When I first started remodeling, I thought that I needed to be on the job every day and oversee every little thing (part of being a perfectionist I guess). Perhaps it was the misguided ideas of my youth on how remodeling is supposed to be, but I've since discovered how flawed that thinking is.
The reality is, your home improvement project needs a contractor who knows how to make productive use of time and save you money through experience, good communication, and surrounding themselves with reliable subcontractors.
Here Is My Take After Many Successful Years
As long as we have good subcontractors that do what they say they will do, when they say, and follow through (and yes that required painful trials to find these people), then I can guide your project to completion for less than money than I could using my original thinking.
If your contractor has promised you that a job will start on a certain date, given you a schedule, and it is starting to fall behind or has significant lapses already, then you have probably hired the wrong contractor.
On the other hand, there is no reason for you as a client to pay a professional project manager to baby-sit your job all day. As long as he is available by phone immediately and seems to have a schedule that is working, rest assured that this way of doing things is saving you a lot of money.
When you hire a reputable contractor, you can trust your project manager to schedule trades as they are needed. It is common for no activity to occur for a few days if an operation on your project is completed ahead of schedule.
In the world of remodeling, our scheduling is very fluid out of necessity, so don't be too concerned if you feel like there is no activity on your job on a given day. When your contractor has an experienced and communicative project manager, he will talk you through the entire process and what to expect.
When you do have concerns, your project manager should be easily accessible to answer your questions.
