Working with a Project Manager

[Gary Dezoysa]

Hello;

For those of you who hire a project manager, do you find it enough to pay salary, or do you give a percentage of the deal too? I'm trying to think through which would offer the better cost/benefit (since giving a part of the deal to them may actually cost more even if they save you more money)

[J Scott]

Originally posted by @Brian Davis:

so can someone give an idea of the actual salary dollar amount paid to a project manager? I understand that different areas will warrant a different amount but would like to get a few numbers...I am currently doing a small commission and a salary of 40k but I have been told by my guy that it's too little so I told him we can both think about it and come to an agreement...I was thinking 60k straight salary would be good but I would like to hear what other guys are paying..thx

It depends on the area and the specific role of the PM. My PM in Atlanta consistently earned $50-70K between salary and commission, and was very happy with that. I probably could have found someone to do the job for $30-40K.

In Milwaukee, I couldn't find a PM who could do the job I needed them to do for less than $100K, so I paid that (until I had to fire him because he ultimately wasn't qualified to do the work) -- now I can't even find a qualified replacement for that price.

Of course, the work in Atlanta was easier than the work in Milwaukee (so there was a different skillset), and in general, cost of living in Atlanta is much less than Milwaukee. Not to mention that Atlanta has many more good candidates (it's a real estate town) than Milwaukee (which has relatively little rehabbing going on).

So, you need to take into account the location, the size of your potential employee pool, the scope of their responsibility, the level of oversight needed, etc. There's no one right answer to that question...