Chapter 2: 3 Huge Mistakes Contractors Make
3 Huge Mistakes Contractors Make
3. Becoming a “YES” Man (without telling the whole story)
As clients and contractors (and yes even sometimes designers) move through the preconstruction phase of a project, most often the mood is light, relatively little money has been spent, spirits are high, most of us are guilty of answering “sure!” when the client has another idea to add to the project. Maybe it’s as simple as adding an extra sink to the bathroom vanity, or maybe it’s adding a suite above the garage. Usually it’s the somewhere in between ones that get contractors into trouble. Especially if the project is underway, and the client wants to change something. The most common response from contractors is “sure!” because at the root of this industry is a chain of command, and that’s partially where our brokenness lies.
At it’s core, there is a mentality of “well I work for you, so whatever you say I will do, you sign the cheques (checks).” And while all of those statements are true, that does not honor what clients are hoping contractors will do, and that is shepherd them through the building process. As in, watch out for the client’s best interest, even when it sometimes rubs up against your own. Contractors often forget that they are the experts, not the clients. Most often, clients don’t have any idea of the cost/schedule implications of the changes they are proposing.
It’s a weird thing, it’s not like a mechanic would allow a client in under the hoist to take a look at the car and say “well I’d like to add this and that, and uhhh plate that part in gold,” without expecting some cost adjustments. But that’s kind of what happens when we build things for people. The amount of times I’ve had clients tell me post build “well if I’d known how much that change would have cost me, I wouldn’t have done it.” The common response from contractors in this situation is: ‘well they should have known, changes ain’t free.’ Whether that’s true or not, that mentality creates an adversarial relationship and breaks trust. Clients want to know that they’re being considered and shepherded through this process. The correct procedure for a contractor to do when small/medium/large changes are requested, is to:
Fully gather the scope of the change from all affected trades
Identify the TOTAL cost to the client in time and money
Bring these costs to the client itemized and IN WRITING and ask if they’d still like to proceed.
Sometimes the client will proceed, sometimes they won’t, but either way they’re entering the agreement with their eyes wide open. Of course, this process is typical in larger projects where Change Orders are common, but in residential construction, it’s often a missed opportunity for some clarity and guidance.
2. Disorganization
A very common misconception that contractors carry around is that clients can tell by the workmanship that they are good at their job. Let’s be real, the vast majority of clients aren’t checking stud packs for gaps or ensuring all walls are plumb and the corners are square. Don’t forget, for higher end projects, the clients are likely working professionals that are smart, and good at what they do. In the professional world, trust is garnered by appearing and acting professionally, and the organization and clarity of your work. How most clients evaluate their contractors are:
How personable are they?
Am I treated like a valued member of this team or just the source of a paycheque (paycheck)?
How confident am I that this person can deliver their product on time and on budget?
Much of this comes down to the contractor’s level of organization, especially in the early stages of preconstruction. How detailed is the contractor’s estimate? Have they taken the time to explore most/all of the soft costs of a project, or do they just impy ‘it costs what it costs?’ How comprehensive is the schedule? Have they taken the time to detail each activity or just given the end date as a ballpark date that they’ll hopefully make? I have seen very good contractors miss out on contracts simply because they were not organized enough to compete with larger, more well established companies whose documentation appeared more organized and professional. The more organized a contractor appears, the more trust they garner with clients.
Choosing a builder can be downright terrifying for clients, they are wading into foreign water and often feel way out of their depth before they begin. Now imagine climbing into a racecar with a professional driver. You are nervous, never having done this before, so you ask: ‘how are we going to get around this racetrack without crashing?’ and their answer is ‘I don’t know, I just do this all the time.’ Not very inspiring. Now imagine their answer is ‘Don’t worry, I’ll show you our race plan. This is how fast we go into turn 1, we brake 50m before the start of the wall, and our exit speed should be around…’ I’m guessing that would feel a lot better. Clients feel no different, they want to know that their contractor has everything under control, and being organized shows the contractor has a plan, and everything is considered and accounted for.
1.Not Managing/Under Managing Client Expectations
This is the number one mistake I see contractors make, and it’s not really even close. I may have been guilty of this a time or two also. If you care about your role as a contractor or project manager, you probably care about the client and their opinion of you and your company. If you put off problems or kick them down the road, they rarely go away, and more often get worse.
Managing client expectations, around budget and schedule especially, are critical to retaining client goodwill and satisfaction. Clients often come into projects with unrealistic expectations, and if these expectations aren’t dashed on the rocks early and with kindness, they will not go away quietly. It is always better to underperform and over deliver. I can remember telling a client for almost no reason that we’d be at drywall stage in “around” two weeks’ time when he casually asked me. He wasn’t pressuring me, I didn’t even have to say it. But two weeks later, he mentioned “well you said we’d be at drywall in two weeks," which we were about a day away from. As clients often do, he forgotton the “around” part of my answer, so with a ‘please the client at any cost’ mentality, I found myself backframing duct drops at midnight (unpaid) as the project manager because I wouldn’t be ready for drywall otherwise. The client didn’t know I was burning the midnight oil for him, no one knew. I wasn’t getting high fives the next morning, I had simply just carried on with the planned schedule. If I had taken a breath and said when he asked “yeah drywall in maybe 2 weeks, more likely 3,” he would have said “ok,” and moved on. All I had to do was manage his expectations.
Often times, contractors will optimize their budget and schedule in the best case scenario, because they either a) believe they can do it, or b) want to appear better than their competition. The reality of the situation is that nobody wins when those expectations aren’t met.
I can recall casually very hesitantly mentioning a high level budget number when in early design stages to a client who was pressing me. Months and months later after adding in many, many extras and the project going over budget, he said “well the project was originally supposed to cost _____.” The moral of the story here, generally speaking is once you give a client a number or a date, almost no matter what happens afterward, they will never forget it. So manage those expectations even when you think you don’t have to. The clients are better for it, and the builder carries that incredibly valuable client goodwill after the project.
So those are three huge mistakes I see contractors making and have made myself, and they will all carry a cost once they occur. It may not be a financial cost initially, but if client goodwill is damaged, it can lead to lost opportunities and future work. So whether you’re a contractor, subtrade or client, let’s educate ourselves, lead with empathy, and put our best foot forward everytime. Like my father said to me once: “son, you don’t only have to learn from YOUR mistakes, you can learn from other people’s, too.” Be well.