As a state licensed contractor I’m required to attend continuing education classes every year. Sometimes the takeaway from these classes is surprising. At a recent class I attended, a homebuilder made a comment that stuck with me. “We’re the only industry where the customer gets to see the sausage being made”. When I chimed in that our primary focus is remodeling, he offered his condolences and said he doesn’t do remodeling, because of the additional challenges that new home builders don’t face.
What he meant by his comment is that if you buy a new car, all you see is the end product. You don’t see that car being made. You don’t see the mistakes that may have been made and corrected along the way. Even if you could, the cars are made in a pristine facility with a production line set up to produce the same thing day in and day out with the same workers coming back day after day to do the same task.
When it comes to residential construction and even more so with remodeling, every project is a unique proto-type with it’s own set of challenges to contend with. Often, the contractor may not even know what those challenges are until excavation begins or walls are opened up. We don’t work on an assembly line far from the view of our customers, rather we work in people’s homes. Often our clients are living in the home as we work and are witness to all that goes on, the good, the bad, and even sometimes, the ugly. While we strive to minimize problems or mistakes, it is almost guaranteed that there will be some along the way and if customers are paying attention, they will notice. It is not ideal, but it is reality. The best compliments our clients have given have been along the lines of “when things go sideways, you take care of it”. That is a realistic expectation to have. Things are going to go wrong along the way. A quality contractor will make sure those mishaps are remedied and deliver a quality product at the end of the process.
The conditions for construction are also quite unique compared to other industries. We don’t work in a clean factory set up for optimal production, but rather work in adverse conditions, sometimes literally working in the mud. Site conditions, weather, accessibility, client’s belongings left in the work area, pets, kids, etc., are all less than ideal parts of remodeling projects that the workers must contend with.
Most of the work is performed by sub-contractors. While we tend to use the same contractors year after year, they are not employees. They are not clocking in with us for an 8 hour day every day. They have other commitments and problems of their own. Unlike a production line in a factory, there isn’t the reliability of having every task performed at the ideal time. We have to work in with other’s schedules and sometimes that will result in a delay despite the best planning. We do our best to eliminate this by scheduling weeks in advance, but things rarely go exactly as planned. If it were that easy, we could just produce a schedule at the start of a job, let everyone know when they are expected and what they are expected to do and then just sit back and relax. If only it were that easy.
A new project can and should be a very exciting process to watch. However, it is not always a pleasant process to watch. I’ve yet to meet a human who doesn’t make mistakes from time to time even under the best of circumstances. My advice would be to not get too caught up in “watching the sausage be made” and focus on the end result. You will most likely soon forget all the little hiccups along the way and will be left with a great product to enjoy and create happy memories in for years to come.