How to Get Better Quality Clients as a Contractor 

A customer needs to be " vetted

Dude I just had 3 months of this cause it was for a family friend and I couldn’t back out and had to finish. It was pure hell, I wanted and needed to walk off the job on the second day but could not do it. Don’t let yourselves get in this situation, and of course they want more work done but NOPE!!

@@spf-92.5 oh cripes that is the worst, specially when it's people you actually like, otherwise. There are a few types of goods and services I straight up stopped accepting no matter from where or whom or for what, because I found that 99% of the people who wanted that type of work were always nightmares on legs.

What’s the first most?

@@benjaminfowler3406 a subject EC has discussed often in his vids - Learning how to confidently charge a fair to the customer and profitable to me price for my work and or goods.

This is key. In some instances you can show up to what you think is a bid and in reality the potential client had work done recently by someone else which either didn’t solve the problem or caused another problem and now they’re looking for anyone to blame or make liable by going in after the fact. This is how you can be scammed by the client instead of the other way around how the stereotype portraits.

People's expectations are insane now. I get people calling me wanting their bathrooms remodeled starting day of phone call and being completed in a day or two lol

People think that 35 to 50k for an all in, not top of the line, not high design, but a NICE bathroom renovation is absurd. These same people own two million dollar plus houses and exclusively luxury cars.

I tell them “I’ll be there in about fiiiiive minutes” Then don’t answer after that 😂

​@@joshfrench6426Amazon prime mentality, get it all the time now. They should know that anyone worth hiring will be busy and have plenty of work friend of mine is booked up for next 18 months and doesn't advertise.

@@joshfrench6426 they see these renovation shows on television and expect it be done instantly

For me too …🎉 good luck buddy

Yes. But when you’re starting out and a prospective client complains about even one previous contractor walk away. Get a bookkeeper before you do anything.

@@Tryagain205 those 2 points are pretty good. But mostly the last one : Bookkeeper and accountant. Learned it the hard way this year

I wish that was true

I hear that

Notice he said a job he did not take

@@brucerummel2291 yep and yet I have wasted money on fuel and software and prototyping and lots of other ways for jobs I didn't take

@@brucerummel2291 Yep, just the other day I went and looked at a big deck job, and the client was just not being realistic with the price and what he wanted to be built. I drove over an hour to see him, paid about $20 each way in tolls and maybe the same in gas, and in the end, I just got a bad vibe from the guy, he wanted me to build his deck over a parking area but he did not really want to build it well out of good materials to "Save Money". I will give him a fair quote but I'm sure he will not want to pay that, so I'll walk away. I'm basically booked up with good jobs with clients I know and like until the middle of November at the moment, I have time for one to two-day jobs here and there, but the majority of my time is already booked, I don't need the headache of a client who wants to fight me over price on the first time I meet the guy, no thanks. That is what I mean by "not losing any money on a job I did not take". Cheers!

What if those GCs WERE crappy??? Believe me they are easy to find! Let’s be honest For every PITA client there is a dishonorable builder.and for every cheap client there is a rip off artist builder.

I'm well aware there are bad contractors out there, I've cleaned up enough messes in my time, but in this case it's just statistically improbable. It's POSSIBLE that he hired 15 terrible people in a row, it's just very unlikely. Occam's razor applies I'm afraid. It's like the old saying, if you run into a jerk first thing in the morning, ok, well, you ran into a jerk. If you run into jerks all day, you're the jerk.

Charge for estimates and find out quick who is serious or not

Ouch - on such a big job too. That hurts, hope it ends well!

Just finished a renovation exactly like that, barely survived. Tested our abilities, did a phenomenal job, but we were always the bad guy, probably didn’t charge enough so communication suffered.

I can relate. I'm one of the few remaining actual stone masons in our area. I got invited to spend 7 years working on a 200,000 sq ft house. I was super excited at first after doing a site visit. Then the financial logistics of trusting a shady uber-wealthy with my well being kicked in. No thanks! I prefer normal people who pay their bills!!!

"The rich work for the poor and the poor work for the rich." Just like Scott's examples of lawyers and teachers and clergy, you can't draw bright lines around any particular group, including "the rich" or "the poor". If you do, you'll miss out on a lot of valuable customers. The goal is to learn to identify those in each group that should be avoided. In my personal experience (ymmv), the group with the highest percentage of difficult customers has been 40+ single/divorced women.

Sucks but piece of advice for the guys. Successful general contractor is gonna be someone with lawyer-like qualities and training NOT a builder or worker.

absolutely. not many gigs exist where you dont need to read people, manage expectations, sell, be willing to write off bad business, appreciate the truly great clients, etc. and pareto distributions can be found all over the place. yet another valuable topic broken down by scott

@@jimmyconway3814put a law firm on the list

Why should you be in drivers seat more than the client??! Why not have a clear mutual symmetrical fair contract?!

​​@@johnwhite2576Because not all people are "clear, mutual, symmetrical, or fair" and that was the entire point of the video.

On the other hand - when you are providing services to clients/customers/contracts, it’s good mental practice to not only realize good boundaries in your contract, but also realize the boundaries in the contract are your escape because until the final check doesn’t bounce you are NOT in the driver’s seat.

To the best of my abilities is the same as the gravel truck having not responsible for broken windows. In my state it is assumed legally that if you accept work you are able to perform such work to the industry standard.

