Project management · Truro, Cornwall
Project management for Cornish projects you cannot attend
A foreman on the ground, suppliers sourced locally in Cornwall and a weekly Google Meet progress update, so a second home in Cornwall can be renovated from London without you chasing trades or booking flights.
The service
The Complete Service, for clients who are not in Cornwall
Project management exists because of a specific problem: a client owns property in Cornwall, lives several hours away, and needs a kitchen, several bathrooms or a whole-house scheme delivered without being present. Managing that remotely through separate trades means constant phone calls, decisions made without you, and no reliable way to know what actually happened this week.
In more detail
The Complete Service, for clients who are not in Cornwall
Under The Complete Service, we manage the project on your behalf. A foreman is on the ground coordinating the trades and the sequence, suppliers are sourced locally in Cornwall, and you receive a weekly progress update over Google Meet: so you see and hear what has been done, what is next, and any decision that needs you.
It also solves the problem of trades who will not travel or will not commit to a date for a property that stands empty. Because we work in Cornwall continuously and hold established supplier and trade relationships here, the programme is built around people who are already working locally.
Unmanaged remote projects drift, and drift is expensive
The pattern is familiar. A trade finishes a stage but the next trade is booked for the following month, so the house sits empty and untouched for weeks. A delivery arrives with nobody there to receive or check it. A decision is needed on a Tuesday, you are in meetings, and someone makes it for you: usually the cheapest or quickest option, not the one you would have chosen.
There is a quality cost too. Without coordination, trades work in the wrong order: tiling before first fix is tested, decoration before joinery, worktops templated before cabinetry is complete. Each of those means work being redone, and each is invisible to a client who is 250 miles away until it appears in a photograph, or in a bill.
For letting properties, drift has a direct revenue cost. A programme that runs two weeks over does not just delay the work: it takes bookings out of the calendar during a Cornish season, which is money that cannot be recovered.
Finally there is the loss of accountability. When five separate trades are engaged directly by the client, nobody is responsible for the interfaces between them, and each will reasonably say the problem started with someone else’s work.
Five stages of a managed project
Project management wraps around design, supply and installation rather than replacing them.
Design consultation and scope. We establish the full scope - which rooms, what building work, which trades are required - and survey the property. Enquire about a design consultation and, for clients outside Cornwall, we will arrange it by video call around a site visit here.
Design, specification and programme. Schemes are drawn and modelled in Winner 3D, specified in writing, and turned into a programme: order dates, lead times, trade sequence and the decisions you will need to make, with dates against each.
Local sourcing and mobilisation. Suppliers and trades are sourced locally in Cornwall, deliveries are scheduled and received on your behalf, and access, keys, parking and storage on site are arranged before work starts.
Foreman on the ground and weekly Google Meet updates. A foreman coordinates the trades and holds the sequence on site. Each week you receive a Google Meet progress update covering what has been completed, what is next, and any decision required, so nothing is decided in your absence by default.
Snagging, completion and handover. We snag the work, complete the corrections, commission appliances and services, and hand over manufacturer documents.
What managed delivery gives a remote client
Each of these replaces something you would otherwise be doing yourself, from a distance.
You always know where the project is. A weekly Google Meet update with progress, next steps and outstanding decisions, rather than reconstructing events from photographs and text messages.
Someone is on site. A foreman on the ground coordinating trades, receiving and checking deliveries, and resolving the small daily questions that otherwise stop work.
Local supply chain. Suppliers and trades sourced locally in Cornwall, so lead times, deliveries and attendance are realistic rather than dependent on people travelling from elsewhere.
Correct sequence, fewer redone stages. Trades scheduled so each starts when the preceding stage is genuinely complete, the main cause of both delay and rework on unmanaged projects.
Decisions stay yours. Choices are flagged in advance with dates attached, so they are made by you in time rather than made for you on site.
One accountable studio. Design, supply, installation and coordination under one contact.
Scope, reporting and the variations of the service
What management actually covers, and how it adapts to different projects.
Programme, sequencing and lead times
The programme is built backwards from a completion date and forwards from lead times. Made-to-order cabinetry, made-to-size glass, worktops and specialist adaptive products all carry different lead times, and the order dates for each are set at sign-off rather than left until the previous stage finishes.
Sequencing is then set trade by trade: strip out, first fix, testing, tanking and substrates, cabinetry and sanitaryware, worktop templating, tiling, second fix, decoration and commissioning. Each stage has a start condition, so a trade is not called to a room that is not ready for them.
