Project managers and estimators play crucial roles that can determine whether a restoration company will be profitable or not. The estimator’s job is to identify the scope of work and estimate what it will take to do the work and make a profit. The project manager’s (PMs) job is to coordinate and execute the work within a given budget to realize the profit. If your reconstruction and repair projects trend to be unprofitable and your estimator is highly skilled at writing profitable estimates, then there may be a problem in the production phase. There are a number of red flags to watch out for that may indicate that your PM may be killing your company. Keep in mind that it doesn’t take many unprofitable jobs to bankrupt a restoration company, so this is one area where restorers need to pay close attention.

One of the leading causes of restoration work being unprofitable is when PMs allow work to be done that is not included in the contracted scope of work. All too often, PMs are focused more on getting the job done fast and pay little attention to the line-by-line entries in the estimate or whether the trade summary allows enough for each trade.