Project Management · Nairobi
Construction Project Managers in Nairobi
Acting as the client's representative on programme, procurement, cost control and quality — so somebody technically qualified is watching the project on your behalf rather than on the contractor's.
- Incorporated in Kenya
- Est. 2017
- Engineering disciplines in-house
- 3
- Combined team experience
- 10+ yrs
Talk about project management
Four fields. You'll hear back within one business day, from someone who can answer technical questions.
Registered and compliant with
Whose side is the person on site on
A contractor's foreman is a good thing to have. He is not your representative
On most Kenyan projects the only technically qualified person attending site regularly works for the contractor. He is usually competent and usually honest. He is also, quite properly, managing the project in his employer's interest, and those interests are not identical to yours on programme, on specification or on what constitutes a variation.
The result is that the client finds out about problems at valuation, which is the point at which the money has already been spent and the options have narrowed to accepting it or arguing about it.
A project manager appointed by you changes what information reaches you and when. TopHall Group provides project management as one of its seven service lines — including on projects we are not building, where being independent of the contractor is precisely the point.
What a client's PM prevents
Five things that happen when nobody is representing you
These are not accusations of bad faith. They are what an unmanaged project drifts towards.
Programme slipping quietly
A week here and two there, none of them reported as delay, all of them real. A baseline programme with dates makes slippage visible while it is still recoverable.
Variations appearing at valuation
Work done first and priced afterwards is work you have lost the ability to decline. Variations get instructed in writing, before, or not at all.
Specification quietly substituted
Materials swapped for what was available that week, unrecorded. Somebody checking deliveries against the specification stops this being a discovery at handover.
Quality signed off by the person who did it
Reinforcement, cover and concrete grade are checkable before a pour and only inferable after. Independent inspection at those points is the whole quality system.
Payments running ahead of the work
Valuations certified against what has actually been built, measured, not against what has been invoiced.
What the appointment covers
What a project manager actually does
Scoped to what your project needs — full management, or supervision and reporting only.
Programme & Delivery Management
A baseline programme, critical path tracking, and early warning when something threatens a date that matters.
Cost Control & Valuations
Spend measured against the bill, variations priced before they are instructed, and payment certificates issued against measured work.
Technical Review
Independent checking of structural drawings and details before they are built, by engineers rather than by administrators.
Quality Inspection
Site attendance at setting out, reinforcement, pours and key stages, with written sign-off before the next trade proceeds.
Compliance Tracking
Approval conditions, environmental management plan obligations and statutory requirements tracked as programme items with dates.
How an appointment starts
Six steps to taking control of a project
Including projects already under way, which is when most people call.
Where the project stands
What is designed, what is contracted, what is built, and what is worrying you.
Document and site review
Drawings, contract, bill, programme and valuations, checked against what is physically on site.
Position report
An honest account of the real cost and programme position, including anything you have not been told.
Baseline & controls
An agreed programme, a cost reporting format, and a written instruction procedure everyone works to.
Ongoing management
Site attendance, inspections, valuations, variation control and reporting on a fixed cycle.
Completion & handover
Snagging managed to closure, final account agreed, documentation collected and handed to you.
Why TopHall
A project manager who can read the drawings
That sounds obvious. It is not universal.
Engineers, not administrators
Structural, environmental and water engineering are our own disciplines. When something looks wrong on site, we can say why rather than escalate it.
Independent where it matters
On projects we are not building, we have no interest in certifying work that should not be certified, and no valuation of our own to protect.
Cost measured, not estimated
Quantity surveying is a service line here, so valuations and variations are measured properly rather than negotiated.
We know what gets built, not just what gets drawn
Because we also run construction, we know which shortcuts are normal practice, which are acceptable and which are not.
Reporting on a fixed cycle
Progress, spend and open risks with a named contact — Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:30pm, and Saturday mornings.
Our work
The stages that get inspected
Photographs from TopHall sites and a structural visualisation produced by our team. Each is captioned for what it is.
Site photographReinforcement set out and checked against the drawings — an inspection point signed off before the pour.
Site photographSubstructure inspected for line, level and coursing before the superstructure proceeds.
Design visualisationThe structural design a frame is inspected against.
Before you call
What clients ask about project management
Can you manage a project another contractor is building?
Yes — that is the most common form of this appointment, and the arrangement where it is worth the most. We act as your representative: inspecting, measuring, certifying and reporting. Because we have no construction interest in the project, there is nothing to trade off between what we tell you and what we are owed.
What does project management cost?
It is normally a percentage of construction value, and it varies with how much of the role you want — full management including procurement and valuations sits at one end, periodic inspection and reporting at the other. What we will do before quoting is tell you which of those your project actually needs, because on a small and well-run job the lighter appointment is often the honest answer.
Can you take over a project that is already in trouble?
Yes, and it is worth doing sooner rather than later. The first piece of work is a position report — what has actually been built, what it has actually cost, and where the programme really is, checked on site rather than taken from the contractor's account. It is not always comfortable reading, but you cannot make decisions about a project until you know where it is.
Want someone on site who works for you?
Tell us where the project is and what is worrying you. We will tell you honestly whether it needs a project manager or just a second opinion.
Prefer to talk now? Call +254 742 147 558.