Navigating employment questions is tricky in every industry. It is never clear from the outset what sort of working relationships you want to foster in order to help your business run smoothly. However, the sustainability of your business very much depends on cultivating relationships that are mutually beneficial and relatively easy to maintain.

In real estate, one of the most important decisions is whether to have an in-house project manager oversee a contractor’s project, or outsource the job to a management services company.

Your first instinct might be to hire a full-time property manager and have them oversee all your projects (whether rental properties or a home reno). The logic here is that giving authority over to a professional project manager to hire contractors and oversee all the specifics of the work is safer than going with a third-party property manager with whom you have no professional relationship.

This is sound logic in and of itself. You want to foster long-term professional relationships, and in an ideal world, you would have a reliable and efficient property manager taking care of the specifics for you.

Weighing the Options

There are some challenges to hiring an in-house property manager that cannot be overlooked. You have two options when it comes to organizing and overseeing a reno job on a property – going with an in-house project manager or hiring a third-party management company.

There are pros and cons to each option. While keeping certain duties of your business in-house might save you money, by hiring an in-house property manager you are opening a can of worms – especially if you sign a long-term contract.

Are they organized enough to get permits needed for a renovation project?

Do they know how to select the highest quality contractors for the job?

Are they a thick-skinned, no-nonsense type that will persist in getting a job done on time no matter what it takes?

These are all features that you want in a property manager who will get the job done time and again.

You can also choose to pay a little bit extra and work with a construction management company or a property management company instead of hiring in-house. There are a number of benefits to working with a management company. First, these are companies that have a working relationship with contractors and will ensure things run on time and on budget. Second, you are paying for a professional service, and the company is incentivized to uphold its professional reputation.

By hiring a third-party company to oversee your projects, you are essentially paying for the assurance of quality and efficiency. You do not get these assurances with an in-house project manager that you do not trust 100 percent.

Rounding It Up

In the end, the specifics of your reno project should determine whether you go with an in-house manager or outsource it to a management company. The goal is to collaborate with a property manager you can trust to get the job done, and sometimes the most reliable collaborators are separate businesses who have their professional reputations to uphold.