Project Management

PM Overhead & Coordination Patterns

PM hours are governance, not administrative tax: scope control, dependency sequencing, client communication, and margin protection. Standard norm: 10–15% of total technical labor for straightforward projects; 15–20% for multi-trade, multi-site, or schedule-compressed work. Two corrections to the flat percentage: apply a floor on small projects (a percentage of a tiny job doesn't buy enough PM time to handle one problem — set a minimum block), and scale by complexity, not cost (base ~15% of labor hours × a complexity factor from ~1.0 low-risk to 1.6+ for GC-managed sites, committee stakeholders, formal submittal/RFI processes, or phased closeouts). Coordination hours are driven by counting interfaces: three or more independent trades on the critical path means documented field handoffs, interface meetings, and finger-pointing management — priced, not hoped away. Change-order governance is a PM deliverable: verbal approvals captured in writing same-day, small asks accumulated into formal changes.

Site Surveys & Pre-Work

Detailed site survey: 2–4 hours per location for a walk with photos, measurements, pathway verification, closet/power/ceiling condition, and access logistics — plus travel. Multi-site projects need per-site notes; "same as site A" is how multi-site budgets die. Pre-construction admin on formal projects (submittals, RFIs, drawing review) is its own block — design packages with obvious missing dependencies signal heavy RFI/change-order governance ahead, and bids should carry pre-construction PM hours to match. Pre-work also includes procurement management: long-lead equipment identified at estimate time, ordered on contract signature, delivery confirmed before crews are scheduled. Never mobilize against promised-not-confirmed equipment or a site that "will be ready" — a burned mobilization day is rarely recovered.

Travel & Mobilization

Travel and on-site logistics are the most chronically under-estimated line items in technical services. Norms: a 15–20% logistics buffer on field hours for any project with meaningful site time (parking, loading docks, elevators, badge/security delays, facilities coordination); 20–30% field-productivity reduction on occupied corporate or high-security sites (daily check-in, escorts, tool inventories, containment, work-hour windows) — a schedule multiplier, not an inconvenience. Regional travel between distant sites can consume 3–4 hours of a technician-day; log and price drive time separately from productive tool time so calibration data stays honest. Multi-visit patterns (rough-in now, trim later, commissioning after furniture) multiply mobilization cost — every avoidable extra visit is margin; consolidate trips in the schedule design. Shop staging reduces field exposure: an hour on the bench replaces two on a ladder.

Commissioning, Testing & Closeout

Commissioning and client walkthrough run 10–15% of installation labor. Administrative closeout — as-builts, O&M manuals, warranty registration, documentation package — runs 4–8 hours per project, more under compliance regimes. Respect the final-five-percent rule: the last 5% of the project consumes ~50% of the administrative energy; an under-budgeted closeout bleeds margin precisely at the finish line. Punch lists always exist — schedule slack for them or the PM absorbs them. Client training is contractually bounded: audience size, session count, documentation scope, and an expiration date — otherwise it becomes an open-ended support channel. Phased handovers and third-party consultant punch walks multiply closeout hours; know the acceptance mechanics before pricing. Acceptance milestones per phase protect sequencing: don't start dependent phases until the predecessor is signed off.

What Derails Projects

The recurring killers: client-owned prerequisites that don't happen on time (network not ready, electrical not pulled, room layouts unconfirmed, accounts not provisioned) — protect the schedule by making dependencies explicit in the SOW with named owners and dates; long-lead equipment discovered late (a spec'd model with a 14-week lead time nobody flagged); "flexible" timelines that crystallize three weeks before a board meeting; verbal change orders that were never captured; the GC assumption (believing the client's GC will coordinate other trades for you); scope growth noticed late — by the time the PM sees 20% growth, the budget conversation is already adversarial, so track scope drift weekly; and communication decay — a weekly status update (done, next, client-owed decisions, schedule health) is the cheapest escalation prevention available; clients who feel informed don't escalate. Risk buckets worth pricing: known risks (visible in scope), probable risks (experience says likely: discovery surprises, approval delays, weather), and contingency for the genuinely unpredictable.