Ch 5. 7 (little) Jobsite mistakes that drive clients crazy
7 (Little) Jobsite Mistakes That Drive Clients Crazy
As a project manager for luxury custom home builds, I was the primary point of contact for the client whenever anything was of concern on a build, and believe me, I heard a lot of concerns. Some were valid, (“there’s a lot of water in the basement”) some were definitely not (“the nail holes are all moldy”) and most were somewhere in between. During a build or major renovation, clients are spending amounts of money they’d often never dreamed they’d be spending, that can be stressful, and sometimes that can leave their nerves a little raw.
As a designer and construction consultant now, I am often the sounding board for client concerns before clients go to the builder with their worries/complaints. They’ll ask me “is this normal?” and in many cases, the behavior is normal and I can head that complaint off at the pass, but sometimes the clients have a legitimate reason for their annoyance. These are some of the most common complaints I’ve heard over my years in this industry that drive clients nuts.
7. Empty Jobsite
This one is frustrating to clients, especially if there is a time constraint on the project, which there normally is. Clients feel let down, and they don’t often understand the reasons for an empty jobsite. They feel like the ugly guy/girl at the school dance, like all the trades have somewhere more important to be. As a contractor, sometimes this happens, a certain trade finished yesterday, another can’t start until tomorrow, someone called in sick today, the drywaller’s mud hasn’t dried etc. There can be lots of legitimate reasons why there’s no one on the building site on any given day, but that still doesn’t stop clients from getting annoyed, especially if they pop by the site unannounced. The contractor/PM will get the phone call, and it sounds even worse if they’re unaware too. Best thing they can do? Get proactive and let the client know there won’t be anyone on site today because… or better yet, reassure them that you won’t lose time in the schedule.
6. Complaints from the City/Municipality
This can cover a wide range of behaviors/infractions. Sometimes there’s a parking issue on site and trades are parking where they shouldn’t, sometimes there are noise complaints, garbage/waste disposal issues, building official issues. The origin of the issue doesn’t really matter to the client, because when they get a phone call as the registered owner of the property that something isn’t up to the city standards, it’s simply one more thing clients are forced to deal with, and it drives them crazy. Sometimes it’s just a courtesy call, other times there are more serious bylaw infractions that need immediate attention, but it’s always unexpected, and a layer of unwanted stress for clients.
5. Starting Too Early
I fully understand some workers want to get a jump on the day and are early risers, especially if it’s summer and hot out. Many try to get their work day done before the heat really sets in. But locally, we have a 7am start time as set out by the city,, and most abide by that. Sometimes, workers will begin to blur those lines a little, starting at 6:45am, sometimes 6:30am, and generally, as long as the PM or client don’t get noise complaints from the neighbours, it’s ok. Things very much change if there’s a renovation and clients are living in the house. Clients are already tired of having strangers in their house all day, so when there’s a worker cruising by their bedroom window while they’re asleep or just waking up, it can really ramp up the feeling of having no privacy. I’ve heard of workers showing up on weekends early without telling the clients, and that almost never goes well. The worker thinks “they’ll be happy that I want to get the job done,” and the client is feeling like a fish in a fishbowl already, and now the weekends aren’t even sacred. This one seems small, but can fray nerves very quickly.
4. Ciggies On The Ground
This one fully inspired this whole blog post. I was walking on one of my job sites recently, a renovation, and came across a place where clearly one or some of the trades had a habit of smoking at. There was a 3 foot circle of probably 50 cigarette butts stamped into the dirt. The client came up and saw me looking down at the ciggies in the grass and was seething, he found it so disrespectful that they couldn’t dispose of the butts in some container and throw them away. For some reason, it seems so much worse than a normal piece of trash, which could conceivably be absent mindedly dropped and blow into the bushes. Cigarettes are held in one’s hand, and in this case deliberately dropped onto the ground and stamped out 20 feet away from a kids playhouse. This will send clients through the roof.
3. Complaints From Neighbours
Dust, noise, parking, trash, noise, bad language, sawdust, noise, water, sun, shade, noise, road traffic…you get the idea. No neighbour likes disruption to their regular lives, and no one like construction next door. Some neighbours understand, some really don’t like any construction or disruption at all, and are looking for their pound of flesh to recoup if they get the chance. If there’s a noise bylaw to start at 7am, and someone starts at 6:55am, the City is getting a phone call. If a piece of roofing blows off the roof and into their yard, the City gets a call. If there’s an open excavation, and dust blows into the driveway and dirties the cars, the City gets a call. When I managed jobs, we’ve sometimes preemptively bought car wash vouchers for the neighbours whether they’ve needed them or not, and that seems to start jobs on the right foot. The best thing you can do as a contractor is to introduce yourself, be friendly, up front, and open to any concerns the neighbours have BEFORE the job starts. Now you may be opening yourself to diffuse a few extra agitated phone calls, but those people will likely have called anyway, and it’s better they call you than the City, who will call the client right away. Remember, in many cases, these are going to be the clients’ new neighbours, so they really don’t want to start these relationships off on the wrong foot.
2. Taking Long Breaks
This one could have a few titles, but taking long breaks is one that drives clients up the wall. Starting late/leaving early could be another. Clients may come from jobs/professions where they are required to put in long hours at high stress jobs, and they drive by their jobsite on their lunch break at 1:30pm, and the crew is gone for the day. Not a good look. Now, there is a huge caveat here, in that workers on a jobsite HATE a nosy client that they feel is watching them very closely, or timing their lunch breaks. I once had a site supervisor quit a jobsite because the client was at stay at home mom and basically monitored them all day. We had to have a chat with her and explain that she could trust us and we’re only billing her for the hours worked, etc. Often clients don’t understand which mandated breaks workers have to take, or how a worker’s day is structured, but when they see a pattern of workers lounging around too often at different times of the day during weeks on end, the trust relationship starts to break down, and they get very annoyed.
1. Untidy Jobsite
Often clients see their projects as what they’re going to be, and not what they are right now. In a word, they see their home as sacred ground, and when a jobsite isn’t kept clean and tidy, they can sometimes take it personally. I’ve seen this many many times. Site cleanliness is a topic that tradespeople hate. They are generally geared towards production, and many see cleaning as a waste of their time. Explaining that they are paid by the hour (most often) and it doesn’t matter what they’re doing, is futile. When clients walk around their home and are tripping over trash, and electrical wire insulation, walking through sawdust and spilled coffee cups and energy drinks, they get the impression no one cares about their project. This is a real opportunity for contractors to separate the wheat from the chaff and distinguish themselves as a quality builder. A clean jobsite is a safe jobsite, and shows the client that their project is being treated with respect. It may seem like minor annoyance to some builders, but to many clients, it’s a major deal.
So that’s a little summary of some of the seemingly little issues that clients get riled up over. Having been on all sides of these, I can say with certainty that avoiding these will make everyone’s life a lot easier. A happy client is the best client.
Thanks for reading…
Aaron