Kind of rethinking how I talk to clients after one conversation last Thursday

Had a guy tell me he didn't care if the miters were perfect, he just wanted it done by Friday, and it made me realize I've been spending too much time on stuff nobody sees while ignoring what actually matters to the people paying me.

2 comments

2 Comments

keithyoung19d ago

Man that hit home. Had a similar thing happen with a kitchen remodel last year. Lady kept saying "just make it work" while I was stressing about grain matching on cabinet doors she was gonna cover with magnets anyway. Wasted a whole day on something that got painted over. Clients just want their stuff done on time and in budget. Everything else is just us showing off for ourselves.

jason_fisher419d ago

Respectfully, I see it different. That grain matching is you giving a damn about your work. If we just slap stuff together because the client says "make it work," we're basically admitting we don't care about quality. I've had customers tell me not to worry about things, then come back six months later complaining about the small stuff. The real trick is reading the room - when to show off and when to just get it done. But totally writing off the craft side, that feels like losing something important.