My project manager experiment failed

[Mark Ferguson]

last week I posted about some successes. It can't all be fun and games! In April I hired one of my contractors to be my project manager. My goal was to have him hire subs, mange contractors, bid jobs and basically handle the rehabs for my flips and rentals. I thought he would be awesome since he is a great guy, has contracing and corporate management experience. 

After months and months it is apparent he can't handle the job. As I have less contractors working on jobs, less subs and things are taking even longer then when I did everything. Not too mention things are more expensive! 

I am sure some of this is my fault for not overseeing everything enough, but I have been very hands on lately and nothing is getting better. I have contacted my old contractors who we used when he started and they like the guy, but said he just stopped communicating with them and jobs they thought they were doing were given to other contractors. I have also found he had been blaming delays on things like plumbers and electricians I have used for years being too slow. When I talk to them they say they did the work within a week of being asked but they weren't asked to actually do the work until well after the project manager said he ordered jobs. To top it off ot took over 6 weeks to get two hvac bids on a house and over 4 weeks to get a foundation bid. That was all the hvac and foundation companies fault as well. We have given him a couple contractors names who he said weren't working out. When we talked to those contractors they said they waited and waited for call backs but had to take other jobs because he wouldn't get back to them. 

On the end I am not giving up and sorry for the long rant. Next year I am bringing rehabs back in house for two of my team members to manage. They have more time since reo and hud listings are down so much. I am implementing more systems including inspections after I buy to make sure nothing is missed. And then another home inspection After repairs are done. I called most my contractors I had before and they are still cool with me so that is good! 

[Don Harris]

@Mark Ferguson I give you a lot of credit for trying. Right idea , wrong person for the job. Not a bad person, the shoe just doesn't fit. You will do him and yourself a favor as soon as you removed this burden from both of yourselves. (He is probably frustrated internally as well because he is not done what he is primarily gifted at). 

You can both look at it as "my project management experiment failed" OR you both just learned what doesn't work. Remember , you said it was an experiment. It does take a lot of Inspect to get what you Expect. 

 Don't give up, you may need some one who is actually more green and train them in how you would do it from the get go. I'm sure there are eager wannabe flippers in your market who would jump at the chance to learn from a pro. Yes, they will leave "some day" but you will have created a working partner for life as well. Hire character, train skill. 

Persevere.