Hiring a professional project manager for a property project

What projects need a professional project manager

You must hire a professional project manager for any project that requires building consent. We recommend hiring a professional project manager for all high value or complex projects.

If your project is small, you can use a non-professional project manager.

Procuring a professional project manager

Follow our procurement processes when choosing a professional project manager.

Property project procurement process for schools

We recommend you engage your project manager from a list of pre-selected project managers that meet our criteria.

If you have an existing project manager, you still have to get quotes and follow the procurement process.

Projects up to $500,000

To get a good comparison, we recommend you get a minimum of 3 quotes whenever engaging a project manager. You must get at least 1 quote for these projects.

Projects over $500,000

You must get at least 3 quotes.

Paying for project management and setting fees

You need to pay for project management as part of the project budget.

You can negotiate fees as either:

• a percentage of the value of the proposed project, or
• a range of predetermined rates, with an inflation clause.

The predetermined rates might be better for a high value project. For example, the project manager would get a high fee for a roof replacement on a percentage basis, even though it might not require much work.

What your project manager needs

Your project manager needs to be familiar with everything at your school.

They need access to:

• your 10 Year Property Plan (10YPP)
• information on delegations for the project
• your school’s property maintenance plan
• your school’s hazard register and asbestos management plans
• project forms.

They also need to be familiar with our design documents.

Designing Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand standards