Project Management in Real Estate

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:30:00 -0500

Project management is a key skill for all companies. It’s easy to see why: projects lead to growth, and management leads to completion. However, we’ve worked with several clients who had several misconceptions about project management.

This skill isn’t solely to stay on top of projects and allocated resources. However, it’s not strictly leadership, either. You also need to keep in mind several techniques, steps, and tools.

Summarized, it’s a bit more complex than most people assume. That’s what we’re solving in this article.

What exactly is project management?

As per the basic definition from Investopedia, project management plans and organizes company resources to complete tasks. This process can take a few hours, days, and even months. It can be a one-time project or an ongoing process.

In other words, project managers make sure that the company’s resources are used properly towards the initial goal. It streamlines tasks, allocates budgets, and monitors teams towards completion.

It’s easy to see why project managers are vital in real estate. Constructions and renovations require supervision to provide optimal results.

However, companies benefit greatly from internal project managers. For instance, our project management services also take care of software implementation and similar internal tasks that boost your company’s regular operations.

Project management vs project leadership

Project managers and leaders are often terms used interchangeably. Managers in general are referred to as leaders, and that’s not always true. Leadership is an excellent talent for a project manager, but the position doesn’t demand for leadership.

According to PMI, leadership leads to change, and it’s commonly a contradiction to management. It looks to create common visions for different individuals, and it’s primarily a moral or motivational approach to management.

In other words, leadership is idealistic whereas management is practical. The former relates to directing people, and the latter focuses more on proper planning and handling budgets.

Is a project manager also a project leader?

As you might’ve guessed now, they can be, yet that’s not always true. Some agree that the best leader is also a great manager, and vice-versa. Others claim managers can perform perfectly without being a strong leader.

This article by the EDUCBA establishes the main difference between the two, but it makes an interesting point. There’s no hope without vision, and it focuses on the benefits of leadership above mere management.

We can’t really say we agree with the statement that all leaders are managers, as there’s always an exception to the rule. However, leadership is always a worthwhile aspect to look for in project managers.

How is project management part of real estate?

Done has a great introduction to the role of project management in real estate. As we already mentioned, project management is necessary for all companies, regardless of their size and budget.

A good project manager is how you can maintain operational efficiency, including optimized budgets and meeting deadlines. In real estate, management software is vital for proper project management.

Project management helps you ensure communication between your resources and teams. It enables collaboration and reviewing. That’s key for reducing risks, as all teams are aware of what the other departments are doing via their manager.

It’s also responsible for creating reports to help you track your company’s projects. That’s critical if you want to spot which projects aren’t meeting your expectations to relocate resources accordingly.

Why is it important?

The main benefit of implementing professional project management is aligning your different teams towards the same goal. It lets you get the most value possible from your different departments. That’s crucial if you’re expecting noticeable returns from your projects.

Managers are also responsible for monitoring all teams assigned to your projects. That plays into the reports we already mentioned. People are prone to drifting away from projects as their focus diminishes, and managers prevent and resolve that problem.

Finally, it keeps your projects within your budget. If you lack project management, it’s easy for projects to go over your budget. The main problem is how easy it is to occur if you’re not actively tracking your projects. If things get too out of hand, your entire project’s profitability might be nullified.

How to choose management software

The real estate sector has a plethora of apps available to boost your company’s efficiency. Techopedia has a great article explaining what these tools are exactly. Knowing what you should expect from your platforms is key for ensuring proper implementation.

According to the article, you should look for software that lets you:

Plan, schedule, and map projects.

Create and assign different tasks, each with appropriate deadlines and reports.
Share files and documents with different teams for real-time collaboration.
Create project timelines with calendars for meetings, specific activities, and contacts.
Report and resolve bugs in the system and errors within the tool and your teams.
Track the time every task is taking.

Best software available today

With that in mind, we’ve gathered a list from what we believe are the best project management systems for real estate companies. We’ve added entries from PCMag’s list and our own experience working with customers.

Zoho

Zoho is easily the first recommendation, and we’ve worked personally with the platform. It enables your teams to communicate seamlessly with each other, and it adds extra features like CRM tools and social hubs.

GanttPro

GanttPro is a cost-effective system for smaller companies with tighter budgets. It’s a worthy recommendation thanks to its Gantt and Kanban functionality, which we’ll get to in a minute.

Office 365

Office 365 is a standard app suite that’s been around for years now. We’ve helped countless companies implement this platform, so we can attest for its effectiveness. It offers text documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, and more. All of its tools allow for real-time collaboration, too.

