PROFITS: Market Insight
cian is on-site doing work per the
contract and the client asks for
additional electrical work, the
electrician wants to do it right
then and there, rather than having to come back. At the same
time, however, we don't want
to have the electrician do that
extra work without first giving
the client a price, because then
the client could come back and
argue the price. Sometimes we
need to put the job on hold until
a client signs the change order."
Many of the small commercial jobs Watson works on
involve committees that make
selections. When too many of
the committee members are
communicating with the remodeler, it can become difficult to
keep up with all the decisions.
In these situations, Watson
Probably 15 percent of our budgeted production
time was spent being movers. We basically became
part-time movers to get the job done.
–Jim Bacon, Slavin Construction, Elmira, N.Y.
Thinkstock/ Konstantinos Kokkinis
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December 2013
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encourages the committee
to choose one person to be
the spokesperson and point
of contact.
E. DeForest (Sandy)
Winslow, LaGrange, Ga.-based
Splash Kitchens & Baths,
recently completed a wholehouse remodel that included
50 change orders; a typical
project involves only one to
five change orders, Winslow
says. To stay ahead of any
potential misunderstanding or
disagreement down the road,
Winslow required all change
requests to be in written form,
and that any change order
must be made immediately,
and all communication to
be documented. Because
of the online scheduling,
communication and change
order system Winslow uses,
the client could see the
amount of money being spent
on changes, causing the client
to remove several changes that
otherwise would have further
inflated costs.
Scott Sevon, GMR, GMB,
CGP, CGR, CAPS, of Palatine,
Ill.-based MAW Chicago, also
deals with continuous changes.
"We have clients that continually
make changes or bring in designs,
real estate agents or others who
want to make their selections."
Another new challenge
of recent years is unrealistic
expectations, he notes. "As we
deal with more high-end clients,
their expectations — no matter
how we set them — are very
difficult to meet," Sevon says,
due in part to television shows
where jobs are completed almost
overnight. "Most programs don't
show any behind-the-scene
selections, which on TV are being
mostly made by professionals
and are not client-driven."
Although not all clientcontractor problems can be
eliminated, setting realistic
expectations and maintaining
open and clear communication
lines before and during the
process can greatly alleviate
frustrations. QR