Construction Boom - Sean Stewart and Danny Atwell of One Builders

In this episode of Sun, Sea and Second Homes, Barbados Realtor Sean Stewart interviews Danny Atwell, Co-founder and Managing Director of One Builders Ltd, while at Porter's Place, St. James. 
One Builders focuses on commercial projects, and is currently deeply involved in hospitality development, including the high profile Hotel Indigo on the south coast.
In this conversation, Danny discusses project management, staying on top of logistics, building in Barbados, and the availability of quality tradesmen and women in Barbados. 
Learn more about properties for sale in Barbados here: https://stewartcorealty.com/search-result-sales

Transcript

Sean 0:17

Hi everyone, Sean here at Stewart and Core Real Estate once again. This is another episode of Sun Sea and Second Homes. I am having a chat with Danny Atwell today, who is co-founder and managing director of One Builders Limited, one of the premier construction companies on the island. Funnily enough, we are situated in Porter's Place, Luxury Villas, which is a 21 villa development built by One Builders. It's a combination of three and four bedroom villas. We're at the moment I'm standing in Villa 2, which is three bedrooms, three bathrooms with a beautiful swimming pool. And it's currently on the market. Have a look at my website, stewartcorerealty.com. Without further ado, let's chat to Danny. Hear what he has to say. So, Danny, welcome. Thanks for taking the time to come and have a chat with me. You are co-founder and managing director of One Builders Limited, which is arguably one of the premier construction companies in Barbados. Can you tell us a bit about One Builders, what you do, the type of projects you take on, and your role as a managing director?

Danny 1:19

Uh yeah, thanks, Sean, for having me. One Builders, you know, was founded by myself and James Edgell. Two of us started working 10 years ago now together, and the company was formed a couple of years later. You know, it's it's evolved over the years. Um, I've assumed your role as managing director, and you know, that is dealing with a lot of the day-to-day operations and running, managing the company, overseeing a lot of the departments, meeting with from HR to warehousing to plant and equipment, and and also visiting all these sites and meeting with the guys there. So it's every aspect from of the company literally from coming through the door to the very exactly. I kind of oversee all those various departments. Yeah. Um, you know, James does the development side very much involved in the strategy of the of the um business um as CEO and all those broader developments that he's he's in involved in. Yeah. Um and one bill is we've we've generally focused on commercial um projects, um, or that's how we started off. Okay. Um, but my background was in residential as well. So we have done some lovely villas um along with, but mainly focused on developments. Okay. Um, so larger developments like this Porter's Place project that we're in today.

Speaker 2:44

Yeah.

Danny 2:44

But mainly geared for commercial. We've started off with a lot of office buildings. Um, and having the equipment to do those office, high-rise office buildings, has led us into some of the very interesting, you know, hotels that have come about. Right. You know, having the various scaffolding and form art systems and lifting equipment to tackle those projects. So we've got into the hospitality range with some hotels, Beachview Hotel and Hotel Indigo is on the go now, um, and looking at some very exciting condo projects and so on.

Sean 3:17

I'm assuming that it's easier having the commercial infrastructure as a as a construction company to move into residential rather than the other way around because of the, as you said, because of the complicated form work, et cetera, that you have. Am I right in assuming that residential is probably slightly easier to sachet into from commercial rather than going the other direction?

Danny 3:38

Uh yes, you need less less equipment and different skill set. Um, and that is it's more of a process to do the high-end. Um, you do have to have the right tradesmen, obviously. Um but yes, less equipment is really necessary because they're low, low rise as opposed to high rise, so you don't need the scaffolding and lifting equipment that you would anything over two stories, you know.

Sean 4:02

And you do some civil as well. Does that fall under a separate umbrella to commercial? I'm assuming so. Civil is there's civil commercial residential. Am I right?

