Builders are an interesting group. I can say that because I am one. We joke amongst ourselves that all you need to qualify as a “builder” or to be in “construction” is a pickup truck, a few tools and a robust library of YouTube videos. In most cases you don’t have to have a degree or training or even a license to get started. Even your dog needs to have a license. I just need to have an I.D. number with the city.
This ease of entry into this profession goes a long way in explaining why some builders are more affordable than others; some are more experienced than others; and why some are more professional than others.
What Should Not Be Determining Factors
As a builder with 20+ years of experience, who has a degree and most of the credentials and licenses available within our industry, I’m here to tell you if you are considering a remodel don’t hire me because of any of that. All those things should be the requirements for consideration, but not the determining factors for hire.
Don’t hire me because I am the cheapest or the most expensive or anything in-between. Money is (another) point of consideration, but (again) should not be the determining factor.
Don’t hire me because you like me or because you think I “get” you or because you “believe” in me. And please don’t hire me because I can fit your job into a specific time frame or schedule.
Why Should You Hire Me?
Your single, most important determining factor for hiring me (or any other builder) should be this: Do you trust me?
Trusting someone is easy, right? It shouldn’t be. But we do it all the time based on little-to-no knowledge of or experience with each other.
Trust is not quantifiable, but it’s everything. Trust is not a feeling nor an emotion. It is neither intellectual nor logical nor tangible. And there is no empirical evidence that “proves” trust even exists.
Yet we all inherently know when we experience it; receive it; impart it. We know that it’s a two-way street and that our lives are mutually richer, better because of it. And we know that the only way you can receive (or give) trust is to earn it via transparency… over and over again… with every action, every response.
But that can take years, right?
It shouldn’t. Not if total transparency drives the discussions. A great foundation for trust can be established via transparency in as little as 6 weeks. This is long before we demo a single brick and enough so that you will be completely comfortable trusting me with your home, your vision, your dreams and with the budget you have set aside for turning those into a reality.
You see, just about anyone can be your project’s builder. But you should want more, expect more, hire more than that. What you should demand from your builder is that he be the trusted advisor of your project.
So how is a trusted advisor different from a competent builder? And how do we create the total transparency necessary for trust from day one, and continue that paradigm throughout the building process? Can you really build or remodel with little-to-no surprises? And what does that look like or require?
Find out in next month’s blog.