@@tysleight Comparing a truck to a windshield is not appropriate; one should possess the discernment to understand the difference. When discussing industry standards, it's important to recognize that they can vary widely. In my experience, the key to my longevity in this industry has been my commitment to working "as unto the Lord." However, in all aspects of life, including work, one can only perform to the best of their abilities. This is a fundamental truth.

@@theartistone5860 the lord has zero to do with this. This is a cut and dry legal matter. Guessing by your age you have had a new hip shoulder knee.... To the best of your abilities is not ok it is it better be up to the standard of care. If you suck you need to move out of the way. We accept trash work on high end homes that would never pass on a commercial job and just chalk it up to well they tried. When it is homeowners didn't want to go to court

Getting everything documented in writing is so important. It’s protection for both sides. Sadly the days of a deal by a handshake are long gone, never to return. As you complete jobs, think about what needs to be improved or updated in your contract. It will likely be an ever-evolving document, improving with each business lesson learned.

School administrators go for the job for the money.

Hey man I’ve been a carpenter for 7 years. My old boss that I did my time under was a lot like you described, his work van (which he finally upgraded to a pick up) looked ready for the scrap heap. His van was extremely unorganised and things would fall out every time he opened the door. He was very scruffy looking and often would even talk to clients with crumbs still on his face from lunch. But what I can tell you is he was an absolute master carpenter and even today, despite how much pride I take in my own work, I aspire to be even half as good as he was. Even today he has work 18 months out, at all times. I’d hate to think of someone like him being judged right off the bat, that’s where I would say word of mouth/referrals are much better than websites and image

Flush up! As an attorney, I do not take them either - especially Elementary School teachers. The worst. Crunching and grating from every angle, all the time.

@@wmickinley Yep 100%, dated an elementary school teacher for a few years and had to finally walk away. Most disrespectful person I've ever known personally.

Not sure if professionally possible, but bring your own dog with you. If they avoid the person you meeting that tells you a lot about the vibe someone is giving. Sort of to confirm your own feeling.

Thats a good one

So true. I had a customer say, "sorry, my dog is a jerk"... The customer was passive aggressive.

Pretty good point …

… and absolutely applicable to just about any type of customer centered business, not just contracting!

The rich looking (all front and no dough, paycheck to paycheck to make payments on that flash car) or genuinely rich (often badly detached from reality) can be the worst and most entitled. Had a guy who owned a transport company and just thought everyone who worked for him was a damn leech, his company employees or people working on his home. Spent his money on all kinds of frivolous crap, kids had 6000 dollar bicycles that they didn't care for etc. Kind of person who buys a Bentley but doesn't change the oil. Crazy. He refused to pay for someone visit to maintain his pool at his holiday home, expecting his friends to go round and do it. Well the robot cleaning thing ended up rolled up in the sliding cover, what a mess. Cost a lot more than just paying the pool guy!

@nothanks9050 Sounds like a real jerk,I've had to deal with some of those. I've also had seemingly nice people take forever to pay, my theory is when you're used to having a lot of money you don't realize that the guy waiting for the check could really use it.

@@dcrog69 Oh yeah it happens. Often they want to hold it over you and squeeze something extra out of you for nothing. Had the seemingly nice people turn nasty halfway through too. The other thing that amazes me is the people that don't learn, they just want cheapest, cheapest, cheapest without ever realising the difference between cheap and value. Wether they're buying something or hiring someone, they're genuinely surprised as to why everything sucks! Amazon prime mentality gets worse every year too, expecting everything done now, can't understand why someone good is booked up. Let them send in the clowns, best avoided!

No published phone number minimises cold calling which can be insanely relentless. The pre-qualification questions you wrote of are to filter out time wasters, because dealing with cold calls, and time wasters is a full time job in itself and we dont have the time or earn enough money to pay someone to filter all of that. Does pre-qualification anoy me on a personal level? Yes. But as a business owner i understand some of the reasons why so i accept it and get on with it.

@@thebrotherofthunder I was self-employed most of my wage earning years, and there is no way I would have hidden behind a webpage, or considered potential client "time wasters". It is my well considered opinion that those who wish to put their business out in front of the general public should be prepared to deal with the public. If a contractor hasn't got time to at least have voicemail, and respond within 24 hours, he's either too busy to get to my job, or he isn't worth messing with. Things are certainly changing with the younger generations, and from where I sit, a lot of the changes are not good. Just watch them sign anything put in front of them without even reading or understanding what they are signing. Speaking of "time wasters", I've been trying to hire a qualified flooring installer for over a month. I could go to one of the big box stores or franchised flooring companies and get the job done, but I want to give the business to a guy who is making a go of it to support his family. I've yet to find one who followed through with what they said they would do. One finally came out to take measurements and give me a bid but he never called back with the bid. I had started the project with a family owned business but had problems. I'm a retired appraiser, so I know how to measure and calculate square footage. Their guesstimate for the job was about $8,000, which was about 25% less than what I figured it should cost. They came out and measured, then sent a bid for $13,000! They wanted to order 25% more flooring for waste/damage, and they wanted to charge me labor for installing the 25% overage which would not be installed! I'm getting off-topic and venting at this point, but at 76 I wonder why things which used to be so simple is, with all the modern technology, such a pain.

Bingo.

Small claims is completely useless