How hard is it to project manage a major project?

[Rainbowsintherain]

Had an offer accepted on a major project house. Did a major refurb/extension on our current house and used a local builder who co-ordinated all the trades, but I was heavily involved in the whole process and co-ordinated with architect and local council. Would I be crazy to think I could PM manage project 2?

I think you would be fine if you have done it before (with a builder). You will have to be prepared to get lots of quotes for every stage though as many trades will give you a silly price for a job, in case you dont know what you are doing. You will also need to be on site every day, almost. And be prepared to make a lot of phone calls chasing everyone and everything.

Depends really as you’ve done it before you’d probably be ok.

I do a lot of project management within my work roll however I’d never doing it willingly on my own house...it’s almost a full time time be prepared for lots of calls/quotes/co-ordination of trade people, can be very hard going.

Yes, I'd only contemplate this if I had plenty of time free...
Project managed a few trades recently on top of full time work and it's exhausting and stressful.

I've done it before but I worked part time while the project was under way. That meant that I was able to devote several hours every day to the project and get it finished on time and budget.

You still need someone to help with the CDM on a project. Most often it's the builder that takes that on, but if you are coming on as 'project manager ' they might ( wrongly) assume you are able to take that on too. So tread carefully. And do your homework before you take on the responsibility.

We have done both. What you I think already realise is that if the builder coordinates and uses their own trades, they turn up when he wants them. If you use your own they have no allegiance to you. Our latest job the builder said he would be very reluctant to work with anyone he doesn't know for that reason and in any event he price was great all in

I chatted to the various trades and they all said their allegiance is to builders and not individual clients as the builders provide their next job.

This extension was a dream compared with the last so have a think

Only possible if you have no other major commitments - work or kids!

Its incredibly busy and the good PMs will make it seem so simple, which is then why a lot of people think yeah, I could totally do that!!