Danny 4:11

Yeah, we have done um a civil project, civil works project in Spikestown. Yeah. Um, the salt, what it called Saltwall drainage, um, which is that drainage project in Spitestown itself. Yes. And we partnered up with Kenneth CO Williams Construction to do that. They did the earthworks, we did the concrete, concrete works. Um, but a lot of that form work actually came from our commercial side to do it. So we were able to do those sort of works. I know, and a lot of our projects, because we will do everything from the project, from breaking ground to handing over the keys. You know, we were we were very custom doing the roads and car parks. Yes, yes, um, within our our developments that we're involved in. Um, so doing those works are nothing foreign to us. We're very, very comfortable in doing doing everything. Fair enough.

Sean 4:58

What brought you into the world of construction and project management and how and how has that journey evolved in Barbados?

Danny 5:05

It's funny. My whole family were construction, right? Um, my uncle was the general manager of CO Williams, and my father worked there as a director. And yeah, my seemed like all of my uncles and the whole thing was construction. Cindy blood. Yeah, Cindy Blood. As a teenager, I didn't necessarily gravitate towards it, but obviously I was summer jobs and and all the rest of it was always around and it was always talk around the table. I did a stint, you know, away three years um doing various things and okay. Where was that? UK, Ireland, you know, with the polo game. Right, yes, yeah, yeah. Okay. Then when I realized that, you know, it's time to shelve that and move back home. One of the the guys I was working for while I was here, because it was kind of summers in the UK or Ireland and it's winters back here, offered me a job. He was, you know, in the same industry and building. Yeah. And so I went to work with him and kind of the rest is history, kind of just picked everything up very quickly from there and was able to use my contacts from you know, family and everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of just grew and learned.

Sean 6:10

And I mean, goodness, uh, we we haven't even touched on the fact that you are an extremely accomplished polo player, uh, but we'll have to set up a whole different interview for that. Yeah. Retired. Retired, yeah, retired polo player, yeah. Fair enough, but very good nonetheless. What does successful project management look like in Barbados and how does it differ from other countries with more developed markets?

Danny 6:32

Hard for me to say how it is different to some of the other countries. I haven't worked too much in construction in those. Um, but project management in Barbados has actually developed quite a bit over the last 10 years, I would say 20, 15 years ago, even 10 years ago, there wasn't a lot of true project management. I mean, we will, as one builders, will normally just deal with the construction project management, which is really um dealing with everything for the company itself, scheduling, procurement schedules, and um planning of that project, you know. But there's obviously various different types of project management. There's the from the pure construction side, construction management and then project management side, which um is more the client side. Right. Okay. And we have done and we do do both. Yep. Because you know, sometimes we do have wear two hats on a on a project because we are involved in some of the development side.

Speaker 7:26

Yep.

Danny 7:26

And it has evolved locally. Um, there's a lot much more players in the game nowadays in project management. Yep. Some are more what I would call contractor-based or come from that contractor side and have more latest, some of our more QSing side or much more analytical side of it. As projects have become more complex, it has become much more necessary to do these, to do these roles. Um, because it protects the client. Yeah, it does organize things, make sure in the today's world with you know the logistics issues that I think we're all aware of, and you know, it some clients don't appreciate how quickly you need to order stuff, for instance. Yes, um, just to stay on schedule and making sure things are paid when they are, and keep prices in line prices in line, correct, you know, and keep contractors honest in in some cases, you know. You never know, depending on if you're now flying in and you already just fell in love with the island and want to buy a home or build, um, you may not know anybody on the island, at least you have that base, somebody that you can trust that you think that's on your side. Yes, um, because you don't necessarily know a lot of players. Absolutely. Yeah, and that's value in itself, right there.

Sean 8:41

That's no question about it. With more project managers on the scene now on project management having evolved over the past 10-15 years, has it done so for the better?

Danny 8:53

Is is has it evolved in a good way? Yes, I believe it's evolved in a good way. Um, you know, because it keeps people honest. Yeah. Um, it makes it more organized.

Speaker 9:02

Yes.

Danny 9:02

It's not just the contractor, everything falling on the contractor himself. And you know, it gives, I think it gives the clients more confidence.

Sean 9:10

Fair enough.

