Avoid conflict with your customers at all costs

This morning I have been talking to a customer having renovation work done at home and a builder who has done renovation work for a customer and is struggling to get paid. They are not two sides of the same coin, or a negotiation may have been possible, but they do represent a lot of the people I’m hearing from who are increasingly frustrated by customers or builders and tradespeople.

Photo by Renovations Certified on Unsplash

The renovation saga is one of poor work which has had to be redone. The customer wants some money back from the unsatisfactory first builder to pay to the second builder otherwise she’s paying for the same work twice. The response from the miscreant seems to be ‘good luck with that’. The issue will be that the work has been paid for and the builder will probably have used that to get started on the next job, so getting repaid could be a forlorn hope. Taking court action could be a case of throwing good money after bad.

If you pride yourself in your work, you can’t afford to leave yourself open to the possibility of a customer not paying. Domestic customers are strapped for cash and will be more so as oil and gas prices force up bills, food and transport costs but when there’s a hole in the roof or the bathroom plumbing no longer works it can be a case of booking in the work to be done and worrying about how to pay for it later. Perhaps, some people are deliberately deciding they will find any excuse not to pay.

Many builders, electricians, plumbers etc are small businesses and one person bands who need to get paid to feed their families. They’re on their knees as the economy worsens. Their costs are going up. Getting to the job is costing more and getting materials, whether picked up from a merchant or delivered is also costing more. Materials themselves are increasing in price not least because they are costing more to transport. And then there’s the big issue that once the tradesperson starts work it can quickly become apparent that the leak that only appeared yesterday is part of a long-standing deterioration that’s only recently spilled over and the final bill will be much bigger than quoted.

We can’t afford to lose more plumbers. There has to be better communication and by that customers need to listen to the tradesperson giving them much clearer information about the different scenarios that might play out before the work starts. Tradespeople do tend to talk in riddles that customers nod along to without fully understanding. Customers need to know what to expect and to understand more about the costs and possibilities of costs mounting. The tradesperson needs to bill and get paid in advance for materials before they’re delivered to the site and to get paid for the work in stages as it’s completed to avoid the bill mounting to the point where the customer can’t pay. If the customer won’t pay for a stage of the work as it becomes due that’s the time to refuse to do any more work until payment is made.

More time spent on clearer communications and getting agreements, in writing, before work starts is likely to create a better understanding and working relationship. No more quotes on the back of an envelope. It won’t go all the way to solving the disputes but Conflict Avoidance is a big thing at the minute in the construction world, as people realise that disputes not only cost money but cost businesses. Why not apply the same principles to domestic worksites.

Becoming a Pledge signatory signals to clients and suppliers that:

✔ You are a good business to work with

✔ Maintaining good business relationships, and dealing with problems early and amicably, are keystones of your day-to-day commercial operations.

✔ Your business is fully committed to delivering value for money and working collaboratively to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and on par.