# Managing a Renovation While You Are Abroad

> What has to be decided in London when you are not — payments, variations and site questions — and how a client-side project manager runs a South West London build remotely.

Author: Ben Murrell, Homeowners Project Manager · Published: 2026-10-09 · Category: Project Management
Canonical: https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/managing-a-renovation-from-abroad

You can be out of the country for a build. You cannot be the person who answers the builder the same day if you are also in another time zone, in meetings, or asleep when the site is open. Something on the ground has to be allowed to decide, or the job waits.

I am Ben Murrell. Pierre and Lottie in Earlsfield ran their project this way. They were not in London for the build. It was done through me and the builders. They said recommending that arrangement was obvious. It works only if the person on the ground is appointed by you.

## What does not work remotely

A weekly photo dump is not management. Photos show what someone chose to photograph. They do not show the drain that was covered yesterday, or the variation that was agreed in the van.

These are the things that go wrong when nobody local is instructed to act:

- **A variation gets a verbal yes** because you could not look at a breakdown before the gang packed up. You meet it on an invoice a month later.
- **A payment goes out against a date**, not against the stage, because querying it feels difficult from abroad.
- **A lead time is missed.** Glazing surveys, steel orders and kitchen confirmations need a person who can be on site on a Tuesday.
- **Neighbours and party wall** need a human who can be reached. An empty house with a digger and no one answering is how a calm street becomes a complaint.
- **Snagging gets signed off on photographs.** Scratches and falls in the paving do not show.

## What has to be agreed before you fly

Do this while you are still here, or on a long call before the start date.

1. **Who can instruct.** The builder needs one person to take direction from. If that is me, say so in writing, and say what I can agree without ringing you (usually anything inside a pre-agreed contingency, reported the same day) and what I must ask you first.
2. **A payment schedule tied to stages**, not to Fridays. You should be able to see what a certificate is for. The sequence I use is in [payment schedule for a London extension](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/payment-schedule-london-extension).
3. **A variation rule.** Nothing built until it is priced. That rule matters more when you cannot walk the site yourself. See [what an extra should cost](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/builder-variations-what-an-extra-should-cost).
4. **A rhythm.** A short written note after each visit: what happened, what it cost, what I need from you, what can wait. Not a 20-page report. You are in another country. You need the decision, not the diary.
5. **Keys, alarms, neighbours.** Who can open the house, who the neighbour calls, where materials can be left.

## Money and pressure, in one arrangement

The money risk of being away is paying for work you have not seen, and agreeing extras you cannot reconstruct. The pressure is the 7am message you cannot answer properly, and the feeling that the house is happening without you. Client-side is the appointment that sits in your seat while you are not in it: paid by you, on site, able to say no to the builder without you having to be the difficult client from an airport.

It is the same fee as a job where you are in London: 10–12% of the ex-VAT project cost, depending on whether you want key-stage visits or day-to-day. Distance does not change the percentage. It changes how much of the range you are likely to need. If you will be here for the start and the snagging, and away for the middle, say that. The middle is where the questions land.

If you are about to leave and the quotes are not lined up, that is the moment to talk. Leaving first and hoping the builder will "just crack on" is how remote jobs get expensive.

[Talk it through](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/contact) · 07525 474 849 · benmurrell83@gmail.com

## Keep reading

- [What a client-side project manager does](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/what-does-a-client-side-project-manager-do)
- [Do I need a project manager for my extension?](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/do-i-need-a-project-manager-for-an-extension)
- [Earlsfield, Fulham, Putney and Earl's Court](https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/blog/fulham-putney-earlsfield-earls-court-renovation-guide)

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Homeowners Project Manager — independent client-side project management for homeowners in South West London. Contact: 07525 474 849 · https://www.homeownersprojectmanager.co.uk/contact