Project Coordination vs. Management in Palm Beach County: Who Runs the Job, Who Holds the License, and What the 10% Fee Covers

Owner Guide · Make-Readies and Renovations · Palm Beach County, FL

By Jean Taveras, Broker-Owner, Atlis Property Management · Updated October 2026

When a rental needs a new kitchen, a bathroom refresh, or a full make-ready between tenants, owners hear several titles for the person in charge: project manager, coordinator, construction manager, property manager. They are not interchangeable. The title decides less than the work does, and in Florida the work decides who needs a contractor's license, who is responsible if something fails, and what the owner pays for.

This guide sorts out the three roles, shows what Florida's contracting statutes say in plain terms, explains exactly how Atlis prices project coordination, and puts a Palm Beach County number on why turn time matters. It is general information for owners, not legal advice.

Three Jobs That Often Get Called "Management"

Most confusion comes from one word doing three jobs. Here is how the roles differ in practice.

A single company can offer more than one of these, and many property managers coordinate projects. The point is to know which role you are buying for each job. Our comparison of a project manager versus a general contractor goes deeper on the second and third rows.

What Florida Law Says About Contracting

Florida regulates construction contracting in Chapter 489. Four provisions matter most to a rental owner planning a project. We read each from the statute text.

• Who counts as a contractor. Section 489.105(3) defines a contractor as a person who, for compensation, undertakes to, submits a bid to, or does himself or herself or by others construct, repair, alter, remodel, add to, demolish, subtract from, or improve any building or structure, except as exempted. The phrase "or by others" is why the work, not the title, is what counts.
• Unlicensed contracts. Section 489.128 makes a contract entered into by an unlicensed contractor unenforceable in law or in equity by that contractor, and says no lien or bond claim exists in the unlicensed contractor's favor for that work.
• The owner-builder exemption. Section 489.103(7) lets owners act as their own contractor for one-family or two-family residences built or improved for their own occupancy or use and not offered for sale or lease. The owner must provide direct, onsite supervision and may not delegate it to an unlicensed person. A home you rent out generally does not fit.
• The minor-work exemption. Section 489.103(9) exempts casual, minor, or inconsequential work below a dollar limit set in the statute, but not work that is part of a larger operation or split into smaller contracts to evade licensing, and not a person who advertises as a contractor.

For an owner, the practical reading is simple. Hire licensed trades for licensed work, verify the license for the scope before work starts, and expect the licensed trade to pull the permits the job requires. Our guide to the real risk of an unlicensed contractor walks through what goes wrong when that step is skipped. If a project turns into a dispute, speak with a Florida attorney.

How Atlis Prices Project Coordination

We publish the fee rather than describing it, so here it is in the words of our own pages. The pricing page lists, for residential homes and condos and for multifamily buildings alike:

• "Project coordination · Free under $1,000 · 10% over $1,000"
• "Repairs · Original vendor invoice · At cost"

The project coordination page describes the same fee as "A published 10% of total project cost on projects over $1,000, and nothing hidden," and says of vendor costs: "You pay the contractor's exact invoice, never marked up." On permits, it says: "We help coordinate scheduling with licensed trades who pull their own permits."

Project coordination is a separate line item from the monthly management fee. Leasing, lease renewals, and annual inspections are separate line items on the pricing page too; none of them is included in the monthly percentage. Our monthly fee is 5–9% of collected rent with a $200 monthly minimum, full service only, and the pricing page sets 7–9% for homes and condos. For how that 10% model compares with other ways of paying for a renovation, see our 10% coordination model explainer.

Why Turn Time Is a Palm Beach County Cost

A make-ready is not only a construction cost. Every day the home sits empty has a rent value, and in Palm Beach County that value is high. The table converts each city's October 7, 2026 two-bedroom median asking rent from PBP Real Estate into a daily figure (monthly rent × 12 ÷ 365), alongside how long the median listing had been on the market.

Those daily values are illustrations, not predictions; a specific home rents above or below its city median. They show why bids, approvals, and vendor scheduling need to run in parallel rather than one after another. Our make-ready versus rent-ready guide covers what scope is worth doing before a home goes back on the market, and our make-ready and renovation service page shows the four-step process.

When Each Role Fits a Palm Beach County Project

Most rental projects in the county fall into a few familiar shapes, and each one points to a different mix of roles.

• A routine repair. A leaking supply line, a failed garbage disposal, or a sticking door is ordinary maintenance. Under a management agreement, it is handled as a repair and billed from the vendor's invoice, not run as a project.
• A make-ready between tenants. Paint, cleaning, flooring touch-ups, a re-key, and smoke detector checks involve several trades working in sequence on a deadline. This is where coordination earns its keep: one schedule, one point of contact, and a final walkthrough against the scope.
• A kitchen or bath refresh. Cabinets, counters, fixtures, and lighting usually mean licensed plumbing or electrical work alongside finish trades. Coordination organizes the bids and approvals; the licensed trades perform and permit their own scopes.
• A major remodel. Structural changes, major systems, or an addition call for a licensed contractor responsible for the construction. A coordinator can still manage bids, approvals, and owner communication around that contract.
• A condo unit. Many associations have their own rules for renovations inside units, such as approval, contractor insurance certificates, and permitted work hours. Read the association's documents before scheduling anyone.

Owners who live out of the area tend to need coordination most, because nobody is on site to answer a vendor's question or check the work before payment.

Questions to Ask Any Coordinator, Manager, or Contractor

1. Which role are you taking on for this project: coordination, contracting, or ongoing management?
2. Whose name is on each bid, contract, and invoice?
3. Is each trade licensed in Florida for this scope of work, and can I see the license and certificate of insurance?
4. Who pulls the permits, and who calls for inspections?
5. Is your fee published, and is it separate from the vendor invoices, or built into them?
6. How are change orders approved, and in what form?
7. Will I receive the original vendor invoices?
8. Who checks the finished work against the written scope before payment?

Our checklist for vetting a contractor for a Palm Beach County rental adds the red flags to watch for. Owners who prefer their own vendors should read our guide to using your own vendors in Palm Beach Gardens.

Common Mistakes Owners Make With Renovation Projects

• Judging the role by the title. Under section 489.105(3), what someone does, directly or by others, matters more than what they call themselves.
• Acting as owner-builder on a rental. The exemption in section 489.103(7) covers homes for the owner's own use, not homes offered for lease.
• Splitting a job to stay under a limit. The minor-work exemption does not cover work divided to evade licensing.
• Approving work without a written scope. Without one, there is nothing to check the finished job against.
• Putting everything with one party. Our post on why hiring one contractor is riskier than you think explains the concentration risk.
• Accepting a bundled price. A single number hides the fee, the markup, and the vendor cost. Ask for itemized bids.
• Ignoring the calendar. At about $125 a day for a Jupiter two-bedroom ($3,800 × 12 ÷ 365), a slow approval is a real cost.

Pricing can also vary by address for the same work; our post on the zip code markup covers it, and common rental repairs in Jupiter homes lists the jobs that come up most.

How Atlis Coordinates Make-Readies and Renovations

Atlis is a broker-owner led, residential-only firm based on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens. Our project coordination page lists what the service includes: a single point of contact, competitive and itemized bids from a vetted local vendor network, vendor costs billed at cost, on-site coordination and check-ins, and a final make-ready walkthrough to confirm the work matches the approved scope. Our results include a 21-day average lease-up, and every account carries our eight written guarantees, including no maintenance markup and no management fee on vacant units.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have a turn or renovation coming up? We will walk the home, build a written scope, and show you itemized bids and the published fee before any work starts.