In its latest effort to increase professionalism in the remodeling industry, NARI (the National Association of the Remodeling Industry) has instituted the Certified Remodeler Project Manager (CRPM) certification, which graduated its first class in December 2011.
The certification “takes the actions of the lead carpenter [LC] and puts it in perspective of the certified remodeler [CR]. You can manage a project efficiently with the knowledge and skills of a CR,” says Dave Walker, production manager and marketing director for Double Check Builders, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., who helped develop the certification program and who taught the first group.
real Class
The 12-week (1 session per week) interactive online course uses the life cycle of an actual project — initiation (sales process, hand-off); planning (costing, scheduling, materials); execution; control (dealing with surprises); and closing (record-keeping, punch list) — to help students understand six areas: project planning, communications, cost management, quality assurance, risk management, and record-keeping.
Dave Peters, a production manager at Callahan & Peters, in Glenview, Ill., who was in the first class, felt that the real project case study — along with reading texts and networking with remodelers from all over the country — was helpful, even though he has been in the industry for 20 years. “Learning is a lifelong pursuit and I saw this as a way to improve myself and the company and to make things more efficient,” Peters says. “My own time management was something I learned I needed to brush up on. Schedules need to be more finite.”
The cost for the CRPM online prep course and certification exam is $820 for NARI members; $1,120 for nonmembers. Click here for more information.
—Stacey Freed, senior editor, REMODELING.
