real estate development
Over many years, the real estate development has been flourishing and profitable business all over the world. In order to be able to understand how profitable real estate business is, one should first differentiate it from construction. The real estate development projects are very different from construction projects. However, the developers of real estate development also take part in construction projects and other businesses related to construction. The real estate development includes activities like buying of the land, selling the land after improving it, re-leasing the land as well as renovating the existing buildings purchased. The developers of real estate usually play an essential role in the coordination of the activities as well as bringing the designs of the real estate into reality. The developers are the ones who purchase the land, finances the purchase, and then uses the services of another person or organization to develop the purchased land through either building or to renovate the existing buildings (Squires, Graham, and Erwin, 45). The builder builds the premises, but all activities of construction are controlled and coordinated by the developer. However, the developer does not coordinate all the activities of real estate alone. During the real estate development process, the developers work with many professionals like agents, engineers, architects, city planners, and surveyors. The agents usually act on behalf of their clients, and they have the fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of sellers or buyers in the real estate business.
However, it is the developers who control the real estate development process and takes responsibility for the whole process. As a result of taking the most significant risk, they also enjoy the biggest profits that are associated with this business. The real estate development business demands a lot of skills and expertise, and thus requires the integration of different fields. In the United States, universities have started offering a Master of Science in real estate as well as a master of real estate development. This introduction of real estate development studies shows that the real estate sector is becoming an essential cog in the nation’s economy. For this assignment, Marriott real estate development International projects would be used to discuss its main features and significance in the industry as well as in the United States’ economy.
Marriott real estate development International project
Marriott International is the largest travel company in the whole world. The company has thirty brands, and it operates in one hundred and thirty-four counties and territories. It has over 7,300 properties and has more than 140 million loyalty members. Marriott International offers an unmatched choice for guests and drives unrivaled value for its shareholders. As a result of the company’s broad portfolio of brands, well-planned marketing platforms, as well as its worldwide presence, which has led to efficiencies of the company, the shareholders of the company, can benefit from the company’s clear competitive advantage and opportunity to maximize each hotel investment. The developers of Marriott International purchases land and immediately develop them by building hotels. Afterward, the developers invest in the hotels, and that is why the company been doing very well in the real estate business. Below is a breakdown of the organization’s operations.
Marriot International is dedicated to growing the company’s footprint by assisting its shareholders and franchisees in maximizing the value of its hotel investments. The company offers its owners and franchisees with tools, brands as well as resources that they need to succeed whether they are looking for franchise affiliation, management services, or working in a new build or conversion.
Management Operations
Due to its experience in the real estate industry, Marriott International’s real estate development provides the hotel industry with tenured management teams. The provision of management teams with a lot of skills and talent ensures that the owners and franchisees deliver the best hotel experience to its guests everywhere in the world (Marriott International). Through its management, the company also drives efficiency through the generation of revenues approaches and strategies of reducing the cost of savings according to the owners’ preferences.
Flexible Building Options
Marriot International provides many building options to the owners based on budget and market. They get to build a new hotel, renovate the existing one, or even convert a building to fit the demands of the owner. They also develop single, dual as well as multi-hotel projects (Marriott International). The development team of the company is always there and ready to assist in the building of the owners’ ideas, and goals, and providing them with resources, and tools that they may require to plan the business, construct, design and also find the suitable site for delivery of the scheduled services.
Franchise operations
The company’s franchise teams work with the leading management organizations and owners who provide compressive training, resources, and tools that ensure all the franchised hotels are successful in driving value to the owners of the company (Marriott International). In addition to accessing the company’s leading lifestyle brands and loyal guests in the whole world. Also, the franchise partners can leverage the company’s marketing systems and powerful global sales as well as programs and resources that are designed to drive efficiencies and profits continually.
Modular Development
Marriott International has been with the leading modular organizations to examine the emerging technologies and make them available to the Marriot’s shareholders and franchisees. Modular construction firms save companies a lot of time and resources as they provide pricing advantages over many traditional building firms (Marriott International). It also improves quality by delivering a win for both travelers and owners of the organization. These are the reasons why Marriot International has been working with these modular firms since 2015.
Residential Development
Marriot International is the most branded residential company in the whole world. As a result, many developers of real estate look seek expertise and skills from Marriot. The Marriott residential brand represents over half of the high-end branded residences worldwide. The company’s residential portfolio includes almost ninety residential properties, which are located in more than 33 states (Marriott International). The company offers unique brands, experienced and skilled development support, as well as dedicated residential services that effectively influence the long-term value and price premiums for owners and developers.
Pre-opening Support.
