Contractors provide project management service to save customers (project owners) from the headaches and stresses of managing a project, however some customers do look for “supervision only” services – as they’re trying to save their money and want to assume most of the project management headaches instead of giving it to a contractor. They usually try to contact a contractor and ask if they provide this kind of service – in exchange of allowing them to add that project to the contractor’s portfolio – a bigger portfolio means more future customers for contractors.
Supervision only services is indeed really very cheap and the contractor who offers such service will not earn anything from it – except for the added new project feature in the portfolio – however it is the customer who could end up spending more since the contractor/supervisor will now switch to “high quality mode” where high quality materials and sometimes even signature finishing fixtures are encouraged since the contractor’s focus now is making this specific project the ideal example project that will shine in his portfolio. The contractor will also ease on the workers and tell them to take the cruising pace to give the customer the best quality workmanship to make this project further shine in his portfolio. Longer work duration means more cost for the labor.
If the contractor is not in the supervision mode, he will naturally convince the customer to accept average quality materials and finishes to give the impression that he wants the customer to save money through good quality but averagely priced materials. If left on his own, the contractor, in the all-in packaged service, will also try to maximize profits by encouraging these good quality – but averagely priced materials. In the all-in packaged service – as opposed to – the supervision mode, the contractor will always try to pressure the workers to finish faster but still strictly observing good quality to avoid back jobs later – thus further saving him on the cost of labor – if the workers can shorten the work duration.
It is important to strike a balance between quality and affordability – and it is the customer who makes the final decision to go for supervision only, or the all-in packaged service.
At the end of the day, it is always best to use high quality finishes and encourage the workers to achieve high quality workmanship by taking the cruising pace, but this always means higher cost, and the more money you invest on your project, the higher will be its value.
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