This is a difficult blog to write… Mostly, because even as a professional service provider I too am a consumer, and I have the exact reaction most people do to a lot of things. “What do you mean I have to wait?” “Why does this take 4-6 weeks to ship?” “Can’t I pay to expedite it?”
Well, here we are. More and more so, the consumer market as a whole is becoming more and more demanding. I attribute a lot of it to everything we’ve experienced in 2020 thus far, and who can blame us? A lot of us are still stuck in our houses due to varying levels of reasons related to the pandemic.
We’re obsessing over outdated aesthetics. Getting frustrated with a bad design layout in our floor plan or a super hard-to-reach dead space in our cabinets. We’re even focusing our anger on that tile in our shower we just absolutely hate, because that damn tile is so ugly! So, off to Pinterest or Houzz, we go; to get ideas to solve our problems.
Now, here is where it gets tricky. Over the years most of us have become accustomed to on-demand service. Most of our buying habits have shifted to online purchasing. Our trend to same-day shipping has caused a shift in the way retail businesses sell. However, this is not true of all industries.
The construction and design industry is a planned and collaborative process. It takes time. Time, resources, management, permits, logistics, scheduling, delivery, quality control, expert labor, and installation. Sure there are cheap options. But it is exactly that. You get what you pay for and cheap is cheap for a reason. Most off-the-shelf options from big box stores have something that is putting that material there in the first place. Either the dye lot is off, or it’s discontinued, or the thickness or density is not up to par. Not all products are created equal.
True quality design and construction come from experience and that experience comes with a price tag and a process that has been developed and honed. ( I will refer you to read an earlier blog post of mine that details out steps to remodeling your home. )
The purpose of this blog is not to attack anyone and is not related to any of my clients. This is a blog to simply give people who need professional services in the construction industry the proper knowledge and tools needed to help them understand how it works. Tempering expectations allows for a less stressful construction process.
Most importantly something to not just remember, but to take to heart, is that the people you are working with are people too. We are just as stressed out as you are, and we are here to help you! Sometimes things don’t go completely smoothly but that doesn’t mean the world is ending. That is not to say your feelings of frustration don’t matter. Quite the opposite, but instead of running to Yelp or Google or wherever to leave a vicious reactionary review…(and just stop doing that… small businesses suffer enough from bad reviews and most of them are undeserved.) Try instead talking with your contractor and asking what the solutions to the problem are. Instead of really leaning into your pride, I recommend trying hard to see this as an opportunity to work even closer as a team and to help each other out.
2020 has been hard. Amazon Prime Now is just about the worst. Please be kind. Don’t be a Karen. For the love of all that is holy.
Design as a team!
It’s way more fun that way.