A construction project manager, or building project manager – at least the definition we employ – is someone who finds and co-ordinates individual tradesmen to carry out a given building project.
It is very difficult to show definitively how much money a project manager can save as the same project is not built twice in order to conduct an accurate calculation, but we have some evidence to show that savings of 10% can be expected.
Clients are not always sure which contract route they would like to take:
Perhaps they would like, in principal, to use one builder but are not sure if they can afford it, or alternatively, they like the idea of going directly to tradesmen but are not sure that it will really be any cheaper.
In these circumstances it’s advisable to tender to both routes, and then evaluate the returns and demonstrate the cost difference between them.
Typically, this involves agreeing a tender list with the client. For these types of projects, the next step would be to agree a list of builder names and then to go on to list out all the operations on site (e.g. groundwork, electrics, plumbing, roofing, carpentry etc) and ask two or three tradesmen to price each of these packages. Tender prices are then balanced to check they are on a like-for-like basis and the findings reported to the client.
Invariably, the builder price is generally 15% higher than the trades’ price, which means a net saving to the client of around 10%.
External estimators may also be used to gauge the cost of a job for a client before it goes out to tender.
On a recent project the estimator gave some very interesting statistics. He priced a job as follows:
| Contract route | Price |
| Builder | £10,7628.43 |
| Shell by builder, fit out by trades. | £9,5131.08 |
| All by trades | £8,5860.06 |
Again this gives a net saving to the client of about 10%.
If you would like to find out more about the role of project manger and determine if you really need one, you might be interested in the following articles:
What Is Construction Project Manager?
3 Scenarios When You Should Consider Building Project Management
Alternatively, please visit our website to find out how we can make your project happen including green building, cost control, contract administration and project management.
