the time, go for it. But if you were working instead of managing it, you'd probably come out in top.
do you like projects?
How extensive are the renovations? Is it a investment property or your primary home?
Money can be lost at multiple locations not just the direct work, and the thing with renos (and in my experience older houses), unless you tear down the wall to start with, you never know what's behind it or what other issues there may be.
Time = money too, such that any delays by your decision (while managing) could lead to other costs, but this is also true if you engaged a builder.
In my past renos, I gut the area myself and expose everything to better understand what needs to happen. This was when, however, I had more time and could easily work at the house until the early mornings of the day. Time = money such that I now pay someone to do the reno so I can spend more time with my family.
Its my primary home. I want to build an extension and convert a rumpus room into a master bedroom with ensuite. The renovation quotes vary by $100000. So I'm not sure where I stand.
Ask questions on why. Find out from previous customers what the builder was like…..good or bad at communication, project mgmt, hidden costs, satisfaction, headaches, did they finish the job, what was the defect list like at the end and did they fix all of them without too many headaches.
Also budget 10-20% overruns to any quotes. Unexpected things come up.
Does one quote include fittings, electrical, plumbing and the other ones doesnt.
It could be your paying for a better finished product, with tighter project management, completed in a shorter time and a strong communicator
If you haven’t done it before, you’ll screw something up for sure. Best case you’ll probably have to delay your tradies while they wait for materials or another trade to get to your job because you forgot to book them. Worst case, you’ll do some thing in the wrong order and need to go back and undo something very expensive.
You may need to get an owner builder certificate and insurance.
You will need to get an experienced ‘head’ tradie to manage parts of the project on your behalf, but you’ll be bearing all the risk, not your site supervisor. Finding someone to bear the burden of supervising without additional payment could be a problem.
Disclaimer: I haven’t project managed any building works, but have had works done by a builder and carried out major renovations DIY. I’ve also watched a lot of Grand Designs.
We have just been thru a major reno - gut and a redo. There is so much detail you need to know. Builders ans trades always take short cuts and will take advantage if you dont speak their language or know the detail.
If your renovating an existing dwelling they will find new issues daily. A good builder will work logically through the issues but if your not on site daily or manage the timeline things will be done to what they think is right. Which is probably different to your expectations.
Also make sure you have everything documented in the contract…what things are included vs not so you can easily review later.
Not saying all trades and builders are bad, just remember they are looking out for their self interest not yours. You pay them to do a job but you need to ensure they are doing what you contracted them for.
Also my biggest tip is a builder will bring in their trades and manage them best. If you bring in your trades you need to manage both. But trades will always blame another trade saying a mistake or an issue wasnt their fault but due to another trade. So you need to be able to cut thru the bulls..t.
We had a good certifier, engineer and architect that were external to the builder and i thought that helped balance out a lot.And go to your builder regularly every week and daily if needed. Getting a plan with timeline and strong communication helps make it an easier process.
Thanks everyone, I'll steer clear of project managing!
I dont think you will save money managing it yourself. Straight off the bat, if you dont know what you are talking about, you will get a major spread in your pricing and trades wont make the same allowances, putting alot of risk on you, because once a trade starts work it is unlikely you will be able to kick them off and find somebody to take over at the same price - they will charge you variations and you will have to pay them.
I am currently in the midst of building my Granny Flat with basic knowledge (Finance worker). Completed the owner builder course and I am almost finished with the project (Finishing stage) and expecting the budget to cost about 110k. I was quoted $135k. From my personal experience, if you're well organised and can handle problems, I think its worth to manage the project.
Wow, thanks for this Deezy88, didn't even know there was a course! How did you go about finding trades people?
I sourced majority of them from Serviceseeking.com.au
have you dealt with tradie before ?