01/06/2026
Again, I hear a client say to me " I wish we met you two years ago before we got to this stage". My response every time is "you probably wouldn't have thought you needed a client-side project manager for your renovation back then, even if you knew we existed".
If we had been on our Canterbury project from the start, it would have been a different story...
Most renovation projects don’t fail during construction.
They fail before they even start.
Build Fresh were recently engaged on a $2M Canterbury period renovation that had been sitting in design for several years. The designer had lost interest, and the client was focused on irrelevant detail and had consistently demanded changes if mind at every opportunity. It was a mess.
I was excited to work on such a beautiful home, and could see potential amongst the clear issues presenting to me.
The client hired me, an experienced client-side project manager to take over the coordination of the entire project and get it back on its feet. She thought she needed me as it was slow. I could see bigger issues than this.
The homeowner had already been working with a designer, but the project had become overly complex, slow, and expensive without a clear path forward.
Our role was to reset everything with experience and clear leadership.
We restructured the consultant team, negotiated and hired a better fitting architect, simplified the architectural approach, and removed unnecessary design complexity that was inflating costs.
The result:
-Over $200K saved in engineering scope
-A clearer, buildable design direction
-A beautiful completed build with an excellent builder that had minimal issues for the client.
The biggest lesson?
When a project is stuck, it’s rarely a construction issue.
It’s a planning and structure issue.
This is why we often meet clients before they commit to an architect, because early decisions shape everything that follows.
If you’re planning a renovation, the earlier the conversation, the better the outcome.
BUILD FRESH -Client side project managers.
