What to expect
| Typical duration | For the life of the project |
|---|---|
| Cost band | Percentage of contract value or fixed fee |
| Permit required | Not itself — coordination of those that are |
| Seasonal constraint | Continuous |
Two ways to engage it
- Inside a main contract
- A named project manager is included in every job a main contractor runs. This is the default and there is no separate fee — it is how the contract is delivered.
- Independently
- You are building with another contractor, or managing several trades directly, and want someone on the island representing your interests: checking the programme, valuing work before you pay for it, chasing procurement, and telling you honestly whether what is being built matches what was drawn. This is a separate appointment with a separate fee.
What the role actually covers
- Programme. One programme covering design, approvals, procurement and construction, with float allocated where the risk is rather than spread evenly. Reissued when it changes, with the reason stated.
- Procurement. Long-lead items identified early and ordered against lead time plus crossing. This is the single highest-value activity on an island project and the one most commonly neglected.
- Coordination. Architect, civil engineer, surveyor, supervising engineer, specialists and trades pulling in the same direction, and information reaching the people who need it before they need it.
- Cost control. Valuations against work actually completed and inspected. Variations priced and agreed in writing before the work happens, with the programme impact stated at the same time.
- Quality. Checking what matters at the moment it can still be checked — reinforcement cover before a pour, falls before a screed is covered, waterproofing before it is tiled over.
- Reporting. Written, weekly, with dated photographs from consistent vantage points. Whether or not there is news.
What good management looks like on this island specifically
Three things separate a competent island project manager from a competent mainland one.
- Ordering before the design is finished. Identifying which items have lead times that will govern the programme, freezing just those decisions early, and ordering while the rest of the specification is still moving. This saves more time than anything else available.
- Booking crews against a seasonal market. Specialist trades here are committed months ahead, heavily so through the closed season. A programme that assumes availability on demand is not a programme.
- Building float where the risk is. Ferry and weather risk is uneven across the year and across trades. Float distributed evenly is float wasted; float concentrated at the crossings and the weather-dependent activities is float that works.
Reporting for owners who are not on the island
A large share of the projects run this way belong to people who are in another country for most of the build. The reporting is the product as much as the building is.
Weekly written report. Dated photographs from the same positions each week so progress is comparable. Video walk-through at each stage boundary and on request. Programme reissued with the reason whenever it moves. Nothing gets quietly re-baselined, and problems get reported when they happen rather than when they are resolved — an owner who finds out in month eight about a problem from month five stops trusting everything else.
Questions people actually ask
Can I hire you to manage a build another contractor is doing?
Yes. It is a separate appointment, and in that role we will not tender for the works — valuing work you might want to win yourself is not a service, it is a conflict.
How is the fee structured?
A percentage of contract value or a fixed fee, depending on whether the scope is defined. For an ongoing project with a moving scope, a fixed fee for a defined period is usually cleaner for both sides.
What if you find the contractor is doing something wrong?
You are told immediately, in writing, with what it means for cost and programme. That is the entire point of the appointment — and it is why the role has to be independent of building the work.
Do you attend on site every day?
Frequency is set by the stage. During a pour, a waterproofing application or a critical inspection, yes. During a long finishing phase, less often but at the moments that matter. We will tell you the attendance basis before you appoint us rather than leaving it vague.