Would it be fairly easy to project manage this job with my limited experience do you think?

[Deleted User]

I need to finish a refurbishment to a house I've bought. Is it fairly easy to project manage a general refurbishment of a house? I'm not a builder and nor have I got any training but have a bit of general experience. Do you think I could manage to do this myself?
 
The jobs that need doing are as follows:
1. Kitchen is down to bare brick and a concrete slab - this all needs to be plastered, screed put down, electrics and plumbing
2. Upstairs shower room has been stripped back and needs to be boarded out with plasterboard and a shower, basin and loo need to be installed
3. The complete house rewire
4. The complete installation of a new central heating system
5. Installation of all new water pipes with the new pipe joined to the mains on the boundary
Do you think the above should be fairly easy to project manage when hiring good tradesman specific for each job eg 

Browntoa

As long as you understand the correct order to do things , ie first fit plumbing and electrics before plastering and replacing flooring and then second fit of sockets and heating etc

TELLIT01

As Browntoa suggests, the first question is 'Do you know the best sequence, how long each element will take, and which trades can work in parallel?'  Also, will you be providing the materials or will each of the trades be providing everything such as bathroom suite, kitchen units or will you be providing some elements and they supply others?

If you are confident you can answer all those questions you can probably manage it but it will be stressful at times.

Jeepers_Creepers

Each of the three mains trades there - plasterer, plumber and sparky - will almost certainly know folk from the other trades and will have worked with them on new builds and renovations. If you can, get personal local recommendations for each, contact them, and as part of the general "Would you be interested in this job" enquiries, ask if they also know people from the other trades that they have worked with and can recommend.

You just need to catch one good fellow, and they'll have solid recommendations for the others - folk who they respect, trust and enjoy working with.

Which trade to start with? I dunno - the first that gets recommended and sounds promising, I guess. Failing that, perhaps target the plasterers first - the work they do will have the most obvious visible effect on the job, and they also very quickly get to know sparkies and plumbers they don't like to work with; ones that set out to do their job only, with no care whether if that gets in the way of others, causes problems, damage, hindrance. We all know the type.

On our recent extensions, we had a main builder and a separate roofer. They knew each other, respected each other's work, and simply enjoyed being on the same sites as they went the extra mile to overcome any problems jointly. Both then recommended a sparky who was ditto. All three told me the same story - they would never let the others down, would come out at the drop of a hat to sort any issue, and - amongst the joshing - were not embarrassed to praise the others behind their backs.

They all also knew tradesfolk who they'd avoid.

I would therefore personally recommend that approach - find one good'un, and then follow up the other folk they recommend. If you employ 3 or 4 different tradesfolk independently and one is an arris, the others will be very cheesed off.

The trench for the water can be kept separate if needed as it shouldn't impinge on the work of the others, but again they will all certainly know a groundsworker they can recommend so that should also fall into place. Ditto for the bathroom install - if the plumber doesn't like doing the visible stuff, they'll know someone who will.

FreeBear

ponderbuild said: 2. Upstairs shower room has been stripped back and needs to be boarded out with plasterboard and a shower, basin and loo need to be installed

In the bathroom, you want to avoid using plasterboard around a shower even if it is tiled or clad. Any water that gets behind the tiles/cladding will turn the PB to a mush - Use cement boards for a longer lasting job.

Alfrescodave

What about your availabilty? Will you be on site all the time or easily contactable when issues arise (as they probably will). 

[Deleted User]

Browntoa said: As long as you understand the correct order to do things , ie first fit plumbing and electrics before plastering and replacing flooring and then second fit of sockets and heating etc

Thanks for your reply Browntoa, I notice your a forum guide. Will the forum team allow me to post a link to show pictures of my house that can go with this post so it can make more sense do you think?
Would it be possible for you to briefly go over the order in which things need to be done do you think?

[Deleted User]

TELLIT01 said:

As Browntoa suggests, the first question is 'Do you know the best sequence, how long each element will take, and which trades can work in parallel?'  Also, will you be providing the materials or will each of the trades be providing everything such as bathroom suite, kitchen units or will you be providing some elements and they supply others?

If you are confident you can answer all those questions you can probably manage it but it will be stressful at times.

Yes I'm able to accurately work out how long each job should basically take and I've got access to a few retired builders who I can send a quick email to or there's a few online forums etc I'll be providing all of the materials myself - Thank you for your reply

[Deleted User]

Alfrescodave said:

What about your availabilty? Will you be on site all the time or easily contactable when issues arise (as they probably will). 

Yes, I'll be on site everyday alongside the builders and tradesman.

[Deleted User]

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Each of the three mains trades there - plasterer, plumber and sparky - will almost certainly know folk from the other trades and will have worked with them on new builds and renovations. If you can, get personal local recommendations for each, contact them, and as part of the general "Would you be interested in this job" enquiries, ask if they also know people from the other trades that they have worked with and can recommend.

You just need to catch one good fellow, and they'll have solid recommendations for the others - folk who they respect, trust and enjoy working with.

That's really helpful advice and thanks for going into detail. I'll definitely be following your advice!