Advice for Hiring First Development Project Manager
Hey folks, a little background before I get to my questions -
My father has been in the multifamily development business since the 80s and has developed 15 or so ~250 unit projects throughout the southeast since going off on his own but has intentionally kept the company lean - he does all the development and ongoing management without any full-time employees (obviously he uses A&E consultants, GCs, 3rd party property mgmt, etc.).
I started working with my father after undergrad and quickly became an integral part of the team (perhaps somewhat obviously as I was 50% of the company). Recently I have pared back my hours considerably as I left for Wharton to get my MBA. The long term plan is for me to return home and "take over" the business from him - essentially move into the driver's seat and have him there for oversight. My skills and interests are such that I intend to grow the company - couple that with the fact that my venture off to school has left my father having to take on much of my workload and we've concluded that it's time that we hired someone to join our team on the development side. We think the best person to hire would be a development / project manager to oversee the bulk of the design, bidding, and construction administration. We are happy to pay up if we can get someone that can really take this and run with it.
I obviously have my own thoughts but I wanted to ask y'all's input on a few things:
1) What background do you think the ideal candidate has? My instinct would be a GC PM, an architect that focused on construction administration, or someone in this same role at a larger firm.
2) If the role stays silo'ed / focused on the core design and construction functions, what do you think comp looks like? We are based in a relatively affordable mid-sized southern city. Is there typically carry for this role or just salary? What percentage of folks in this role use it as a stepping stone to go off on their own vs how many are content staying in this spot assuming reasonable salary increases?
3) Do 1 or 2 change if we are looking for someone that might also help with site selection, financial analysis, and DD (at an associate level)?
4) Aside from looking through my rolodex, where would you recommend we start looking for this person? My preference would be to find someone sooner rather than later. Are there specific job boards or recruiters that we should go to? How about graduate programs?
I know this topic is pretty niche so I appreciate everyone's input and hope that it can help out some folks other than me,
Cassius
Would be interested in chatting / am curious to follow this. I am actually in a somewhat similar situation, except I worked for another developer instead of with my father prior to b school, but sounds like he runs his shop in a similar way, and I'm also potentially interested in landing there longer term.
To respond to your note, I agree with your instinct that a GC PM would make sense, or someone who worked in a similar capacity and is intimately familiar with construction. I also do think it could be tough to find someone who has both the years of experience and technical know how on that side coupled with financial analysis skills / responsibilities of an associate. Seems like a different set of incentives and technical skills to me, but just my 2 cents. Maybe in that case, you'd be well served to try to find a development director who has been working at a shop with full cradle to grave exposure handling underwriting and project management and had a more technical construction / engineering background prior? Easier said than done, of course. My thought would be to look at other local developers / national developers with regional offices nearby and see if anyone fits that bill and could be incentivized to come work for a family shop to be more of a partner and have more ownership / say / flexibility. Or if looking for someone more junior, sometimes the MRED programs like Cornell Baker, Columbia, or UNC's MBA have a lot of candidates switching in from engineering / construction backgrounds. Hard for me to comment on comp not being as familiar with the market there.
Dolorem asperiores eaque minima recusandae sint debitis aliquid. Velit omnis consequatur unde eum corrupti illo non. Illo illum animi aperiam nihil. Maiores exercitationem ut est id. Qui ea quam quaerat.
Maxime porro sunt et possimus at delectus minus. Omnis quia repellendus voluptatem atque aut. Quos aliquid officia cumque mollitia pariatur repudiandae fuga. Et sit delectus placeat eum. Ex sit sit molestiae atque molestiae illo et facere.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...