Property Coordinator
Crewe / Wrexham Area | Predominantly Home Based / Hybrid
Part time: approximately 15 to 20 hours per week initially
Pay: £14.00 to £16.00 per hour PAYE, depending on experience and suitability
Working pattern: Predominantly home based, with agreed regular working hours and some flexibility around business needs, site visits and project demands
Growth: Genuine scope for hours, pay and responsibility to increase for the right person
I’m looking for an excellent Property Coordinator to work directly with me within an established and growing property investment, landlord and development business.
This is fundamentally an operations and coordination role, rather than a traditional property administration position.
The purpose of the role is to take increasing ownership of day to day operations, systems, follow up and forward planning, creating greater leverage within the business and freeing my time to concentrate on acquisitions, investment, important relationships and growth.
I’m looking for somebody who combines intelligent thinking with practical execution.
It is not enough simply to identify an issue or have a good idea. The value is in turning it into an action, following it through and achieving a result.
The successful person will need a strong work ethic, resilience, consistency, energy, focus, accountability, good judgement and excellent follow through.
Experience is valuable, but experience alone is not enough. I’m looking for somebody who remains open minded, can take instruction and feedback, learns quickly, questions whether there is a better way and is willing to adapt as the business develops.
There is genuine scope to learn and develop within the role. I’m a strong advocate of personal development and would like the successful person to grow in knowledge, responsibility and value alongside the business.
Responsibilities will include
- Helping coordinate active refurbishment and value add property projects, keeping ahead of trades, materials, deliveries, decisions, quality and potential delays
- Producing and maintaining practical schedules of works, setting out what needs doing, in what order, by whom and by when
- Building project forecasts and monitoring progress against expected timescales, costs and key stages
- Using knowledgeable trades and appropriate professional advisers for input where works are more technical, then coordinating that information into the project
- Monitoring projects through site visits, photographs, videos, progress updates, quality checks and forward planning
- Planning site visits efficiently, particularly where travel is involved, and where possible combining inspections, trade meetings, deliveries and other useful actions into the same visit
- Keeping several live operational workstreams moving concurrently while maintaining focus on the areas creating the greatest value
- Sourcing, coordinating and helping retain reliable tradespeople, specialists, merchants and professional contacts
- Obtaining and comparing appropriate quotes and helping improve procurement of labour, materials, products and services
- Checking evidence of completed works, including photographs and videos where appropriate, and helping ensure quality and agreed works are checked before invoices are approved
- Working proactively with letting agents around maintenance, compliance, voids, marketing, tenant progression and re letting
- Acting quickly when notice is received or a property becomes vacant, establishing what needs doing and helping create the quickest sensible route back to income
- Reviewing property adverts, photographs, presentation, rental evidence, comparable rents and viewing feedback and suggesting practical ways to improve results
- Reviewing property inspection reports, identifying potential maintenance issues and helping make sure small problems are dealt with before they become larger and more expensive
- Monitoring tenancy and contract dates, rent review opportunities and relevant property and block compliance requirements
- Monitoring significant costs, quotes, invoices, agent statements, bills and expenditure and identifying errors, unnecessary costs and opportunities to improve net performance
- Helping keep important bills, deadlines and financial actions visible so that payments, renewals or other important dates are not missed
- Supporting property purchases, mortgages, refinancing, funding applications, legal matters and other property paperwork by gathering information and following actions through
- Maintaining simple and effective systems, project reports, pipelines, calendars, spreadsheets, data and organised digital records
- Maintaining a clear written paper trail of important actions, decisions, quotes, communications and progress
- Researching realistic property and business opportunities and helping turn useful information, contacts and ideas into actions and results
- Helping build relationships across letting agents, trades, merchants, lenders, brokers, solicitors, surveyors and other professional contacts rather than relying unnecessarily on one individual or supplier
How I want the role to work
Not every task has equal value.
A fundamental part of the role is recognising where time and attention will create the greatest return while still keeping other important work progressing.
On an active refurbishment, for example, organising the next trade, material order or decision early enough to avoid unnecessary delay may be far more valuable than spending the same time resolving several minor administrative issues.
Completing a project sooner can mean income starts sooner, refinancing or another exit can happen sooner, capital can potentially be recycled sooner and time can move towards the next opportunity.
Likewise, gaining another income producing unit, reducing a void, finding an excellent long term contractor, improving a property's performance or materially reducing project cost can strengthen the business and create additional capacity to reinvest and grow.
The successful person should increasingly understand how rents, costs, timelines, project expenditure, cash flow and property values interact, and use that information to help identify where time, money and attention can create the greatest return.
The aim is not speed at any cost.
The objective is controlled momentum. Move quickly, maintain quality, control costs and make good decisions.
Smaller tasks still need completing, but they should not repeatedly crowd out the work that creates the greatest return.
When major project demands are quieter, attention should move down the value hierarchy towards improving existing assets, building the trade and professional network, progressing funding and paperwork, improving systems, reviewing costs, analysing performance and researching future opportunities.
A useful question in this role is:
What is the highest value use of the next hour?
Metrics, reporting and performance
I want the business to become increasingly driven by useful information rather than guesswork.
