From Wikipedia: A project manager is a professional in the field of project management.
Project Managers
have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a
project
,
in any undertaking that has a
defined
scope,
defined
start and a
defined
finish; regardless of industry.
That's my specialty. Well, one of them anyway! I love managing projects and dovetailing activities to a successful conclusion.
Obviously absentee home checks are our primary task, but we often do lots of projects, especially over the summers because our clients like to come back to something fresh and new.
Last time I told you that we have been doing a lot of fun projects this summer and I would like to share a couple of them because so often people ask us 'in what ways would I use you?'
So we just completed a project to redo two community restrooms. We took them down to the studs, literally. Then we redid the drywall, retextured and repainted and epoxied the floors.
Sidebar: I love epoxied floors! Nothing makes a garage seem more finished or stay cleaner than putting down a nice epoxy finish especially with colored flakes so it hides any imperfections! We've done them for quite a number of our clients!
Back to the restrooms - We added fan motion detectors, new light fixtures and new exhaust fans. We replaced all the doors both for the entry and for the storage room and we even did the roof repair!
After all that, we replaced all the plumbing fixtures (sinks, toilets, faucets etc), installed all new washroom dispensers (soap, toilet paper, paper towels etc) and finally we installed all new signage. Then voila! Brand new restrooms!
When you have a project like this, it is important to clearly understand what should come before what. In other words, how best to schedule services so they are completed in a logical sequence and an efficient manner.
In this case, it was demo, replace doors and repair studs as needed, electrical, drywall, paint, floors, plumbing and finally the installation of all the light fixtures, dispensers and signs. That seems logical but you'd be surprised how many people do not know how to dovetail activities so everything completes efficiently and on time.
Likewise we are in the middle of a casita remodel. This time we emptied the casita of all furniture, purchased much of the new furniture (in concert with client approval), replaced the carpet, repainted the entire place, replaced all the cabinet handles and bathroom fixtures, replaced the dinette chandelier, removed a built in armoire, made new drapes and moved all the new furniture in.
Earlier this year, we remodeled a billiards room that included a new pool table, flooring, paint, new artwork, new furniture and new window treatments.
We love doing these types of projects! It's fun, it's a challenge and our clients are always so happy!
You know, sometimes clients have existing projects but aren't here and would like an objective third party as a project manager. We do that too, monitoring progress, taking pictures of the work, acting as the eyes of the client.
So, as a project manager, what else is important besides dovetailing activities? Good project management includes schedules and budgets. We have to consider - In what time frame does the client want this project completed? What budget are we working within? In our case we bid all projects first, so it is usually our budget we're tracking.
Project management sounds easy but it isn't -- unless you have a knack for it. And when I say 'we' painted or installed new carpet or epoxied the floors; I mean our vendors because we use vendors for nearly all of this type of work.
Our vendors are all licensed and insured for the types of work they do and they name Executive Errands® additionally insured so our clients can rest assured they are protected. Furthermore, we've been working with most of our vendors for nearly a decade so we know the quality of their work and can use them with confidence.
If you have a project you'd like bid or if you have an existing project but need a project manager, we are always here at your convenience.