Danny 9:10

The project management role is is a good one and is and is necessary, and that's why it's grown. Right. More people have got into it, and um, it will only evolve from there.

Sean 9:20

Okay. Could you walk me through a typical project from concept to completion phases, challenges, etc.?

Danny 9:27

You know, a lot goes to the purchase of the land and the planning of that. Yep. And, you know, my recommendation for anybody getting into that is get your team together. Yep. Good architect and engineer. Because in my opinion, the two of them need to work together. Right. Okay. Um, some some projects, you know, if you only go to the engineer, the architect, the engineering isn't taken into account and it can cause some clashes.

Sean 9:55

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it tend to feel longer and slower the closer you get to the end? Because there's so much minutiae that needs to be attended to? Is that that's where it gets, I don't want to call it tedious, but the big stuff is out is out of the way. And then you're looking into detail, and that's where that's where the project starts to really, I don't know if you can say feel long, but the days tend to feel longer. Would I be right in in saying that?

Danny 10:22

Uh yes, I mean uh longer or go by quicker because you're doing so much. Or that, yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. But uh, yeah, the meet the finishing stage is is usually the hardest stage. Right. Without a doubt, because you're at the structural stage, you're dealing with, you know, concrete and steel. You're you're digging, you're digging the holes, you're putting marl down, and you're setting your form work, and you're dealing with you're dealing with one or two contractors, subcontractors, or or you know, different trades, these steel guys and masons. As you get out the ground now, you're going into your finishes, yeah, you're dealing with much more. You're still dealing with a lot of the masons, but you're into your painters and your tilers and carpenters. And so the the volume of people increases massively.

Sean 11:05

Okay.

Danny 11:06

Over as you get closer. And as a lot of small things, yes. So a lot more spinning plates. A lot more spinning space. And it just getting those final things over the line um can be quite challenging. Yes, I can imagine. In the time, because you know, during the course of construction, people, you know, some of those timelines might slip a little bit and you try to catch back up in other areas. But when there's the deadline, there's there's no time. So it's just like so that the sort of panic then comes in. Oh, we've got to get this done.

Sean 11:35

And and and there's stuff that's completely out of your control, like weather. Yeah. Um, I'm I remember when this was being built, we had uh, well, I say we, um you had challenges where the the it rained consistently, persistently for weeks, and that set everything back. Yeah. Which, you know, I you know, good on you, because I I uh still try to get my head around how you manage that when no one has any control over two weeks that you had planned into a schedule and all of a sudden it has disappeared, and no one can account for it. There's there's no control.

Danny 12:13

Yeah, no control. You just gotta try and roll with the punches, as they say, you know. And the what the rains came a lot earlier than traditionally. Yes. And you know, it was a challenge, but um you got through it. Every chat every project has its challenges, of course, and uh you just gotta find a way around it and and push on through it. Shipping and logistics went crazy with during this project. Absolutely. Um that was another, I mean, goodness, you had your work cut out for you there, didn't you? Yeah, yeah. We had to change tact a little bit midway through uh where we got a warehouse and and made sure to bring everything early and store it in that warehouse so we had a buffer of time, but still some things you know we got delayed far more than than we originally anticipated. Right. Or that you be anybody could anticipate, really. But we worked through it and we got through it, and I think we got a good good product at the end.

Sean 13:06

Absolutely. Well, we there's there are a lot of happy residents, that's for sure. So the the proof is in the pudding. How do you coordinate between architects, engineers, suppliers, clients? Are there any particular dynamics involved?

Danny 13:18

We have generally good relationships with most of the architects and engineers. Yeah. And as a communication thing and it's a respect thing. I mean, a lot of it is relationships, but we do have actually a lot of kind of softwares nowadays that help us with that. So we, as one builders, we do embrace technology. And we have many ways of doing it. So we we have a construction software that houses all of our um requests for information, submittals, transmittals, okay, you know, all of our daily logs and so on. That all the information is in one spot. Right. And this is critical for some projects, especially when the consultants are overseas. Of course.

