The questions homeowners ask before appointing anyone.

A builder builds what's in front of them. A project manager decides what should be in front of them, and when. That means turning the architect's drawings into a sequenced programme and a cost plan, putting the work out and appointing trades, running site meetings and inspections, keeping building control satisfied at the right stages, pricing variations before they're built, checking valuations, and closing out a snagging list at the end. On a project of any size somebody is doing that job — the only question is whether it's a trained person you appointed or you, in the evenings.

Honestly, some aren't. A single room, a straightforward bathroom or a job with one trade on site doesn't need a manager between you and the work. Where it starts to earn its keep is when several trades have to follow each other in a fixed order, when structure or building control is involved, or when you're spending enough that an unrecorded variation matters. We'll tell you which side of that line your project sits on at the first visit, at no charge.

They can, and plenty do it well. The difference is where their commercial interest sits. A main contractor is managing their own work, so challenging a price, a substitution or a shortcut is a conversation with themselves. We're appointed by you and never hold the building work, so there's nothing on our side of the table to defend.

Three: full residential project management on renovations and extensions, complete rebuilds and new builds, and home interior design coordinated with the construction programme. All residential, all for private homeowners.

No. If you already have drawings we'll work from them and with your architect. If you don't, we can walk the property, talk through what the project involves and what's needed, and help you appoint an architect — being involved before the scheme is fixed usually saves money rather than costing it, because buildability gets considered while it's still cheap to change.

Will, for the project itself — the first visit, the programme, the cost plan, the site meetings and the handover. Lucy Griffiths handles contracts, budgets, invoices and coordinating the snagging from the office, and a site manager runs the day-to-day on site. It's a small company on purpose, so there's nobody to be passed to.

The drawings are turned into a cost plan before work starts, and it's tracked stage by stage against valuations. When something changes — and on a renovation something always changes — you get the options and what each one costs before the work happens, and it's recorded there and then. The final account should be a document you recognise, not a surprise.

Sometimes, and it depends far more on sequence than on scope. Which rooms come out of use and when, where the kitchen lives in the meantime, how access and dust are handled, and which weeks are genuinely going to be difficult — we'd rather set all of that out in advance than apologise for it later. On a complete rebuild, no.

Enough that you never have to ask. Thorough communication with the client, the architect, building control and the neighbours is the deliverable we're actually selling — as one of the testimonials on our site puts it, the aim is a project that's "as stress-free as it could possibly be".

We do. Inspections are planned into the programme so nothing is covered up before it has been seen, and the certificates exist at the end rather than being chased when you come to sell. Neighbours get told what's happening and when the noisy weeks are — it costs nothing and prevents most disputes.

We walk the property and write the snagging list, then stay on it until it's closed out, with the certificates, manuals and warranties collected and handed over. A project should finish properly rather than just go quiet.

Harpenden and St Albans. Our recent projects have all been in those two towns and that's deliberate — the office is on Luton Road in Harpenden, which puts every project within a few minutes' drive. If you're just outside, ask, and we'll give you a straight answer rather than stretch.

W. Cawrey & Co. Limited was incorporated on 28 February 2006 and has been active since — you can check the record at Companies House under number 05724752. Will's construction management experience runs back further, to five years managing large-scale new-build construction from 2000 to 2005.