The role will involve helping build and monitor a small number of meaningful metrics and KPIs that improve decision making without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
Depending on what is happening in the business, these could include:
- Project progress against forecast
- Delays and gaps between trades
- Void periods and speed of re letting
- Rent reviews and tenancy dates
- Maintenance jobs and how long they remain outstanding
- Costs, quotes and project expenditure
- Savings, refunds or unnecessary expenditure identified
- Funding, refinancing and legal actions outstanding
- Useful trades and professional contacts added
- Opportunities identified and progressed
There will also be a simple weekly report showing what has been completed, what has progressed, what remains outstanding, the next actions and anything requiring my decision.
The purpose is not to measure activity for activity’s sake. It is to make progress and results visible and help identify where attention should go next.
The weekly report should also include a Future Opportunities section so useful ideas, contacts, potential savings, property opportunities, funding possibilities and other potential areas of value are captured rather than forgotten.
Ownership and accountability
Property operations do not always go to plan.
Trades cancel. Materials get delayed. Properties become vacant unexpectedly. Several things can need attention at the same time.
I’m looking for somebody who remains calm, positive, robust and solution focused when that happens.
Ownership matters.
If something goes wrong, I want early communication, an honest assessment of what happened and a focus on fixing it rather than hiding it or making excuses.
As experience and trust develop, I want the successful person to increasingly gather the facts, assess the options, make routine decisions within agreed boundaries and bring me concise recommendations when an owner decision is required.
Speed of decision making matters, but not at the expense of judgement or quality.
About you
You will ideally be:
- Exceptionally organised and naturally forward planning
- Trustworthy, accountable and dependable
- Resilient, consistent, positive and energetic
- Focused and able to maintain pace and quality
- Proactive, commercially aware and interested in business growth
- Strong at following actions through to completion
- Comfortable managing several moving parts concurrently
- An excellent communicator who can build rapport while remaining firm when necessary
- Confident with figures, percentages, costs and basic financial information
- Strong with IT, spreadsheets, data and digital systems
- Analytical and interested in using numbers and metrics to improve decisions
- Able to identify what matters rather than simply recording information
- Curious, adaptable, coachable and keen to develop
- Comfortable thinking independently and suggesting better ways of working
- Willing to own mistakes, learn from them and improve
Excellent written and verbal English is essential.
You must be able to write clear professional emails and messages, understand information accurately, listen carefully and communicate confidently with letting agents, tradespeople, suppliers, tenants and professional advisers.
Property and business experience
Property, construction or project experience would be valuable, but it is not essential for an exceptional candidate with strong transferable skills.
I do not expect somebody to arrive knowing every aspect of property refurbishment, development or investment.
I do expect them to want to learn and gradually develop a practical understanding of property refurbishment, trades, materials, project sequencing, letting, compliance, asset management and the commercial thinking behind improving and adding value to a property portfolio.
Relevant experience might come from property, lettings, construction, operations, project coordination, business administration, executive or PA support, logistics, mortgage or conveyancing support, facilities, investment, sales or another well organised commercial environment.
Technology, systems and continuous improvement
The objective is not to create unnecessary bureaucracy or buy technology for the sake of it.
It is to develop simple, effective systems that save time, reduce mistakes, improve visibility and increase performance.
Technology should be used as leverage, not as a substitute for thinking.
This includes using AI and audio AI intelligently, testing different software and tools and identifying where technology, automation, delegation or outsourcing could genuinely improve speed, accuracy, communication or performance.
AI and software should be questioned and checked rather than relied upon blindly.
The role involves joining the dots across projects, lettings, finance, contractors, professional advisers and future opportunities so that the business operates as one increasingly efficient system.
Before spending time on something, I want the role gradually to develop the discipline of asking whether it genuinely needs doing, whether it can be simplified, automated, delegated or outsourced, or whether something more valuable should take priority.
Just because something has always been done a particular way does not mean there is not a better way.
Development of the role
The position will initially be approximately 15 to 20 hours per week, predominantly working from home, with agreed regular working hours and some flexibility around business needs, site visits and project demands.
Some projects will be further away than others, so strong remote coordination and making productive use of site visits will be important.
I am looking to continue growing the property portfolio and wider business.
For the right person, there is genuine scope for the position to grow in hours, responsibility, pay and importance.
Responsibilities will naturally develop as knowledge, trust and the needs of the business develop.
Performance, initiative, judgement, personal development and the value created will help determine that progression.
The position is expected to be PAYE. I would also consider an exceptional candidate who already operates genuinely on a self employed basis where the working arrangement is appropriate.
How to apply
Please send:
1. Your CV
2. Why does this particular role appeal to you, rather than simply another part time job?
3. Tell me about a situation where you personally took ownership of several moving parts or problems. What did you actually do and what was the outcome?
4. Having read this advert, where do you believe your own experience and strengths could add the most value to the business during your first three months?
Please also include your approximate location, current availability and notice period if applicable.
Pay: £14.00-£16.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee mentoring programme
- Flexitime
- Work from home
Licence/Certification:
- Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle? (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Crewe CW2