Marriot hotels have expensive pre-opening support in five main areas. These areas include opening operations, platform delivery, and revenue management, sales and marketing, and brand activation and operations delivery (Marriott International). The teams mentioned above collaborate with owners of Marriott and its Global design experts to offer assistance and guidance throughout the entire pre-opening process. The company’s opening teams support all the thirty brands by developing a detailed pre-opening process, comprising of essential errands, and prepare the hotels to get ready for opening day and ensure every hotel is set-up in a way that it will achieve success in the future. The company’s dynamic team utilizes their skills and expertise in association with the latest technology and tools to help in a smooth and successful opening of the hotels.
Global Design
Marriot Global Design is a tool and resources that are meant to assist the owners in the building, converting, or renovating new and existing real estate properties. The Global design associates offer advice and inputs that regards to interior designers and selection of the project architects. Additionally, the associates also guide the process of the hotel opening, engineering, fire protection and life safety, operations as well as brand disciplines in commenting and reviewing the construction plans, hotel design, and schematic plans (Marriott International). The global design screens the progress of the on-going development process to ensure that it is in line with the agreed plans and shares best practices for the owners and franchisees of the company.
Diverse and Inclusive Development
Marriott International’s commitment to diversity is rooted in its chairman J.W Marriott who strongly advocates and supports the organization’s diversity plans and efforts. Diversity is one of the central core values of Marriott International, and it is the one that has been critical to the company’s success (Marriott International). For instance, Marriot international has a diverse ownership initiative, which is a clear indication that the company relies heavily on diversity. The Diverse Ownership Initiative of Marriott was created in 2005 to introduce successful minority and women business entrepreneurs to the hotel industry. Currently, over 1,299 Marriott international hotels are owned by women and minorities, and the company’s goal is to have 1,500 hotels owned and run by minorities and women by 2021 (Marriott International). As a result of the diverse ownership initiative, Marriott international is one organization worldwide with broadly diverse ownership portfolios in the real estate development industry.
Sustainability
Finally, another essential tool that Marriott International provides to its owners, and franchisees is sustainability. The company ensures sustainability by integrating its value chain and risks related to climate, which reduces the effects of the environment, builds and operates sustainable hotels as well as outsourcing responsibly (Marriott International). The company’s sustainability is embedded in its business strategy. The company collaborates with the hotel owners, franchisees, associates, guests, business partners as well as suppliers to reduce business risks and impacts of the environment through the construction and operation of sustainable hotels.
Marriott International has generally been doing good in its operations and business globally. Working in the company can be challenging, and therefore, one should take a position that they understand its roles of the position. Having a strong background in project management and having abroad knowledge and understanding of roles of a project manager in real estate development, I feel I would be successful if I take the position of a project manager. As a real estate project manager at Marriot International, the main responsibility will be ensuring an on-time and on-budget results of the projects that the company will be undertaking. Before the construction of any project starts, as a project manager, I would conduct the site selection and due diligence, selecting the team members of the project, securing zoning and entitlements as well coming up with a schedule and budget which should lay the foundation of the whole project. These steps, before the commencement of the real construction, are referred to pre-project planning roles of a project manager.
After the project commences, I would be acting as the representative of the Marriot International Company. Thus I would ensure that the project is being built according to the company’s specifications. As the project goes on from the planning phase to the execution phase, my work will change to processing orders, managing change orders and scheduling, and rescheduling of contractors hired by the company. Marriott international company will not have to hire many project managers to help in the execution of the projects as I have all the required skills and expertise as well as enough knowledge of real estate projects and construction processes. I am always updated on the trends, and I also have recent and relevant knowledge of the industry. If required, I can feel too comfortable to work in a team, and I usually contribute to discussions as well as respect the views of others. As a project manager in real estate, one needs to have excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills due to the necessity of the job that demands the project managers make difficult decisions from time to time (Martinovic, 12). I have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and I also make the right decisions while involving all other team members. My ability to handle the different stages of projects will see the projects that I would be in charge smoothly executed and completed within the stipulated budget and time, by utilizing timely and cost-effective approaches to ensure the project is done per the specification and expectations of the company’s owners regardless of the scope.
Expectations of the project and players
Real estate development is not an easy industry, and therefore, project managers should have a clear expectation of the project as well as that of team players. A global company like Marriott has its way of carrying out its projects. The company has set clear procedures and specifications of how different projects would be carried. The work of the manager is to ensure that the company’s projects are done according to those requirements and specifications of the company (Baldi, 48). A project manager cannot work alone to execute and complete projects. It is the expectation of every manager that the project assigned to them are done according to the distinct specifications of the company as well as to the stipulated time and budget. Marriot has clear procedures and guidelines on how its projects are carried out. They also have fixed budgets and fixed time for the execution of their projects. As a project manager, I would expect all the procedures and guidelines as well as the company’s specifications to be adhered to throughout the project.
