Structuring a joint venture (if that's indeed the right term)

[Shawn M Hannan]

Hi All,

My wife and I have a rental property in Houston that we intend to put on the market in a few months, after doing some significant improvements.  Because we live in Chicago, we'd like to hire not only a general contractor, but also a "project manager" of some kind to oversee the gc.  Since we lived in the house ourselves a few years back, we know people in the area, including a trusted gc and a former real estate broker who is now a residential remodeling/design consultant.  We're thinking of hiring the consultant to be the "project manager."  She would have the keys to the house, make design decisions, keep the gc moving things along, coordinate with the real estate broker as needed, and just generally help us make it all happen.

My question is whether we're over-complicating the scenario if we want to incentivize the consultant, compensating her a modest amount for her time and effort, but letting her in on the up-side--the more profitable the project is, the more she personally makes.  If it's a reasonable approach, how do we structure it?

Thanks,

Shawn