“Construction” Feedback – When and How
We all like a pat on the back for a job well done. General contractors and home remodelers are no different. When we’ve done a good job, we hope our clients will tell us, and more importantly, tell others. When we haven’t quite met expectations, we also hope our clients will tell us. We want to make sure you’re 100 percent satisfied, but if you don’t provide feedback, we can’t know what you think. But when should you give that feedback? We say: right away!
If something isn’t satisfactory on a job, we need to know about it immediately. The more time that passes, the more expensive it becomes to correct something. If there’s an electrical switch in a place you do not like, for example, it needs to be addressed before the dry wall is put in place. If it’s not, the dry wall will have to be ripped out and re-done, and this becomes a cost in both materials and labor. Or, if you see some workmanship not to your liking, point it out – to the lead man on the job or to the general contractor himself. We will make it right.
Getting feedback throughout the project lets us know you’re on board with it. We always pay attention to your feedback. It will also help us to ask the right questions along the way. At the end of a job or close to it, we ask for direct feedback by getting a “punch list” from you. This is a list of all the little things that you notice during the final walk through or as you’re living with the addition for a while. Include nail pops and rough edges, but also include awkward door openings, mismatched trim pieces, and anything else that is bothersome to you. Within reason, we’ll bend over backwards to fix these items. It’s what we do. But we can’t do it without you.
