Project Manager or Contractor

[LD_SelfBuild]

Myself and my partner are looking into building a house in Meath. We don't want to go direct labour as we both work full time so we think it will be too difficult to manage and we have no experience in this area.

Does anyone have any thoughts from experience on whether we should go for a project manager or a contractor?

 

[MOB]

An excellent contractor is better left in charge than a lazy albeit competent project manager supervising a mediocre contractor.

However there are too many variables to give you any meaningful answer. Talk to friends who have built houses of similar spec to your plan. And plan, plan, plan. No such thing as too much planning. Design and spec changes during a build will kill any budget.

 

[Familyman77]

A PM will be an additional cost as a good reputable contractor will have their own PM on site anyway. I think the key is to have a good hands on architect / engineer involved from the beginning with designs , planning applications etc he would then follow on acting on behalf of you the client . The key to all this in my mind is to have as much of the design ideas planned up front and thought through as much as possible to prevent delays on site, these are where the contractor would be looking for additional costs . I would also ask the contractor prior to engaging them if they see any issues with the build in front of them. I often see ideas looking good on paper but building them can often prove difficult. But then again that leads back to engaging a good engineer at the outset