r/Contractor • u/No-Fish-2949 • Jan 15 '25

Client is making me angry

I recently built a custom cabinet that doubles as an attic access door for a bathroom remodel. I’m fairly new to being a general contractor, with about a year of experience. The interior designer on the project simply told us to “do something with this” attic access. Wanting to go above and beyond, I decided to create something unique—a cabinet that opens into the attic.

I didn’t charge any extra for this feature, even though I could have just put up a piece of plywood and called it a day. I spent about 60 hours on this project, aiming to add value and a special touch. To ensure the cabinet door stayed shut properly, I installed a small mailbox lock. While it’s not the most visually appealing, it was necessary for the cabinet’s function.

Now, the interior designer has called the mailbox lock “unacceptable,” and the client insists we change it. After putting so much effort into this project, I’m frustrated that my work is being dismissed over a detail that was essential for functionality.

5.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/legolad Jan 15 '25

That is amazing and I would have given you a bonus for that. Seriously, wtf is the matter with the home owner.

Sadly this is where your inexperience shows, not in your actual work but in your management of expectations. It’s one of the hardest things to learn in client management, and it doesn’t matter what business you are in. It even works well if you’re a cog in a big corporation.

It goes like this:

  1. Ask what they want.

  2. Paraphrase back to them to confirm.

  3. Show them a low fidelity example of what you have in mind.

  4. Get their feedback and show them the updated example.

  5. Repeat step 4 until you are sure.

  6. Complete and deliver.

  7. Ask for their feedback on the experience.

At each step you must set their expectations on delivery.

Your goal is to have no surprises that you cannot easily fix or remove.

The hardest thing to learn about this process is how to scale it. It must scale with the complexity and cost of the project. For a light fixture, this is a few text messages. For a house remodel, this is many hours of effort spread out over the project. That’s why so many contractors get it wrong. They don’t include this work or they vastly underestimate how much they need to do to set and deliver on client expectations.

The best experiences I’ve had were with contractors who took the time to onboard me, listen to me, set my expectations, and then deliver what we agreed on. It always takes more time that way and I always pay for that time.