Reporting and communication
The weekly Google Meet update is the backbone of the service. It covers what was completed in the week, what is scheduled next, anything found on site that changes the plan, and any decision needed from you with the date it is needed by. It is a scheduled conversation rather than an exchange of messages, which is what stops small issues turning into fortnight-long stalls.
Between updates there is a single point of contact, so you are not calling several trades to piece together an answer. Where a decision cannot wait, it is put to you directly with the options and cost implications.
Trades, suppliers and site coordination
Managed projects draw on trades and suppliers we work with continuously in Cornwall: plumbers, electricians, tilers, worktop fabricators and, where needed, plasterers, decorators and groundworkers. Because the relationships are ongoing, the programme relies on people with a reason to hold their dates.
On site the foreman handles the practicalities that a remote client cannot: keys and access, parking, protection, waste removal, deliveries, and the daily interface between one trade finishing and the next starting.
Variations of the service
Management scope is matched to the project.
Residential and contract projects
For private clients the priority is visibility and a programme that holds, so the property is ready when they next travel down.
For developers, commercial contractors and design professionals, the priority is interface management: KBB stages coordinated with the main programme, documented, and repeatable across units or floors.
Where we work
The studio is at Truro, and our Truro studio opens early 2027. Until then, schemes are presented from the Winner 3D model over video call, with samples sent to you.
We manage projects across Cornwall and Devon for clients based in London, the Home Counties and elsewhere in the UK.
- Order dates set against confirmed lead times at sign-off
- Trade sequence with defined start conditions for each stage
- Delivery scheduling, receipt, checking and secure storage on site
- Programme built around letting calendars or a fixed move-in date
- Contingency identified where a stage depends on a survey or test result
- Weekly Google Meet progress update while work is on site
- Single point of contact for the whole project
- Decisions presented in advance with options and cost implications
- Photographic record of stages that will be covered up
- Written programme updates when dates change
- Single-room managed project for a remote client
- Multi-bathroom and whole-house KBB programmes
- Second home renovation completed between visits
- Holiday-let refurbishment inside a closed booking window
- KBB delivery coordinated with a wider building or extension contract
- Delivery partner role for interior designers and architects working in Cornwall
Questions clients ask
Answers before you enquire
What does project management include?
Programme and sequencing, ordering against confirmed lead times, local sourcing of suppliers and trades in Cornwall, delivery receipt and checking, a foreman on the ground coordinating the work, a weekly Google Meet progress update, and snagging through to handover. Scope is set out in writing for your project.
How much does it cost?
It is priced according to the scope, the number of rooms and the trades involved, and set out against the written specification for your project so you can see what management covers. We do not describe quotes as fixed price. Our published minimum project value of £12,000 applies to kitchens.
How often will I hear from you?
You receive a Google Meet progress update every week while work is on site, covering what has been completed, what is next and any decision required from you. Between updates you have a single point of contact rather than several trades to chase.
Do I need to be in Cornwall at any point?
The service is designed so you do not have to be. Survey, design presentation and updates can all be handled remotely, with samples sent to you. Most clients do choose to visit at least once, but the programme does not depend on it.
Who is on site day to day?
A foreman is on the ground coordinating the trades and the sequence, receiving and checking deliveries, and dealing with access and site practicalities. That is the difference between a managed project and a set of separately booked trades.
Can you work to a holiday-let booking window?
Yes, and it is a common requirement. We build the programme backwards from the date the property must be available again and forwards from the lead times on made-to-order items, and we will tell you at the outset if the window is not realistic rather than starting and overrunning.
Can you manage building work as well as the KBB rooms?
We coordinate the trades a KBB project needs and interface with a wider building contract where one exists. Where more extensive structural work is involved, we will be clear at scoping stage about what sits within our management and what belongs with a main contractor.
What guarantee applies to a managed project?
Manufacturer warranties are passed to you at handover.
How long does a managed project take?
It depends on scope and lead times rather than on management. A single room is a matter of weeks on site; a multi-bathroom whole-house programme runs considerably longer. You receive a programme with dates at sign-off, and changes to it are reported in writing.
Do you offer emergency project management?
No. This is a planned service built on design, specification and confirmed lead times. If a project elsewhere has stalled and you need it taking over, tell us the position at enquiry stage and we will be straightforward about what can be recovered and when.
Next step
Have your Cornish project run without you on site
Tell us where the property is, what needs doing and where you are based. We will arrange a design consultation and set out how the project would be programmed, managed and reported.
Call us 01872 305841