MRI Software

MRI is one of the best property management software providers today. Their solutions adapt to virtually all portfolios, company sizes, and budgets. You can streamline—and even integrate automation scripts—for your entire back office. That includes accounting and plenty of project management features.

Yardi Software

Yardi is somewhat similar to MRI in that it’s one of the industry’s standards for property management. It comes with plenty of advantages like additional marketing features and several platforms, like Breeze and Voyager, to accommodate different company sizes.

The basic steps of project management

Project Engineer has a good article describing the five basic steps of project management. Naturally, these are basic phases for projects in general, and the specific steps will differ between companies.

However, understanding the foundation of project management allows you to find out what to look for in potential talents.

Initiation

The initiation stage is basically establishing that the project will occur. Before planning, you need to define authority lines and a general outline of the project. During this step, goals and expectations are usually addressed.

This step shouldn’t include budgeting. That’s because planning is vital for understanding the resources you’ll need for the project. However, assigning a project manager can be part of the initial phase.

Planning

Planning is when the company shapes the project. That means stating the scope of the project and breaking down the project structure. Scheduling and budgeting for the different tasks and activities also takes place during planning.

Other additions to the planning phase includes risk, quality, communications, and human resources management. Success factors and procurement management are also common for many companies. These depend directly on the project’s size and requirements.

Execution

This phase marks the start of the project. It begins with managing the project team that the company assigned during planning. That includes monitoring their training and performance. Naturally, the latter includes auditing the tasks carried out by every team.

The project manager is also responsible for ensuring communications during execution. They must stay on top of all emails, letters, and updates made to the project. The same is true for procuring vendors and managing stakeholders.

Monitoring

Monitoring is what most people assume project managers are responsible for. As you can see, it’s only part of their responsibilities. That said, it’s worth noting it’s still the phase where project managers are vital.

The Project Engineer article we mentioned breaks down this step with lots of detail. Basically, project managers employ several techniques and calculations to monitor the profitability of the project before compiling results.

Conclusion

Finally, the project must conclude clearly after completion. It starts with a closure report, which should’ve been created and updated continuously during the previous phases. This report must offer insight into what the project did well and wrong for future reference.

Other steps for the conclusion phase include closing contracts, giving completion certifications to those demanding it, assessing liabilities, and similar tasks.

Main project management techniques

It’s not difficult to find a project manager, but that doesn’t mean you should settle for anyone. The best project managers offer a wide range of techniques you can leverage to ensure you meet your goals.

ProjectManager has a great article on the fundamental techniques for project managers. These are worth keeping an eye out for if you really want to boost your company.

Work breakdown structure

WBS basically refers to organizing projects into smaller tasks. It enables project managers to decompose works into easier-to-track processes, and it’s usually a graphic visualization of the entire operation.

It lets teams to focus on more precise tasks instead of the entire picture. Therefore, it’s easier to tackle each one, and it’s more satisfying for your staff.

Gantt chart

Gantt Charts let you plan and schedule your tasks for different projects. They’re great for visualizing milestones and how your results compare to your previously-planned timelines.

You can establish the entire project schedule into deadlines and timelines, according to the relationship between different activities and phases of the project. Essentially, it lets you visualize how much of the project is completed within certain timelines.

Program evaluation and review technique

Also known as PERT, it helps you estimate deadlines for your project. It’s a vital technique since estimating completion times can be a challenge, even for simple tasks. It’s been around for over half a century now, and it’s still a popular management technique.

It basically uses statistics to measure probability. It combines with WBS to predict how much every task is likely to take before completion.

Critical path method

CPM is a bit older than PERT. It starts off with a breakdown of all tasks, how much each one will take, and how they link with each milestone you wish to achieve.

Once that’s done, you calculate which tasks are critical for completion. To do so, you figure out the longest period—i.e. The earliest you can start and the latest you can finish without hindering schedules.

Kanban

Kanban lets you monitor projects by emphasizing constant delivery without risking team burnout. Therefore, it boosts efficiency.

It works great with WBS since you can create smaller tasks that your teams can deliver constantly. Instead of assigning ten tasks by the end of the month, you can schedule one task every three days.

Project management with Assetsoft

Make project management simpler. With Assetsoft, you can automate everything from reviewing invoices to reading emails. We can also help you with back-office accounting to keep the account books in good shape. Our PropTech and advisory solutions also help you choose the right ERP for your business that can streamline and automate your work process. Know more today!

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