This morning, the project manager for our e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d remodeling project came through with his top guy, because they think they're close to being finished. A few weeks back, they thought they were finished too, until we did a walk through ... and I guess they weren't really finished, because the result of that walk-through was about 2 pages of "unfinished stuff."
So, here we are again. The project manager said to my wife this morning, "I think we're done. We've done everything on the list." My wife turned to him and said, "What about the paint outside?" The contractor very quickly intercepted my in-flight approach to the front door, and said, "You know, we're just trying to get everything done on this contract, so that we can get paid."
Ah, there's a big surprise. They've been saying they want to get paid for about a month now, and I really don't mind paying them, except for one small thing standing in the way...
My house isn't done yet!
What my contractors consistently fail to understand, is that I am not driven by the act of paying them -- they are driven by the need to get paid. All I hear from their mouths is about what they want. I've never heard them say, "I just want to make sure that when I leave, you have a beautiful and functional house."
This is a mistake that I consistently see in compliance projects also. Please keep in mind, that whoever is paying for the project, has the focus. Their needs must be the primary concern for the project. All actions should derive from what they want. And, if they change their mind ( yes, they're allowed to do that ), then you adjust to accommodate their new needs.
If you were spending hundreds of thousands on a remodel, wouldn't you want somebody to care about what you need?
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