The Role You Didn’t Know You’d Taken On

Run a major project yourself and “client” stops being a description. It becomes a role, with legal duties, financial exposure and consequences most owners only discover once something has already gone wrong.

Ask most people what a client actually does on a project and you’ll get some version of: choose what you want, pay for it, check in occasionally. That’s the informal version. The real one carries obligations most owners have never heard of, until they’ve already taken them on, usually without realising.

A few questions worth answering honestly before you run a major project without a Project Manager:

Do you know who’s legally responsible for site safety once work starts?

Under the CDM Regulations, most projects with more than one contractor require a Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor to be formally appointed, in writing. If they haven’t been, those duties don’t disappear. They default to you, not your architect, not your builder.

Do you know if your insurance actually covers the works?

Standard buildings and contents cover is built for a finished house, not one mid-strip-out with the roof off and scaffolding up. Confirming that Works insurance is in place, and that it’s the right cover, is not a formality. It can make the difference between a setback and a much more serious problem.

Do you know what’s in your walls and ceilings?

A refurbishment and demolition asbestos survey may be required before this kind of work starts on older buildings. Skipping the right checks does not remove the risk. It simply moves the discovery to the moment a contractor opens something up.

Do you know if there are bats in your roof?

Bats are a protected species, and the surveys required to establish whether a roost is present can be seasonal. Miss the survey window and the resulting delay can be measured in months rather than weeks.

Do you know who’s securing your site once the contractors go home?

An empty or part-occupied house mid-project is exposed to theft and damage, while scaffolding, temporary access and an active building site can create further risks. Someone needs to make sure those issues are considered as part of the project rather than after something has happened.

Do you know who’s checking that what you’re being asked to pay for has actually been done, to the standard and value claimed, before you pay it?

Interim payments are usually based on what the contractor says has been completed. Without independent oversight, you are relying heavily on that assessment. Variations agreed verbally on site, with no cost impact properly assessed until later, are also one of the most common ways for an unmanaged project to drift away from its original budget.

If you can answer all of those with confidence, you may not need us. Most people who run a project without a Project Manager cannot, and often do not find out until it is already costing them.

That is the role someone needs to hold properly from the start. It is a large part of why we hold client funds until we are satisfied the work being claimed has actually been done, and why we are paid only by the client, never through a margin on contractor work, so there is no incentive on our side to wave a valuation through.

If you’re weighing up whether to run your next project yourself, talk to us first.