Is This You for Construction-Related Professionals
Does this sound like you?
- You work hard and you mean well for your clients, but you frequently end up in conflict with them. This is frustrating, demoralizing and exhausting. You can’t see continuing to work like this.
- You expect that most of your clients will end up giving you a hard time and trying to take advantage of you. You picture such an outcome before you even start a job. There is a sour tone from the outset.
- Money is a real difficulty for you. It is hard for you to collect, and there is frequently conflict over money both with clients and colleagues.
- You do your best to be clear in your communication, but misunderstandings and disputes keep arising. You are baffled as to why such things keep occurring. You are becoming more jaundiced in your view of the industry.
- You just want to get your work done, but other people keep complicating your life and interfering with that process. Constant unexpected occurrences and work changes drive you batty.
- You have a hard time getting subcontractors to faithfully complete the work they have agreed to. You can’t understand how they can function in such a fashion. A deal should be a deal.
- You are overworked and under-appreciated. You feel like you are married to your business, and you may be ready for a divorce.
If any of these statements ring a bell for you, read on. There is hope!
My approach can be helpful to any professional in the construction industry or related industries. For example:
- General contractors
- Subcontractors
- Design professionals
- Project managers and foremen
- Related sales people
- Suppliers
If you can identify with the following values my approach will work for you:
- You care about your customers and the quality of your work.
- You are motivated to do your best, and you are willing to look at how you relate to others.
- You are open to improving what you do and how you do it.
- Your relationships are important to you, including your business ones.
- You are not in business just for the money, but you do want to make a solid, honest living.
- You don’t mind working hard. In fact, you probably enjoy it.
- You set high standards for yourself.
Are you still wondering if my approach will really help? Find out how it works.
"I can certainly give you high marks. And I was thinking about this the other day…and I think what I remember most was every morning about seven or seven fifteen the phone would ring, and it would be Stuart Baker, and asking if I had any special things…I think that mostly we appreciated this attention to detail, the fact that we were always in contact with Stuart and the subs, which made it a very easy project….I never questioned a thing. If you made a suggestion I had trust that you knew what the best road of action would be. I don’t think when the whole project was over that Fred and I felt there was one negative aspect to the project…as you know when we hired you to redo our house we never went to anybody else, because we had already worked with you, we trusted you, and we figured that you would be fair….. and you know, maybe we paid a little more than we would have paid to somebody else, but we felt we got the product we were looking for….Now that our house is complete we also feel comfortable calling you…and also we trust you if we need a subcontractor to recommend somebody….
From interview with Jocelyn Greenman
client and professional designer
Cape Cod, MA