How to Project Plan Your Property Business

How can you ensure your project runs smoothly without stakeholders canceling their commitment to it?  Or without finances and resources running out midway?

It seems like a herculean task, but many people don’t know that you don’t have to be an expert in project management.

With the right project plan guide, planning your property business project will be a breeze. Keep reading to find eight simple steps that will show you how to build a great project plan.

What is a project plan?

A project plan is a formal document that many businesses use to supervise projects, control, and execute them. It specifies, prioritizes, and selects the tasks and resources needed to create the arrangement for a successful project.

A project plan mainly documents procedures and decisions and makes communication easier among project stakeholders and other individuals.

Do you need a project plan for your property business?

Drawing a project plan for your property business is an integral part of setting up your company because this will help lay your company’s foundation.

The project plan will strategically develop your property business if you go through the thorough process of creating and analyzing the project before you proceed.

Project planning your property business — A breakdown

As tricky as project planning may seem, you can easily make a great project plan for your property business with the following steps. While these steps are not one-size-fits-all, they are the necessary steps involved in most business project processes. You can tweak each stage based on your specific project needs.

Step 1: Define your WHAT and WHY

Key stakeholders in your company can decide if a project is relevant or not, which is why it’s essential to highlight the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of your property business.

A property business project plan helps to determine your company’s propositions and overall purpose.

Defining your ‘What’ and ‘Why’ gives you a comprehensive overview and realistic projection of how you expect your business to work. For this, you would need to draw up a business case.

A business case will help you capture and define why the business is initiated, its benefits, and the ROI (Return on Investment) in a clear and structured way.

It is also one of the major factors that help you win over investors, stakeholders and motivate team members to remain committed to the project.

A clearly defined purpose is the first start to a successful project.

Step 2: Highlight your goals and objectives.

To have a concise view of your project, write down the project goals and objectives. Your project goals are what you would like to achieve in the project, while your objectives are the actions you will take to achieve your goals.

Doing this makes it easier for you to build the structure of your plan. You can use milestones to define check-in points in the project to see how much progress you are making and what the expectations are.

Then make a list of the goals and objectives by scrutinizing the project’s overall purpose and highlighting the key needs it seeks to achieve and how you plan to do so.

Step 3: Map out the project scope.

Mapping out the project scope creates a full view of every area the project will touch. This is important because it helps you know if you are not on track to meet the expected result, if the project is not as extensive as it should be, or deviates from its relevance.

Necessary communications, actions, and activities are overlooked if there is no project scope. A thoroughly mapped out scope shows the individuals and stakeholders involved in the project, and all the touchpoints the project is expected to make from the start.

A clear scope allows the financial planning team to determine how big a budget the property business will need, and at what point money and other resources will be needed.

Step 4: Outline the structure of your property business project

This step works hand in hand with Step 3 above. It is important to outline the project structure based on the scope.

An outline defines what procedures need to be carried out immediately or which one you can postpone. Without an outline, the project will get muddled up, tasks will get done at the wrong time, and there would be no communication cohesion.

Identify the project deliverables and the necessary outputs required from every team member to get it done. The project outline needs to be detailed and shareable, to reduce the chances of miscommunication.

If you’re working within a team, the best way to do this is to prepare detailed presentations to lay-out your project’s steps for both your team and your own peace of mind.

Using the best presentation software beyond Microsoft Powerpoint itself will ensure that your project is presented clearly and can then be actioned effectively by all involved.

With a clear outline in hand, you’ll be all set to take your property business’s project to the next step.

Step 5: Draft an expected project timeline

One key element of every project is time. How much time does your project need to get accomplished? How will you ensure that that timeframe is met? While many projects come with their drawbacks and hold-ups, an expected due date helps ensure that results are delivered.

Draft out the milestones where specific tasks should be accomplished that will ensure successful project delivery. You already have your highlighted goals, objectives, and a structure of how the project should run. It is now time to allot specific deadlines that will keep the project on track.

Anything can happen during a project, sick leaves, delays in delivery of resources, cancellations, and lots more. When creating a project timeline, a wise thing to do is include a bit of extra time or ‘wiggle room’ in deadlines to allow for unforeseeable hitches that may occur.

Step 6: Mark out roles, key responsibilities, and budget

As your project plan, you need to determine your team, their responsibilities, and the budget required. Assign roles and responsibilities to members of your team and ensure that they are all aware of it.

Overburdening members of the team with too much responsibility leads to low productivity. As a project manager, consider making the process easier for you and your team and how to speed the process.

Property business projects can be tasking, so it is best to assign tasks to your team members who are capable of getting the job done. The right hands working on the wrong tasks can fast lead to overkill.

You must also mark out a budget sufficient enough to ensure that there are no funny surprises in the course of the project. A quality budget planner or a budget planning committee can sort out the intricacies involved in this process.

Step 7: Prepare for the worst

Projects have their complications, so prepare yourself for twists and turns. Identify potential roadblocks and how they can be stopped in their tracks before they happen or how you can overcome them if they do happen.

Step 8: Launch!

This is the final planning step and where your project begins. Schedule a meeting with key investors or stakeholders and update them with the goals, processes, and roles you have sorted out. After thorough assessments and modifications have been made, it’s time to launch!

Conclusion

An excellent property business plan leaves you with one less thing to worry about as you begin your project. By now, you have planned out the entire process with the right tools and resources in place.

A well-done project plan takes time, so pace yourself. Follow the planning process detailed above, and you will pat yourself on the back for a successful outcome.