Building Your Project Team

You want to mitigate risk.  You want to make informed, intelligent decisions.  You want to be able to move quickly and with the confidence that you’re doing the right things at the right time.  You want to be able to create budgets and dates and know that you’ll meet or beat them.  You want to be successful.

So, what factors are at play as you consider your desire to do a hotel project?  What are the considerations which you need to take into account as you set out on your journey?

There are three key factors which influence the success of a project:

People. Time. Money. 

In this article, I’ll focus solely on the People aspect.

The People are:

1. The Project Team; the consultants, project managers, purchasing agents, contractors and tradesman who take the project from vision to fruition. 
2. The Operator; the company and people who are responsible for making your property run.

So when should you begin to assemble a project team?  And who should be on that team, and when and for how long?  My suggestion is to begin as early as possible to assemble the team.  The required members of that team will depend on the project’s demands - like quality level, location, size, brand, market niche, barriers to entry, and desired opening date, to name a few. 

The selection and engagement of your Operator is best done as early as possible.  Each Operating company has specific criteria for literally every aspect of your project.  The sooner you engage them, the sooner you can begin to understand the Operator’s requirements and the sooner your Project Team can begin working with them to develop the specific designs, budgets, documentation and specifications needed to integrate them into the project.  I will go into more detail in a future article on the role of the Operator and what’s entailed in your consideration  because it’s truly one of the most valuable and important relationships you’ll have as a hotel owner, and one of the most long-lasting.  Your choice of Operator should be a choice which serves your interests as well as theirs, a truly symbiotic relationship.

I believe that guidance, organization and a clear understanding of the hotel design, development and delivery process is paramount, and it’s the keystone of your project team.  I’m talking about your Project Manager.  This is most typically either a company or an individual who has the knowledge and expertise to assist the Owner in running the project in its entirety, literally from start to finish.  This can be a third-party who is contracted to you or it can be someone who works directly within your organization.  It’s a very rare Owner who honestly has the skill sets, experience and expertise, and TIME to really do a proper job of hard core project management.  Unless you’re the serious real-deal, this is no place to skimp or believe the internal bravado you hear in your head.  Research and engage a good, experienced hospitality PM.  What you pay in fees is a pittance to what they’ll save you down the road.

I believe that guidance, organization and a clear understanding of the hotel design, development and delivery process is paramount, and it’s the keystone of your project team.  I’m talking about your Project Manager.  This is most typically either a company or an individual who has the knowledge and expertise to assist the Owner in running the project in its entirety, literally from start to finish.  This can be a third-party who is contracted to you or it can be someone who works directly within your organization.  It’s a very rare Owner who honestly has the skill sets, experience and expertise, and TIME to really do a proper job of hard core project management.  Unless you’re the serious real-deal, this is no place to skimp or believe the internal bravado you hear in your head.  Research and engage a good, experienced hospitality PM.  What you pay in fees is a pittance to what they’ll save you down the road.

Next on the list is almost always the Architect.  I can’t say enough about the importance of engaging a solid Architect, the Architect of Record.  Depending on your project size and location (domestic or international), you may also need or simply desire to split the duties between a Design Architect, and an Architect of Record.  Get a good one.  Get one who is experienced specifically in hotel design in the quality range your project is.  There is no savings in you paying anyone's tuition to learn on your project.  I'm doubting that you have the time nor the money to risk on any inexperienced consultants.

The Architect will typically engage under him the appropriate sub-consultants for the project.  Those consultants will typically be Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Structural  Engineers and Interior Designer as core members, and depending on the scale and demands of the project will also include Landscape Architect, Life Safety, ADA, Lighting Designer, Water Feature Designer and a host of other consultants.  Some Owners will engage the Interior Designer separately, and some prefer that the ID fall under the Architect’s contract.  We typically work in one of those two structures, though we have also engaged the Architect and his sub-consultants directly under our contract, but this isn’t the norm.

And now to focus on the engagement of an ID firm.  When should you hire an ID firm?  When should you go it alone and “save yourself the cost”? Perhaps you feel you could go it alone, or have your wife or  a local decorator you know frock up your hotel; perhaps you’re on the fence and want to know what all is entailed in this path should you take it.  In my experience – real projects use real professionals.

Here’s the issue.  You don’t know what you don’t know.  While that sounds like a bit of a No S#%@ statement, there is some meaningful truth in it which bears thinking about.

As I mentioned up front, hotel owners, and developers have a key need which must be understood and satisfied  – that of mitigating risk.  Risk in the form of financial control, in the form of over-spending on everything from planting materials, furniture, expendables, par-stock, supplies, staff salaries and consultant fees – the list is daunting indeed.

As with the other project consultants, every interior design firm brings a certain skill set (and hopefully) expertise and experience level. 

Hiring consultants because you “like them,” because they are the cheapest, or because they say they are  “passionate, creative, team players, and always on time and on budget” is a cause for concern and is luckily avoidable. I’m curious to know if anyone has ever claimed the opposite?  This is like proclaiming “our staff breathes air.”  Being professionally competent isn’t a point of difference; it is a given. 

The interior designer’s job is to figure out what needs to be done to make your hotel function the way it should, operate and be able to be maintained as it should.  They should be able to help establish and maintain budgets and project schedules, they should know how to create solid, buildable documents.  They should be able to create a design which is relevant, impressive and resonates with your target guests.  They should be able to manage time, resources, materials and people when it needs to be done and how it needs to be done.  This is the filter which will most likely keep you out of hot water and regret.

The Purchasing Agent is next and is one of your greatest allies.  Their area of expertise is that of buying all of the front of house items, the furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) and also the back-of-house goods, the OS&E, operating and service equipment.  A couple of cautionary notes.  Designers design.  Purchasing agents purchase.  And never should the two cross roles.  If the designer’s compensation is based on what they sell you, they’ll have no incentive to Value Engineer the project because they’ll be taking money out of their pocket.  The Purchasing world is replete with stories of kick-backs, spec fees, false invoices and more.  A reputable and desirable hospitality Purchasing Agent has a split personality.  To the team, they are pleasant and supportive, providing cost controls, logistics and warehousing knowledge.  To vendor and suppliers, they’re more like a Mob Collection guy, beating up the fluff, getting to the truth and getting your hotel delivered on time and on budget.  Their fee will be made back on the savings they earn for you.

On some projects, there can be times when one or more team members aren’t pulling their weight.  That situation rarely approaches slowly.  If you’re lucky, someone else may step in to pick up the slack.  Most likely, the fodder has hit the fan and there comes the realization that there’s a gap of some magnitude that needs to be filled immediately.

The sad truth is that almost always, the Owner is the party left to pick up the tab.  The collateral damages of this can be everything from a minor hiccup inconvenience to a catastrophic failure or shortfall which shuts the project down, never to resume again.  It’s never a great time when a tough and unfortunate decision needs to be made about removing a team member.  Don’t be afraid to do the right thing.  Remember whose project it is.  The rest of your team will understand your decision and will quite likely rally in support.      

Tough times will come.  There will be bumps in the road.  Good old Mr. Murphy’s Law will come into play.  As you consider your project and the team members who will be on it, select all your consultants wisely.  Select them based on their expertise and their ability to solve your problems and create a project for you which will earn the returns you want and deserve.