If you have past experience to coordinate a renovation, engaging direct contractor will save you some cost. However, lots of time and effort will be required cos a lot of decision making on site is required, if decision is made over phone, wrong decision might be made if you do not have experience to make the right call, which will usually result to double job or extra expenses due to take out and redo, especially if installation sequence is wong, etc. A lot of knowledge involved when renovating a house, and thus an experienced ID not only serves as a consultant on the design part, he is also the coordinator for your house. Nowadays, with the technology, experienced ID will create dropbox/Goodle Drive to update all necessary info into there for sharing purposes, and even create whatsapp group chat to update progress with pictures. Quite hassle free for owner cos will be able to receive good sensing on the site progress. Advice will also be given at various stage when to do what, and when to buy what, and given the recommended dimension of certain off the shelf items so that all are well incorporated into the design. Just my 5cents worth. If interested can PM me for contact ya.