Anyone Project Managed their own extension

[DaisyMooSteiner]

We're planning an extension, have had drawings done, got planning permission etc so just in the process of starting to get quotes.

We really need to spend as little as possible, so we were thinking of project managing it ourselves, plus we know a few tradespeople who we would like to do some of the work. For financial reasons we will probably have to do it in stages too, so all in all it seems to make sense to do it this way.

Has anybody done this and can recommend a good book or website to get us started? Are there any obvious pitfalls we need to be aware of?

[noddyholder]

It is quite straightforward and there are a few good books I have done a few and the first ones were quite a struggle as you must get the order of works right as undoing mistakes is expensive.i will look back at my ols stuff and see which book I used it was about 10 yrs ago!

[DaisyMooSteiner]

Thanks, that would be great. Do you think it does make a difference to the cost overall?

[noddyholder]

There is a book by Leonard John Sales called Concise project management.For us it really saved money eventually but not really the first few times.You need a fair bit of time to devote to it and sometimes a professional can shorten the build time thus saving £.DIY defintiely takes longer and i would reallt recommend doing a plan and going over it with a fine tooth comb with your builder before you start.

[DaisyMooSteiner]

Thanks noddy, I'll look out for that book.

I don't mind too much if the build takes longer because of project managing it myself, but obviously don't want that to end up costing us - would taking longer really make it more expensive for a 'normal' extension on a family home?

Definitely won't be doing much/any DIY - I know from bitter experience how long that can take!