Managing Client Expectations

If you are a general contractor or construction manager in today's residential market you must be extra sharp and be in tune with your client's expectations. As competition tightens, the only thing separating those who continue to prosper and those who don't are the ones who have clients that are totally satisfied not only with the product but with the process.

In order to do this, you must clearly hear your clients "voice" and keep your commitments to real achievable outcomes. Projecting false claims and information will only serve to create unrealistic expectations on the part of your client.

Client expectations are fueled by a number of sources. For many, expectations are a product of past remodeling experiences; good or bad, tales from relatives, neighbors and friends account for more while for others it can be false expectations from the lack of information and knowledge.

What ever the reason, as each project is different so are the client's goals and requirements. In order to satisfy them you must clearly know and understand what they are.

Remodeling Objectives

Of the three main objectives; quality, time and money, rarely if ever are you able to achieve all three during a projects lifecycle.

Time - If you are trying to satisfy a very tight construction schedule, then it will generally take more money to keep the quality at the highest achievable level while keeping the end date on track.
Money - If budget is a concern, then extending the schedule to one that is beneficial to a high quality at a reasonable pace would be most suitable.
Quality - Everyone has different expectations when it comes to quality but if you are trying to hold to a high construction standard as documented by some governing body (whether NIST, ISO quality standards, AWI or others), then either time or money will determine the finished product.

Falling Short

There are many reasons why expectations fall short. Some may be unrealistically projected by you while others may be based on unreasonable or false assumptions by your client. To avoid bad assumptions give clients relevant and accurate information in a timely fashion. Make sure they understand how the project will progress and what to expect along the way.

Hearing what they say and keeping them informed is a way to avoid disappointment. The project environment must always be conducive to open communications. Communicating issues early and honestly will bring about successful resolutions.

Dare everyone including your employees, subcontractors and vendors to rise to the challenge and meet or exceed you client's expectations. Reward them for doing so and you will all be the more profitable for it.

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