Speaker 14:00

Yeah. Okay.

Danny 14:00

So drawings are it houses all the drawings, everything. The client is on board, you know, we can bring all these subcontractors within that, and we we can manage the whole project in terms of information that housed within that.

Sean 14:15

So that's got to be leaps and bounds ahead of pre-sort of cloud storage, etc. The fact that everyone can access information now at a the touch of a keypad or or a button must be hugely uh beneficial uh and uh for for ease, just as far as being able to communicate stuff to to different stakeholders within the project.

Danny 14:37

It is, yes, it is. It's it's uh it just houses all that information, keeps it all in one spot. So it's not, you know, it makes it um simple for you know the contractor, the project manager, even the architect, then to to manage that information.

Speaker 14:51

Yeah.

Danny 14:52

We've also gone into another set of technology for the uh hotel, which we're gonna continue to employ that that is 3D cameras that when you walk around sites will take an image of the entire room that you're doing, that you can in a live be able to see your ceilings, walls, everything. We do that once a week so that we can actually have a visual as built of all the space, the plumbing in the walls and thing before we close them up. Yeah, that you know, if if a particular architect or client wanted to know if something was finished, you can go into that particular room and actually show him in live like this is done, or that was not done, Mr. Subcontractor. You know, why why wasn't that done? Yeah, um, so it's a very, very useful piece piece of equipment. Um, we do use Dropbox as well to house all of our drawings. So we've gone full technology, but you still need the management to back it up. Of course. Technology is only as good as the information you put into it. Yes. So you still need the teams and the people there to and train them how to use this technology. Yeah.

Sean 15:58

And I mean I'm assuming that you're now relying to a certain extent on a skill of some of your staff members that you didn't have to before, which is uh tech. So there's another skill set that now has to to or at least has to be familiar.

unknown 16:15

Yeah.

Sean 16:16

Some of the staff have to be familiar with that probably they didn't before.

Danny 16:19

Yes, I mean, but the the tech nowadays is much more user-friendly. Okay. I mean, there are some, you know, old school foreman that still work with us that are not tech savvy, right? But we keep them where they're good at, you know, making sure the work is done properly. Yeah. Um, and we do have more administrative um roles within the company that support that tech. Okay. Yeah, to enter the information correctly and to just do all the checks and the reports and whatever we need. Because since we have grown, um, we were able to put people in those positions to manage that tech.

Sean 16:55

Right. Understood.

Danny 16:56

Makes sense. That are qualified to do it. To do it. To use it. Yeah.

Sean 17:00

Fair enough. What are some of the major logistical challenges that you'll experience in Barbados, especially when it comes to importing materials and finding skilled labor?

Danny 17:08

Well, you hit the nail on the head there. I mean, material and labor are the two key logistics um issues. And unfortunately, we're still having a lot of logistics issues with the shipping nowadays. It's it's up and down. Um, with procurement, you know, everything as everybody knows what's going on in North America. Yeah. That's obviously put some things in a in a loop there. But it seems to be settling down a bit. But I think it all comes down to planning. Once you plan well and you put your orders in early, yeah, that's just what you need to do. Maybe, well, we have extended early times. You know, if something usually takes four weeks to come in, we might add it, add six. If it takes three months to come in, we'll we'll add an extra month. Just giving yourself as much time as possible in with today's world. And labor, I mean, we've we've actually, you know, it's funny. Me and James started working together 10 years now. It was only two years ago that we've really had our first kind of foreign uh manager or even tradesman that we brought in.

Sean 18:14

Okay.

Danny 18:15

You know, we were always able to go local, yep. Um, all local staff through the whole company. But obviously taking on the hotel and so on, right? We needed people with those expertise. So we've we brought in guys for the management for that, and we ended up bringing in some, had to really bring in tradesmen um to supplement our our local staff and our local um contingent, um, just because you know, small island, and there's a lot going on at the moment.

Sean 18:42

Well, I was gonna say, I mean, there's there's a lot of construction going on all over, and that's clearly gonna impact the talent you can get.

