We worked with a 'Project Manager' in the last year and fired him eventually, so unhappy were we with his work. His actual crew (of Estonians) were decent lads and good workers, albeit with a more limited skill set than the Project Manager (a Munster man who has been banned from AAM) led us to believe. Time after time he failed to keep to any of the agreements we made with him at the outset. He had also mentally finished our job once 51% of the money had been spent. He wouldn't even visit to discuss the snaglist and just wanted us to deal directly with the crew.
The job was only completed using the retention money and different builders and we've ended up with no guarantee for the work done.
We went this way because reputable building companies were talking too far in advance (most about six months ahead or more) but in 20:20 hindsight that would have been better than working with this guy. Caveat Emptor- and don't accept assurances at face value. Although he talked a lot about contemporary building methods and aesthetics, This Dublin-based 'Project Manager' is actually just a chancer riding the boom and exploiting the skills of immigrant workers. I know there are many good and reputable Project Managers out there- ours wasn't one of them.