To ensure everything is done according, I would expect all the players such as contractors, and sub-constructors to work always follow the guidelines that are set by the company. Resources allocated should be used prudently by all the players to avoid wastage. This would ensure that the project remains with the stipulated budget from Marriott’s management. Additionally, contractors should continually work on the project without delay to ensure that the project is completed on time and put into use. I will ensure strict supervision of all the activities of the project to ensure that all the player are doing their work diligently to avoid wastage of time and allocated resources.
Challenges I would encounter as a real estate project manager and how to overcome them
A project manager in real estate development is not like any other project manager in other industries. Real estate development has many challenges that project managers encounter and have to devise a way of dealing with them to successfully execute the projects at hand. Some of the problems that project managers need to overcome include technological advancements, which make organizations replicate each other ideas, dealing with overseas tax regulations, and government regulations. Additionally, there is also uncertainty in the construction industry (Kiu et al., 243. The uncertainty usually results due to foreign labor policies. Another critical challenge facing the project managers in real estate is bad working attitudes among the employees in the construction industry, which include ignorance, blaming others, greediness, and more talking than solving the problems which affect the performance of the team. The problem of acquiring financing for the project, selection of contractors and sub-contractors, and business ideology are other problems that project managers encounter in the real estate development industry (Kiu et al., 243).
To overcome these challenges as a project manager of Marriott projects, I would first accept and apply the new technological advancements. This will enable me to prepare for any changes that may take place from time to time during the progression of projects that I would be in charge of. Secondly, I will ensure that all the workers undertaking different functions within the project are thoroughly trained to avoid errors (Kiu et al., 244). The construction staff would be sent to seminars that would update their skills and knowledge on how to undertake different tasks during the project. Additionally, I would enhance alertness to the internal and external factors like changing government regulations, adherence to the requirements of local authorities, most recent issues in the construction industry, and market price in the real estate as well as alternative materials that are within the quality targeted by different.
Another challenge that faces many project managers involves negative and bad workers’ attitudes. Employees are the main determinant of whether a project would be successful or not. Without workers, projects would not even be planned as the main function of a project manager is to get work done through the workers in the construction site. Therefore, improving the working attitude and practices of employees is an essential step towards the execution and completion of projects. First, the communication and cooperation of all employees are critical to the better quality of the work done by the employees (Kiu et al., 244). To ensure this, all the team players in the construction site will be required to monitor the productivity of laborers and regulate the wastage of resources. I would also ensure that all the team players practice the culture of better prevention than cure to avoid making mistakes, which would affect the progress of the company.
Another solution to overcome the challenge of awarding contracts to unqualified contractors is by improving the track record as well as their capabilities before granting them the projects. I would advise Marriot International always to keep a good track record, such as good financial records, to enhance their reputation. This would help the company to obtain financing funds from the investors quickly.
Since Marriott operates in many nations, a project manager may be faced with a problem of foreign government rules and tax regulations. Every country has its regulations when it comes to the real estate business. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that whatever the company does while in the foreign company complies with both tax regulations and real estate business rules of the country. As a project manager, I would familiarize myself with all the tax regulations and regulations as well as other government rules related to the real estate business (Kiu et al., 245). This step would help to ensure that the project I would be in charge of would not violate any regulations which may lead to fines or being expelled from the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Marriott International Company has been doing a great job in the real estate business, and therefore, I was for its real estate projects. The company has several essential tools and resources which it applies to improve its operations and performance in the real estate business globally. Some of the tools and resources include flexible building options, modular development, Franchise operations, Management operations, Residential Development, and many others. I took the position of project manager in the company. As a project manager, my main responsibility would be to ensure an on-time and on-budget results of the projects that the company will be undertaking. As a project manager of the company, several challenges, such as technological improvements, lack of financing, a business ideology of different countries, and uncertainty in the construction would affect how the projects would be executed. I would apply solutions according to the problems faced to overcome them.
Works cited
Baldi, Francesco. “Valuing a greenfield real estate property development project: a real options approach.” Journal of European, real estate research (2013).
Kiu, Mee San, et al. “The roles, challenges & improvement of the project manager in project financial management in building development in Penang, Malaysia.” International Journal of Supply Chain Management (IJSCM) 6.1 (2017): 238-245.
Marriott International. Hotel Development. https://hotel-development.marriott.com/hotel-development/
Martinovic, Stefan, and Edward R. Switzer. “Comprehensive quantitative and qualitative model for a real estate development project.” U.S. Patent Application No. 13/792,464.
Squires, Graham, and Erwin WTM Heurkens, eds. International approaches to real estate development. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.