When you might want extra Beams support
For larger or more complex projects, our optional Project Management Support is the upgrade. It adds weekly site visits, hands-on coordination, and proactive support, for 20% of the build cost.
By default, your builder runs the project day to day. For larger or more complex projects, you can opt in to additional Beams Project Management (PM) Support — more hands-on, weekly rather than per-milestone, and proactive on the things that often go wrong.
What it adds
The standard service gives you site visits at the four agreed milestones, contract structure, milestone payments, and background support. Project Management Support layers on top:
- Weekly site visits aligned to the project's progress and risk points, not just the four milestones.
- More hands-on coordination alongside your builder — sequencing decisions, supplier coordination, programme oversight.
- Proactive support on issues before they escalate. Many of the issues we see on builds could have been caught two weeks earlier with the right eyes on them; PM Support is those eyes.
The fee for Project Management Support is 20% of the build cost.
When it's worth it
PM Support tends to make sense when:
- The build is large — a whole home, a major extension, a project with multiple specialist trades sequencing together.
- You're not going to be on site much yourself — you're working full-time, you've moved out, you're abroad.
- The project has unusual complexity — heritage building, conservation area, joinery alongside build, structural work that interacts with finishes.
- You want a more managed experience and you'd rather pay for it than do it yourself.
When the standard service is the right call
The standard service works well when:
- The project is single-room or modest in scope.
- You're around to be involved in the day-to-day yourself.
- Your builder is one you've worked with before or one you trust to communicate well.
- You'd rather keep the cost down and run the relationship directly.
Most Beams customers run on the standard service, and most projects on the standard service work well. PM Support is an upgrade for the situations where the structure helps.
What this means for you
Talk to your planner if you're thinking about it. They'll talk through the trade-off — whether your project is the kind that benefits, what the additional fee will look like in your context, and what you'd actually get in practice.
Related articles
- What Beams does and what it doesn't do
- Your build advisor — what they do