Danny 18:50

Yeah, 100%.

Sean 18:50

And the cost at which you can get it.

Danny 18:52

100%. I mean, there's obviously limited resources in terms of talent. I mean, we've had support from the the government on that, but they do realize the the challenges, yeah. Um, and they have been allowing um people to legally go go through that legal state to bring people in because the last thing you want to do it is do it illegally where they're not trapped. Absolutely. And there's no um there's no record of guys coming in and out. So they are supporting the the contractors in that, and we're able to bring in skilled labor to to execute some of these projects. Yeah.

Sean 19:23

So this question may sort of follow on from the last one. How do delays in shipping or customs impact project timelines and how do you manage clients' expectations around that?

Danny 19:34

Um, it's having those conversations early. Usually we would advise clients on that from early. Tell them about the challenges, which a lot of them do appreciate because it's all in the, you know, it's nothing that's being hidden. Everybody knows generally what's going on. Yeah. Um globally, not just even on islands. Right. We would even share our programs and our procurement schedules with them and show them our plan and you know, increasing those lead times. So being being transparent and communicating with the with them about that. And then, you know, if if ultimately it goes on longer than that, at least they can see that we've done our best. Yes. And that's all you can do is put your best foot forward. Um, and I've we've always found as long as you do that, then usually most clients are very understanding about that. Clear enough. Some of these things just out of your hands.

Sean 20:27

Yeah. Is there any local or regional sourcing or innovations that you see are being implemented that are helping the process? Is there anything that can be done or is being done that is is trying to ease the logistical challenges?

Danny 20:44

You know, the the the port have brought in these X-ray scanners that will last a couple of years do clear shipments sooner. So they scan them actually in the port. It's fine. We actually did the structure for it. Uh we built the the structure for this the scanner itself a few years back. That's helped because then you don't have to get customers office of clearing every single container. Right. But there's there's only so much we can do here. Yeah. Um, a lot of it ties down to world market, and because everything is imported, you know, there are a lot of local joiners and tradesmen we obviously work with to get things manufactured here, and there's there's good companies here that that do that now. Right. Um we do try to use them as much as possible. But any day, most of the most of the material is imported, and we just need to plan accordingly. Accordingly, yeah, fair enough.

Sean 21:35

For someone overseas looking to build or renovate a house in Barbados, is there any particular advice that you would give them?

Danny 21:41

When it comes to that, um build your team and take your time to build your team, right? And background checks is to check as much as possible. It's a small island, a lot of people know, especially in the game, know each other. Um, so when you're buying your land, you know, ask your lawyer or your real estate agents what their suggestions, but as much background checks as you can do, and and just try and build as good a team as you can. Makes sense.

Sean 22:11

What kind of construction or design trends are you seeing at the moment, whether it be in hotels, you know, in the midst of building a hotel or two, uh, or residential. Are you seeing any any trends?

Danny 22:25

Well, certainly with the commercial side, a lot of trends are going industrial, in that um, they keep open ceilings as opposed to the drop ceilings. A lot of people are kind very modern, kind of industrial, which you actually do see a lot of New York and London nowadays. Yeah, a lot of places are going down that that road. We just finished a lot of open ceilings up at W Plaza for Do It Best and courts and so on, where open ceilings and yeah, I've been in there.

Sean 22:50

It's I mean, it looks fantastic.

Danny 22:52

And high, yeah. Yeah, people are going more modern, more clean lines, right? Certainly with the commercial, and you see that a lot with the residential nowadays. Yes. Um, here at Porter's, I mean it's a lot of clean lines as opposed to, you know, 20 years ago it was a lot of arches, a lot of coral render, coral block, um, that sort of traditional. And you still see some of that nowadays, but I think people have been trending more towards the modern interesting. Um, and porcelain tile as opposed to stone. Yes. Porcelain tile is, you know, it's a very fantastic product and it's bulletproof. And the truth is for the longevity here in the islands, it's it's you know, probably the best thing to be using as opposed to wood or right, which can be. You know, stone tile is is is lovely, but it can also wear uh over time. Yeah. Um, whereas porcelain doesn't have that, it's very robust, yeah.

