Blue Collar Advice From Mad Dog

Painting & Wallcovering Contractor,  Jan/Feb 2007  by Ryan, Steve

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Dear Mad Dog:

I just worked for a customer who drove me mad. Really, I mean carpet-biting mad. What started out as a pleasant experience and project, turned into a nightmare. The customer became picky about everything. The paint edges, wall patches, and caulking was just never good enough. I never realized how picky she would be about all the details. The project went way too long and I lost my shirt.

Signed,

Beaten down.

Dear Beaten Down:

First off, your customer might have been a bad dog. But, even bad dogs can be trained. That said, the first person to b.e trained is you. You must train yourself in how the job should be run and what to expect. Once you know what you will do, and not do, what you will expect... you then can train the customer what to expect.

Unrealized expectations can kill a job. If everyone knows what to expect and it is in writing, it is hard for you to lose control of the job and for anyone to bark at, bite, or beat you.

One major area where unrealized expectations crop up is preparation. Prep issues are normally sanding smoothness, repair and caulking. If you ask three customers to describe "smooth", or "good prep," you'll get 43 different answers.

It is your job to manage the expectations, and you do that with your contract. Within the contract, you should include hourly limits of preparation, patching, caulking, etc. A time limit clearly says how much you are responsible for. During the proposal stage, explain to the customer, "based on what you have told me, it should take about XX hours to prep these areas." Then write it into the proposal.

On the project, check in with your customer about prep hours so there are no suprises. Once the hours go over the limit, you can charge an hourly rate for the extra time and materials. Now, the customer is not "picky" if she is paying you extra cash to do extra prep.

Good luck

Want a contract example with prep limits? Email the Mad Dog at steve@maddogprimer.com

The Mad Dog is the alter ego of Steve Ryan, a former contractor with 20 years of experience. He now produces Mad Dog Primer www.maddog-primer.com.

Copyright Finan Publishing Company, Inc. Jan/Feb 2007
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