Episode #10 Transcription - How to Build a Strong Relationship with your Contractor

Welcome to the designers Oasis podcast. I'm your host, Kate Bendewald, interior designer, mama and CEO of a thriving interior design business, built on authentic word of mouth referrals. It wasn't that long ago that I stepped away from my corporate architecture job to build my own dream, one that would allow me more time with the people that I love, the ability to serve my clients at the highest level, and to make a great living. It wasn't always easy, and I've made my share of mistakes along the way. Fast forward to today, and I've learned a thing or two. This podcast is for you - the inspired, creative, ambitious, and let's admit it,  occasionally overwhelmed interior designer who shares this dream of transforming lives by transforming homes. Join me and my guests each week as we walk through practical ways to build an interior design business you love, and helps you transform your clients' lives. You can do this. 

Hello, friend, and welcome back to the Designers Oasis podcast. I am so excited to be with you today. Today we are talking about how to build a successful relationship with a contractor, whether that's a contractor that you are seeking to establish arelationship with or if you're working with a client who already has a contractor how to get off on the right foot. So this is based on an old blog post, but it was a very popular one. So I'm bringing it back today along with a few updates. So we're gonna talk about number one, how to find contractors that are at the caliber you want to be working with. Number two, how do you get off on the right foot? And how do you maintain a great relationship with your contractor? One that is built on trust, mutual respect, and excellent communication. 

First of all, why is this so important? Well, I have heard horror stories, and maybe you have to about contractors and designers butting heads for the duration of a project. Maybe it's a battle of the egos who knows, I know I have personally found myself entangled with a contractor who I just could not see eye to eye with. This isn't good for anyone. And it usually results in many nights of lost sleep. Now, every project is going to have its road bumps. But when you have a great relationship with a contractor with open, honest dialogue, those moments will feel more like little speed bumps, then these giant potholes that cause a flat tire. And the result is a smoother project and happier clients. 

Alright, let's get into it. So first, how do you find a great contractor? Well, I think there's several ways to go about finding someone and then qualifying them to be a trusted partner in business. One of the first things I suggest is to drive Yes, literally get in your car and drive around in the neighborhoods where you want to be working. Often you will find yard signs or construction signs for construction companies or builders already working in that area. And this demonstrates that they likely work at the caliber you would expect and they also likely have relationships in that area as well. So turn up some tunes, grab an ice cream and go for a drive. Personally, it's kind of a family tradition. We love just to go get ice cream and go drive around beautiful neighborhoods and look at homes. I think it's fun. 

But in the meantime, you can also be working while you're doing it. Good old fashioned internet research. I think heading up Google and house are really good opportunities to see the quality of people's work. Really pay attention to the quality of the reviewer as well as the overall rating. So if you go to Google, or house whatever the case may be and you find a contractor that looks like they could be and I'm saying contractor on kind of loosely builder architect any of these could be kind of the same. You could do the same thing for any of these different trades, but I'm just using more global language and using the word term contractor. But when you're doing your internet research, and you're looking through those reviews, pay attention to the quality of the reviewer. Sometimes you might see a one star rating, but it's from somebody who is pissed because they didn't get a phone call back. Or, you know, I mean, just silly stuff. So, you know, keep that in mind. But also, if it's like a five star review, and it's like their mom, take that into account, too. I really read through the referrals, and try to understand the context of what's going on there. And use that just as your first step to sort of reaching out and having a conversation. 

And then of course, word of mouth referrals. Ask your friends, families and neighbors who have they worked with and about their experience, word of mouth referrals are a great way to start a relationship. Okay, so let's start with establishing that relationship. Obviously, I recommend hopping on the phone, making a phone call to introduce yourself, let them know who you are, and why you want to partner with them. All that information. Ideally, they're gonna let you walk a project. And I've done this a number of times to be able to walk a project because a lot of times what you see in photos, you might not be able to catch some of those details. And something might not be as good in person as it is in the photo. So I do think an introduction, letting them know that you're interested in in you know, developing an established relationship with somebody that you can really count on. This is of course, assuming that you are trying to find a trusted partner, sometimes you're brought into a project and there's already a contractor. So we'll move on to that in a minute. But taking a walk through a project can be a great first step to understanding the quality of work that they do. 

Start small. So whenever possible, test a smaller project with your new contractor to get a sense of how well you work together. We don't always have this luxury, but if you do, I think this is a great way to start. So no matter how lovely a person seems, it's not until you get into the actual work that you'll know if you really jive. You know, my favorite contractors are the ones that I actually tested and hired for work in my own home. And I can tell clients, you know, they trusted in my home, I trust them. But more on referrals here in a minute. I've learned some new information and there's a little caveat to referrals, so hang tight that's going to be here in a moment at the end. 

Number two, when you're establishing an early relationship, I think it's super important to ask them for their ideas. Your contractor should feel welcome to bring their ideas to the table. Oftentimes, they can help improve designs because of their experience. And if they don't feel like their voice matters, you may miss opportunities for better results. So really important, you know, to let them feel heard. Let them feel like their voice matters and ask them for their ideas. You might not agree with everything. But a lot of times they can provide ideas that are going to make your designs even better. So give them the opportunity by asking for their ideas. All right, and number three, when establishing a relationship hold their hand, but not forever. And I don't mean literally holding their hand. You know what I mean?

If you're the type of designer that feels more comfortable when you're very hands on while you're establishing trust, just let them know that simply communicate that you Want to be more involved, while you're still getting to know each other, just be careful not to suffocate them by being overbearing or unnecessarily difficult. Give them a chance to earn your trust and then be prepared to back off. So you might want to be really hands on at the outset of a project. But you need to be prepared eventually, to trust them and let them do their work and know that they can call you anytime there's a question or hiccup that arises. 

