When I ran my own homebuilding company—following a couple of unpleasant experiences—I developed a rule that I would only build or remodel for “nice” people. Building or buying a home should be fun, and it can be if the right choices are made up front. Having previously spent more than a decade working in the corporate world of residential construction, I came to realize that life is truly too short to add to the frustrations by taking work solely for monetary gain. And later, after establishing my company, I expanded my rule by adding that my projects should be enjoyable, both for me as contractor and for my customers.
Building or buying a home should be fun; and it’s also an exciting time. And while I’ve often heard comments about how stressful or unpleasant the process can be, I think it’s because the consumer and contractor or real estate agent have paired up with the wrong people. After developing my rule, I declined several potentially lucrative jobs when it became evident that the enjoyable aspect would be lacking. And I really didn’t want potential customers to suffer unnecessarily either. When we encounter people with whom we don’t resonate, we need to move on. The process should always be a win/win for both parties.
While I understand that relocating, qualifying for a mortgage or making the selections and decisions necessary for a new home can sometimes be frustrating, they should ultimately be leading to a positive outcome. Selecting the right team is as critical, in some cases more so, than the selection of the home itself.
Some of my closest relationships are with previous customers; and I believe that to be the case because we both took time to analyze the potential outcome. We came together in a partnership, describing our expectations up front and making a commitment to help each other achieve our objectives.
In today’s demanding economic climate, with the difficulties we face as a nation and individually, let’s not compound the stress by choosing the wrong partner to help us achieve our housing goals. Building or buying a home should be fun, and working with qualified and compatible teammates can help to insure that we enjoy the process.
The Housing Guru: The expert source for all your housing questions—now featuring daily updates of Today’s Housing News
Comments(13)