Sean 23:44

Yeah, excellent. Is there any one or more than one thing that excites you about the future of construction and development in Barbados? And if so, what is it or are they?

Danny 23:53

I think well, construction in Barbados, kind of everything. Is it is an exciting time to be in. Yeah, we're definitely going through a quite a boom at the moment. There's a lot going on and a lot of exciting projects. We know we're not going to be in this boom forever. At some point, it will slow, but we're gonna take advantage while we can and put our best foot forward. And I like being involved in the design of the project and being being involved in some from start to finish. Yes. Yeah. We've actually started getting into more of the design build uh where we have more control over the the entire process. Okay, and that's working out all right? Yeah, working out great so far. And um that's the direction we would like to go in as much as possible. But that's certainly something that I'm we're we're I'm kind of looking forward to getting more into.

Sean 24:42

Excellent. I'm gonna shoot a few quick questions at you um off the hip. What's the biggest misconception about building in Barbados?

Danny 24:49

That all the contractors are crooks, maybe. Fair enough. There are some good ones out there. Yeah. There are some crooks out there. Right. There are many good ones out there. Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Again, background checks. Yes, background checks and background checks as much as possible. Fair enough. Uh we do have good material here and good labor here. There are some excellent um tradesmen and you know, Barbadian, born and bred, and and all that. That's obviously the labor pool is not as big, but they are very committed. Committed, very good um local guys that can do anything.

Sean 25:28

Yes. I'm assuming in order to take advantage of the good artisans and and the guys that and ladies that are really committed to their work, that really involves planning ahead so that you can you can secure them so that you can get them. So trying to do it last minute is not gonna work because they're normally sought after and busy.

Danny 25:48

Yeah, yeah. All the good guys are busy. Right. You know, you you so yes, you don't need to give them planning and you know, and they and a lot of the good guys have their allegiances. A lot of those good guys have their allegiances to me. Yeah, and have their allegiances to the other, some of the other bigger contractors as well.

Speaker 26:04

Yes.

Danny 26:04

Um, they might have their own private little clients. Of course. It's not that they're out there, but they're obviously busy doing work for for others.

Sean 26:12

Absolutely.

Danny 26:13

What's the first thing a property owner should ask before hiring a builder? Just checking, check as a background checks, checking around with your architects, your thing to see if he's reputable or not. Yep. Looking at his team, what what resources he has in terms of support?

Speaker 26:30

Yes.

Danny 26:30

Um, you know, if in case he needs to bring something in, does he have a warehouse to bring material in early? Yep. Or is it going to be dependent on landing stuff and bringing it straight into the home? Right. Okay.

Sean 26:43

Very good point. Things like that.

Danny 26:45

Again, today with these logistical things, I mean, that's that's a step we had to make um into getting warehousing for that planning. So yeah, just checking his what resources he has in terms of staff, um, equipment. Yeah. Um, you know, depending on how high you're going, does he have the right scaffolding and and everything to get the job done? Yeah. Does he have the right staff to get the job done? And obviously every project is different. Yeah. What you're building.

Sean 27:12

But I yeah, I guess as a client, you just want to find your own comfort that the person you're hiring knows what they're doing and has the resources to to do what they say they're going to do.

Danny 27:20

Yeah.

Sean 27:20

Yeah.

Danny 27:20

Yeah, exactly.

Sean 27:21

Fair enough. What's one thing that always adds value to a construction project? Is there one thing that will always add value?

Danny 27:28

Hard to put it down to one thing. Yeah, can't think of a thing right now.

Sean 27:32

It's a variety of things that I guess contribute to a Yeah, I would say, you know, planning.

Danny 27:36

Yeah, you cannot plan enough, right? And just doing everything as early as possible. Yeah. You know, you should be planning your finishes, you know, while the building is in the foundation. Right. You know, and things like that. Or even plan it before you even start. Right. You know, as much as you can plan, the more you can get your materials in and everything is makes all the difference. Is key.

