Full disclosure – I told my builder I was going to write about his comment because it was HILARIOUS.
I was yakking to my builders the other day who are working on my place about the trials and tribulations of being a business owner in the construction industry. My builder said, quoting jobs is like going on Tinder. I laughed by backside off. He elaborated.
Sometimes you see something you like the look of and you go back and forth and pay them lots of attention and then finally meet in person and they are NOT your cup of tea. Other times the pic you see is not initially quite as instantly appealing as the others might be but you have a chat anyway, only to find out that the person in question is a total gem……
in a nutshell
He was saying that sometimes the jobs that look like they will be straightforward, where the client looks to have plenty of funds, where the job is something you would be stoked to have a sign out the front of, but ACTUALLY the whole job is a right pain. The client is difficult to deal with and doesn’t always understand the intricacies of what needs to be done, maybe they don’t have a realistic view of what the costs should be, maybe the job itself winds up being much more complex than initially thought and you have spent PILES of time and money doing your initial quoting to try and secure it.
To try and determine a tire kicker when they first make contact can be really difficult, but I thought I’d reiterate on the back of my belly laugh how important it is for you to be a bit particular over who gets your time.
Nothing wrong with being discerning
Builders often give every person who comes across their desk the time of day…. because you guys are just really lovely people and you don’t like letting anyone down. However, given the time and cost that goes into quoting a job, there is nothing wrong with being a bit more discerning about who you choose to swipe right on.
I’m not talking about hitting a button on your desk while you stroke your white Persian that tips a potential client you don’t like the look of off their chair into a pit of crocodiles… you can be a bit more subtle than that! But maybe you can create a process that puts a bit of a roadblock in front of a potential client… like filling out an enquiry form with some key questions on it. Depending on the questions will depend on if you will require them to pay for the pricing perhaps. And if the hoop you give them to jump through puts them off, then maybe they weren’t the type of people you wanted to work within the first place?