The Extension Headache Cure
Having been in involved in many extension projects over the years we often see the same thing recur.
A once cheerful client reduced, as their project wears on, to a more weary stressed out version of their former selves. Perfectly understandable – it’s not every day you have a building site going on at your home.
Moving out isn’t often possible and so said client and family remain at the house through the duration of the work.
Staying at home and living on a building site wears you down. It seems perfectly feasible before the work has started, but it can become a drag very quickly. Costs, noise, dust, and tradesmen in your space, are just a few of the elements in the heady mix.
Can you imagine if, on top of all of this, you were also project managing the job? We are often told by clients that they will be project managing the work because it seems a great way of cost cutting.
Our advice would be to avoid it. Clients aren't builders, nor are they architects or surveyors.
Put it this way, would you project manage the construction of a car? Organise the workings of your local bank branch or project manage the creation of a new games console, without previous experience? So why would managing a construction site be any different?
It's one thing to choose your tiles and wallpaper. It's another thing to be in charge of a construction project with little or no experience.
Ultimately it doesn't save on costs either, because the mistakes that are made are, in themselves, costly.
Bear in mind that from June 2023 new rules for extensions come into force with added requirements in terms of insulation, ventilation and heating systems and these could add tricky new issues for the uninitiated.
Using project management puts comfortable distance between yourself and the workforce, so you don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis. The extension headache is substantially reduced and you can, sort of, get on with the rest of your life.
For more info on any aspect of project management please contact us here, we’d love to hear from you.