Sean 28:00

Yeah. Okay. This should be fun. What's the biggest logistical nightmare you've had and how did you solve it?

Danny 28:07

Um I would have to think about that one.

Sean 28:10

There's quite a few. All right, we'll come back to that. Yeah, yeah. Okay, here's one. Island life versus building timelines. How do you manage that balance? And I know because I have known you for a long time, and I know the the hours that you work, and they're not short. Uh, and and so I I see the days and the hours that you work, and so my question is how do you draw a balance between the timelines, especially when things start to go a little bit pear-shaped? One, a life for yourself, and two, managing possibly island time, which is not necessarily gonna always align with your expectations of time.

Danny 28:54

Yeah, it's a tricky one always in construction. Again, I think it just comes down to planning. You gotta we would normally, when we do a program for a project, have that at a five-day week. Right. But we usually we're not working six, we'll end up working these Saturdays. Yeah. We've had a couple of projects now working seven days a week, Sundays, uh, but we have different crews that come in. We have set adventist crews that only work on a Sundays, they're not working on Saturdays and so on.

Speaker 3 29:19

Right.

Danny 29:20

But yeah, I mean, I've been born and raised here. So I'm I understand the island life. Yes. And you know, when Kanoan is coming up, the fellas can be partying. Right. Yeah. So I you know manage that time accordingly. To manage that in it's like you know, rainy season is a certain time of the year as well. So you gotta manage that into into when you're doing your scheduling.

Sean 29:47

Makes sense, and and clearly at the same time, you're managing your own time into that because no play makes Danny a dull boy.

Danny 29:54

Oh, yeah, definitely. And one thing I've learned is that it's to book your whole late in and try. As much as possible to stand by it. If you leave it and say, well, when I don't get busy, I'll book something. Right. It never happens because you're never, everything, something's always going on.

Sean 30:11

Fair enough. Makes sense. Why is project management just as important as building itself?

Danny 30:16

The planning of it.

Sean 30:17

The planning.

Danny 30:18

Yeah. Yeah. Anyone could build anything, but today with the logistics issues and the coordination. Coordination between client, their thoughts of what something should look like. Yeah. And the architect and what they think it should look like. Yeah.

Speaker 30:37

Yes.

Danny 30:38

And reality of what it actually takes to achieve that type of materials and how long these things are going to take to actually get done. And the planning is part of it is key. And that's where a lot of the project management falls into.

Sean 30:51

What I'm taking here from the our last 20-25 minutes is the two things that are really key are planning and background checks. Now, obviously, the background checks are taken care of by you as a project manager because you know what you're dealing with. But for someone who's coming onto the island or into the arena of construction, it is all about planning and all about background checks. Just making sure that you know who you're dealing with and planning ahead so that your expectations are as closely met as possible.

Danny 31:27

Yeah.

Sean 31:27

For those who are considering coming into the into construction to build their own dream home or to have it built for them. That's what I'm getting from here.

Danny 31:36

Is that right? Uh yeah, I would say so. It's for you, you would new ones coming in. If you don't know anybody in Ireland, is is to start checking around as much as possible and build that team. I mean, it'll be up to that team. But if you need a project manager and you choose that person knowing and clearly communicating with them, to have everything in place and clearly communicating with your architect and your engineer, you know, as as early as possible, give them as much information as possible. Yes. That they can they can help you. Because they at any day they're, you know, everybody's going to be pushing to the same goal. Correct.

Sean 32:10

Well, I am um delighted that you could, I and I know taking away from your work is is a big ask. So, firstly, or set again I should say, thank you very much for taking the time to come and sit with me, Danny. Um, really interesting stuff, as always. I'm seeing one builders doing lots of stuff uh and expanding all over the place. Long may it last, and hopefully we'll do some more stuff together going forward. Danny, thank you so much, man. Always a pleasure.

Danny 32:36

Always a pleasure.