God's Provision of an Angel in the guise of a Project Manager

God's Provision of an Angel in the guise of a Project Manager


Well it seems ages since I wrote Chapter 2 and everytime I wanted to carry on, there was just too much to do at the house.  It has been a bit hectic, running all over the place trying to choose tiles, lights, paint etc.
Anyway, to back up a bit in the sequence of things, I want to tell  you about a really wonderful provision of God during this whole project.  I was very stressed about trying to manage this whole building and renovating project and felt rather out of my depth.  Building a house from scratch (that is known as a green field project) is much easier than renovating an old one (a brown-field project) because with a new one you know what your costs are going to be based on R6-8000,00 per sq. metre) compared with an old one or brown-field where there are some hidden surprises and hidden costs you just couldn't factor in at the beginning.  So it has been very stressful in terms of trying to keep control of the budget.  My architect didn't seem to understand my anxiety in that regard and kept telling me that I had to do this or that (always very smart and up-market ideas, but constantly threatening my budget).  I often had sleepless nights about this, and my journal is full of prayers and cries to the Lord to help me, guide me and give me wisdom and please provide.  Basically "Help, Lord! I'm not coping".  The worst part was when we asked 3 contractors to come and give quotes and only one actually did come back with a quote and it was about R100,000.00 more than I could afford.  The architect said, "Well you'll just have to go with this one, there is no time to look for others."  Just after that the Lord gave me a verse during my morning time of prayer.  "I will send my angel to guide you to the place I have prepared for you."  That was very encouraging, but what happened next was amazing.  We were invited to dinner by a couple whom we had only just met, as the wife, Vivienne, had recently joined our church.  So on the Saturday we went to their home.  During conversation I discovered they had also just finished renovating the house they had bought, and before they did that it was quite a mess. Now it looked marvelous. So I told our host, Rob, a bit about what I was trying to do and he very kindly offered to look at the quote I had. I duly took it to him on Monday. He checked  it over and said he thought he could get a builder to do it for about R90,000 less. Then he suggested that I should look for another couple of quotes, and even if it took longer, it would be wise to get the right builder.   He then offered to be my project manager.  I was very surprised as we hardly knew each other and asked him what he would charge me.  "Nothing." was the calm reply.  "But," I protested, "I can't accept that. Why would you do it for nothing?" "Well, don't you do stuff for other people for nothing? Okay, I'll charge you R1 then you can tell your architect that you have hired me."  "Oh, I'm not sure I can afford that," I joked, "but I would be very grateful if you would help me." I then discovered that he had just retired from being a project manager of a very big company, managing billions of rand projects in Gauteng, and that he also had lectured at Wits on Project Management!  So here was God's provision of an angel to guide me.  I was immensely relieved.


The upshot of this was that he took control of the initial costing and contracting of a builder - in fact the one who had done his house, whom he knew was good - and also advised the architect that from now on we would not be needing his services, but that we appreciated his excellent plans, and would he please let us have his bill.  Basically "Don't call us, we'll call you."  I felt that I was in safe hands. Rob then began to coach me on how to manage a project.  I had to make a list of every possible job that needed to be done and in the right sequence.  I also had to draw up a list of costs broken down into the different aspects of the whole project.  So he was not only holding my hand through the process and making sure I wasn't ripped off, but also empowering me to take control of the job.  He reminded me that I am the boss and I must call the shots. But he also warned me that indecision can be very expensive.  That I learned very quickly. At first, I would think aloud about whether I wanted to knock down that wall or that door, and then found that if I wasn't careful then the builder would go and do it.  And every extra job I asked for would be charged for and then the costs would creep up.  So I had to be very careful to think through what I was doing or wanting.  Anyway, with all of this now more or less in place we started the work, but there were still going to be many anxious moments and sleepless nights ahead.