All right, finally maintaining a great relationship, how do you maintain a great relationship? So I asked two of my favorite contractors, what they felt made great designer contractor relationships. And this is what they had to say, and they want designers to know. Number one, details matter. The more detail you provide in your specifications and drawings, the better projects moves more quickly, you'll have fewer phone calls, with questions to interrupt your day. Questions like, what grout color do you want with this tile? What type of Schluter strip Do you want to finish this off with, maybe you don't want leadership and you just prevented that from going in? What's the edge profile for the countertops, etc. Include all of these details early on, for a smoother project. Next, keep a direct line of communication. If you need to point something out to your contractor, start with direct communication with him or her without involving the client. So this is not trying to be sneaky. It's just trying to have a direct line of communication. So let's say you find something not up to snuff on a project, you did a site walk and you see something that isn't how you expected it, how was it supposed to be? The last thing you want to do is call an all hands on deck meeting, right? That's not going to be your first line of action. 

Oftentimes, your contractor will already be aware of something that isn't right, and maybe working towards solutions. So start with curiosity, start with an open mind. And you don't need to involve the client right away unnecessarily that could lead to added confusion and unnecessary worry from a homeowner who doesn't understand the process. So if you can pull your contractor aside and say, Hey, I just wanted to point this out. Were you aware of this? And find out? Did they know? Did they not? What can you do to solve it? Oftentimes, so many of these things can be solved quickly, quietly, and it doesn't create this big issue or a deal. And, you know, it's just the way it'll end up being just like it was supposed to be. Obviously, if you end up with a bigger issue you'd need you need to pull the client and you know when that time is, but my point is, a lot of these can be solved with a direct line of communication between you and your contractor, walk throughs are super important. So there are two meetings required for any project involving a contractor number one is the initial walkthrough. 

And number two is the pre construction walk. So and there might be more, but that's the very minimum. I mean, there's obviously regular check ins to but those are kind of those two super important initial meetings. So the initial walkthrough usually happens during the design phase. Typically somewhere between concept in concept design and design development. The initial walk, which happens during design, establishes the goal of the project the budget and introduces the client. Often the contractor can provide really valuable information at this point, and has great ideas at this stage. And then after the design presentation. A second pre construction walk will give your contractor the opportunity for the two of you to finalize details, the timeline, and budget for approval. Do not dismiss the importance of these meetings if you want a smoother project. And you may need more at various points in the project depending on the complexity. But these are the absolute minimums you should expect. Ultimately, building a contractor relationship takes time. And when you have the time to nurture that relationship, you can build a dream team that will save you money, it will save you time you'll have smoother projects and your clients will be happier. 

Okay, before we wrap up a minute ago, Imade a little comment about referrals and referring people. And I want to take a moment to talk about this because this is new information to me that I've recently learned and it's so new that I still haven't had the chance to fully understand it, but I feel like it's at least worth mentioning and I'll share it here because it's related to what we're talking about. And there is a link to a legal article that I will include in the show notes and this is what I received and what I was aware of, and it came through a Facebook group I'm in. But anyway, it has to do with your liability for making referrals for people, such as contractors. Now, to be 100%, clear, I am not providing in any way legal advice. I am not a lawyer. I'm just a dumb old designer. Okay. So if you're unsure, contact your lawyer and find out what works and what doesn't. But I'm just going to recap essentially, what the article states, and then you decide what to do with this information. You got it? Okay. So the idea is that if you refer someone such as a contractor, that you could be held partially accountable if something goes wrong. Shocking, right. Well, so here's what the article suggested suggest, Well, number one, either abstain from making referrals altogether, which we know is really, really unlikely, and it's being able to make a strong referral is part of what sets us apart is designers to say, oh, yeah, I have an established relationship with a contractor. So I think there's some ways around this where you can still provide referrals, while also holding, you're protecting yourself legally. 

So what the article says is, if you're going to make referrals, to offer at least three suggestions for people that you have first hand experience with, so not, you know, this person told me, This guy was good, or that person said they had a great experience with this person, unless you have first hand experience. You know, ideally, that you're not referring them, or at least a state that you don't have any experience with them. It also says to provide the names in alphabetical order. That way, there doesn't appear to be any preference. And to have a clause in your agreement that says that your client, you know, is responsible for their own due diligence, I will say that my agreement, and it's been in there for a long time, and it's also the one that I provide on the designers Oasis shop in my client agreement there. It has this so called conspicuous language, that this referral is not an endorsement and that the client is required to do their own due diligence before hiring any professional so. But I think it's I think it's worth noting here, because of what we're talking about that there sometimes we it might not be intuitive, but we want to protect ourselves that if you're going to make a referral, that it's somebody that you've had firsthand experience with that you offer several other suggestions. And this would be a question that you might want to ask an attorney is, you know, can I share which one I've had the most experience with without outright making a suggestion. So TBD on that one, but I'll share the link to this article. 

You can also check out our client agreement, which does have language related to this in there. So I hope that helps. But needless to say, having a good contractor relationship, whether it's somebody you bring to the table, or if you find yourself working on a project that was brought to the project by your client, it's important to start things off on the right foot, and then nurture and take care of that relationship so that you and your client will all end up with a better experience. All right. I hope this helps. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I will see you next time. Thank you so much for letting me spend part of this day with you. If you're loving this podcast, please share it with a friend who you think might also love it. Or perhaps you can take just 30 seconds to open your podcast app and leave us a five star rating. And if you have just an extra minute, go ahead and leave a review. This helps me so much and it helps other designers like you to find the podcast. It also adds fuel to my motivation to keep making great episodes just for you. However you choose to help, please No, I appreciate you so very much. Thank you, my friend. Have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll see you next time.