The project you didn’t take

By Ken Matesz

“No,” is a complete sentence.

It is easy to think that we should build every project that comes our way. If the customer comes to us ready to hire us, we should always take it, right?

Wrong.

In the Fall of 2012, I was just wrapping up one of my busiest years ever building masonry heaters. By November I was finally enjoying a respite from about 13 months of non-stop out-of-town masonry heater work. My son and I literally, finished one job, went back to our shop, loaded the trailer with materials, and headed off for the next project right away month after month. It was nice to actually be home for a bit in November.

About that time, I received an email from a prospective client in Indiana. The couple was new to the concept of masonry heaters. But they were pretty sure they wanted one. They had already broken ground for their new home. I saw this new project as a way of extending my construction streak. I sent them a copy of my book so they could learn more. A couple weeks after that I scheduled to drive to their home to meet with them and discuss their project.

When I arrived at the home under construction, I found they had already decided where the masonry heater would be. They had randomly chosen a footprint size for the heater and framed out the floor to accommodate the masonry heater construction. They did all that without having consulted with anyone about the requirements for or restrictions imposed by a masonry heater.

That was the first bad omen.

The location they chose was directly centered under a load supporting beam. They had already decided they did not want the chimney on the east side of the opening they had created. The chimney could not be off the top of the heater; the footprint they had chosen was too narrow to have the flue off the top and avoid the supporting beam as well. On the west side, if the chimney went up on either side of the beam, it would run right into the valley of the roof above. Further, to avoid the beam required the chimney to be well off the footprint of the pad they had decided upon.

I hadn’t even landed the job officially yet, and it was already a head-scratcher.

For a few weeks, the clients and I discussed ways to work around the situation. We came up with a couple acceptable ways to get around the main supporting beam while still avoiding the valley of the roof above and still not having the chimney on the east side, where they didn’t want it. I still had no contract for building project, the home was under construction, and we were busy fixing a placement mistake that never should have happened. Not good signs.

Once the chimney placement was under control, we started discussing the heater itself. They wanted a particular output of heater, it had to fit on the pad size they had randomly selected and built, and it had to fit under the height of the overhead beam. Now they told me that they must have a heated bench all along the front and on just one side of the heater.

Another bad omen.

So far, each step that we made toward actually signing an agreement to build a masonry heater involved working around barriers and limitations they imposed without having any knowledge about what it takes to make the project a reality. But I persisted.

I came up with a design that fit their parameters. They tentatively liked it. They weren’t excited about the design, but they were okay with it. They liked it enough that they requested I give them a decent ballpark estimate for it. I did that.

I gave them a price.

They said it was too high. They wanted something that would cost less.

Another bad omen.

Bad Omens Mean Something

Do you see how the bad omens are adding up? At every step in the process, the client has added further restrictions to the project, yet expects me to work around every one of them. These folks could afford the heater I designed. That fact was written all over the house plans, the cars they drove, and the man’s job description. My estimate, according to them, was only a few thousand dollars more than they wanted to spend.

Translation: They want me to perform ultimate service, provide a premium product and jump through all their hoops, but they don’t want to pay me for it. They want the discount price.

At this point, I was pretty sure I would never be building anything for them. But I did give it another shot. I revised the design. I cut out some material cost here. I changed the design so it would take some less time to produce. I tweaked this and I tweaked that.

Then I presented them with the revised option.

They told me all the reasons they didn’t like the new idea and wondered why I had changed this or that from the original design. I told them I was trying to meet their budget criteria. They said, 
 “Well, that design is not what we want.”

The final bad omen.

Now it is clear. They want what they want and they want it in their price range regardless of how much more work it is for the person actually doing the work.

It was about this time that they added yet another restriction. It was just at the new year and they told me that the masonry heater had to be complete and ready to use by the end of March. I was flabbergasted. We could not establish a design or firm a price on January 1. But they wanted the thing, whatever it would be, built by the end of March. Then they sent me hand-made sketches of designs they wanted to propose – some of which did not even include the items they had originally told me were important to them.

The next week I received an email from their builder wondering when I was going to start construction and asking for the precise dimensions of the heater. I told him to contact the homeowners and ask them because I had no idea.

I stopped answering their phone calls and responding to their emails.

Cut Your Losses

This is an example of a project I did not lose money on. I abandoned it before it got off the ground and I never lost a cent.
It is crucial in any business to recognize that you don’t really need every job that comes along.

It turns out that, because I did not pursue that project anymore, I actually did not build any masonry heaters in February and most of March of that year. I didn’t make any money in those months.

But I didn’t lose any money either.

To this day I believe that would have been “the job from hell.” I have no doubt that these customers would have continued to add restrictions and complications to the project – even after the project was started. Yet they would not want to pay for modifications. The project would be a struggle from start to end, just as they had shown me in the early days of planning and estimating. At every step they would want the best at the lowest price.

If I stuck to my guns and refused modifications without extra pay, they would throw tantrums, not pay me, and would never be good references. I don’t believe anything really good would have come from that project. Worse, I suspect I would have a battle with them just getting paid for it. I think there was a fair chance I would have eventually lost money on that project.

You and I don’t need projects like that. Avoid them like herpes, AIDS, and VD.

Some jobs may even appear very lucrative. A client may seem absolutely unconcerned about how much anything costs. Yet, if he causes trouble throughout the project, there is no joy in the building. You have to be on the lookout for clients who can never be pleased. If you cannot seem to make them happy no matter what you do, the project may not be “profitable” no matter how much money you might make on it. Yes, business is about profit, but that does not mean you should sell your soul to make that buck.

Remember, you never lose money on the jobs you don’t take.

Ken