The ‘Devil’ is in the detail…
Comparing Apples with Apples;
The Devil is in the detail;
You’ve heard all of the sayings for ever in a day, but people get caught up in the moment & naturally there is emotion & excitement when you go through an event like a home renovation.
Of late, I’m disappointed to see too many people get caught up in the emotion of the event & the “salesy” process. There are too many large projects being presented to clients effectively on the back of a coaster – jotting down a few lines on an A4 sheet with a figure at the bottom isn’t a proposal.
* Footnote: Just so you know our proposals are generally 13 pages in detail. We do this to give our clients confidence. This way they know exactly what they are getting & there are no surprises. Just saying.
You see the photo in ‘Belle Magazine’…..
You hear “Yeah I can make that happen”,
“I only have XYZ to spend though” & they said it would look like the picture that I showed them.
But it didn’t. Things went wrong, they kept giving me a heap of variations & the relationship broke down. You got the s@#t’s. You never want to do this again.
Slow down to go faster. What??That doesn’t make sense… I just want to be sitting out in my new, perfect outdoor living area yesterday.
So, would you buy a new car without driving it? You wouldn’t even buy a shirt without trying it on first, so why would you do anything but, when you renovate your home?
You can make a price fit for anything, but it’s what isn’t written down or said, which is where the real story starts.
Everyone has a budget, which is normal – I keep saying I haven’t met anyone like Kerry Packer yet who walks in with a blank cheque.
You shouldn’t feel like you are being sold to.
You need to connect to the person, the business & then the product.
Then you need to understand exactly what you need to get what you want. But that’s hard when you don’t know what you don’t know.
So what should you know?
I’ve broken down some of the most common areas that you should think about.
Have a look:
Not just at a photo. I’ve seen some of our constructions pinned up in a local shopping centre with someone else selling it as their own work.
So go & look at the display.
Just because I’ve detailed roofing product A doesn’t mean that roofing product A is the same for everyone else.
You could be thinking your getting product A when in fact your getting product Z
Approvals:
Do you even need approval? Or are you hearing that “It’ll be alright, don’t worry about it”. Which is fine until you go & sell the house or the council knocks on the door
Generally most of our work does require an approval, so when it does, what do you need?
Use these points below:
- Who’s paying for the council application fees?
- Bushfire Assessment – you need this report when you are in ANY bushfire zone
- What other reports do you need?
- What about the Construction Certificate?
- Who’s taking care of Sydney Water?
Electrical:
Who’s doing the actual electrical connections?
Are you being told that they’ll take care of the wiring & you can get someone else to connect it all up?
What if something goes wrong, who do you call?
Is the structure being earthed?
HBCF
What’s that?
If the value of the work is over $20,000 you need to be provided with an insurance certificate
We have a process & this is the reason why. We not only need to get to know you, but understand what you are trying to achieve, understand IF it can be achieved from an approval point of view & then lastly make sure that it can all fit into your budget.
Engineering:
You are taking out that brick wall to put in the 6 meter wide bi-folds, which will look great when its done, but what’s holding up the roof?
Who’s signing off on that?
Finishing Up:
So what happens at the end?
We complete a water test on all of our outdoor coverings to ENSURE that they are water tight.
What do I want you to take away from this?
- Do your homework
On who you are dealing with – online reviews can help a lot these days & can paint a picture.
Do your homework on the product – compare each version as there isn’t a silver bullet or one size fits all approach with building products. - Find out the facts
- Remember that you often get what you pay for
So, I hope that this helps just one family get exactly what they wanted.