Bridging the gap between Design, Build and Equipment
Daniel Kerwood, Darren Shaw and Jason Woodgate explore why a project manager is so important when it’s time for a practice refurb or building a squat.
Daniel Kerwood, Darren Shaw and Jason Woodgate are all Project Managers at Hague Dental.
All too often, clients who are considering a refurbishment underestimate the amount of time that they will personally need to give to a project to ensure it runs smoothly.
Understanding the value of this time is so important when considering how, who and what is involved with a potential refurbishment or build.
There is no doubt that coordinating designers, build team and trade subcontractors, through to your dental equipment company and their installation, would take precious time out of your everyday surgical day, which can ultimately prove very costly.
Having a team of experienced Project Managers by your side will help you bridge the gap between all the involved parties and will ensure that your project comes in on time, and on budget, with reduced stress for you!
Getting involved
A good Project Manager is like having a central coordinator, for the client and all the subcontractors. From overseeing the on-site Health and Safety in line with Construction, Design and Management (CDM) Regulations to client care, and all the general in-between requirements, Project Managers shield the client from unnecessary stress, are effective communicators to keep everyone in the loop, and identify and resolve potential problems.
To achieve that, a Project Manager worth their salt needs to be highly organised, an exceptional communicator, knowledgeable about structural design, and experienced in internal and external refurbishment, as well as contractual negotiation and procurement tendering. This experience is essential to manage project timelines and avoid any overruns.
Being suitably experienced and by having a bird’s eye view of the project, the Project Manager performs a balancing act of being realistic and pushing back when that’s needed – in the nicest possible way!
An effective Project Manager will shield clients from most of the stresses associated with building and maintenance. That isn’t to say clients aren’t involved – they absolutely do need to be as they have multiple legal obligations. And they need to make decisions, and Project Managers will help them make those. And when issues arise due to the many unforeseen characteristics to any project, our Project Managers are there to offer solutions to those problems.
Project management vs site management
Project Managers are not Site Managers. While both jobs are geared around delivering a project, they have different responsibilities. Site Managers are responsible for the day-to-day site management and to ensure that the build meet strict construction guidelines, whereas the Project Manager is responsible for overall project planning, allocating resources, time management, risk management, managing the budget, and managing relationships with key stakeholders.
Defining responsibility
At Hague Dental. we offer flexible and bespoke project management packages based on each client’s requirements. We will happily work alongside a client’s own building team, and we offer clients the option to contract a Hague Dental specialist dental construction team that is willing to work evenings, weekends, and out of hours to ensure the project is delivered on time.
If a client opts to use their own builder, we can still provide Project Management and manage the overall success of the project, however the client will be responsible to manage their contractors, the quality of their work, and the construction snags and timelines directly.
If, on the other hand, the client asks us from the outset to project manage everything, then we can bring all of our knowledge, influence, and the best dental construction team to the project, which is the ultimate in supporting the dentist through it all, who can then largely focus on what they do best – looking after patients.
A linear and cohesive approach
Conversely, if design, build, and/or equipment choice acquisition are approached as separate entities, things can fall between the gaps. People go in different directions and have different start and end dates.
Building is linear – if stage one doesn’t get completed, you can’t move on to stage two. It’s as simple as that and Project Managers make sure everything continues to head in the right direction.
Hague Project Managers will set up a schedule of works to plan the work around deadlines and properly allocate resources. This schedule will list the general work that is to be undertaken by the chosen construction team in a logical sequenced way, broken down into a timed chart.
No small part of the Project Manager’s job, therefore, is to make sure everyone works together and, ideally, finish on the date we want them to.
We write ‘ideally’ because when we manage the complete project, it doesn’t matter how many times we must get contractors to correct something; they’ll be there until it’s right for the client.
Snagging made easy
After everything is done and dusted, many projects end with a ‘snagging’ day, which we know can cause great anxiety and upset.
There will always be snags, it’s the nature of the beast but an effective Project Manager will be looking out for them as the project moves along, catching many during the process rather than after it.
That comes from experience – we know what we’re looking for and it comes to us naturally to be snagging whenever we’re on site. For example, if we see a floor that’s not quite right, or a board that’s up before the floor goes down, rather than waiting for the end to snag it, we can foresee that problem and get it done there and then.
Reaching the finish line
Customer service is key, so even once a project is finished, our professional relationship with the client is not. Our clients are introduced to the customer service team, who will then look after them for their engineering needs afterwards.
We like to assure our clients that, ‘We are not going anywhere. We will still be here for as long as you need us.’
As Project Managers, we want to make sure clients are happy with the outcome, and that our company name is shared among the profession for what it truly is – the best at what it does.
The truth is, the process goes on with the Hague team for a long time, because we offer support beyond the build.
