Contractors (ugh)
Contractors - programming contractors, general home contractors like builders, plumbers or electricians, and even mechanics - have bad reputations. While everyone needs these skilled professionals to complete work where they have little expertise, there an inherent distrust in these relationships. Distrust - where total trust is needed.
Many times it's unwarranted because contractors are as honest and hard working as anyone else. So why is it so? I think a number or relatively minor, easily correctable behaviors lead to this perception.
Personally, I have changed mechanics more than I care to comment on. Not because I felt they were screwing me necessarily, but mostly because they didn't explain the work they were performing to my satisfaction. This led me to doubt their abilities. The doubt and distrust lead me to look for another mechanic who I have more confidence in. It's too bad. I hate shopping around for new mechanics.
At home, we recently added a room to our house. We've all heard horror stories in dealing with these general contractors, so we were pretty picky when it came to selecting one. We checked references, drove by recent jobs, and talked to as many people as we could for recommendations. We selected a good builder and are really happy with the work, but he tried to insist on final payment a few days before the job was complete. This soured the whole experience. Not only that, but he cost himself the opportunity for future work with me or a recommendation to my friends. This was totally unnecessary, stupid, and shortsighted on his part.
At work, one of the other contractors I'm working with went above and beyond the customer specs to create a tool they're finding indispensable for debugging and monitoring the system we built. Now - he's refusing to deliver the source code for this tool. How do you think the customer is reacting to this? (HINT: not good) Even if he had started this tool before he walked in the door at the customer site and didn't charge the customer for any of the enhancements - it's pretty clear that he worked on the changes at the customers site. The customer's perception is that they paid for at least some of the work. They believe they deserve the source so they can maintain and enhance this tool they've become dependent on. If I were the client, I'd feel the same way. I'm not affiliated with this person in any way other than we are both contractors, but this situation is starting to affect my relationship with the client.
It's tough to know how to react in these situations, but as a contractor myself, I feel it's important to at least recognize these trends and not let them interfere with my client relationships. As a contractor, try to:
Remember, even if you're working for a company directly the business is your client. This advice pertains to you as well. Hopefully it helps replace a lot of the doubt and distrust with confidence and assurance.
Many times it's unwarranted because contractors are as honest and hard working as anyone else. So why is it so? I think a number or relatively minor, easily correctable behaviors lead to this perception.
Personally, I have changed mechanics more than I care to comment on. Not because I felt they were screwing me necessarily, but mostly because they didn't explain the work they were performing to my satisfaction. This led me to doubt their abilities. The doubt and distrust lead me to look for another mechanic who I have more confidence in. It's too bad. I hate shopping around for new mechanics.
At home, we recently added a room to our house. We've all heard horror stories in dealing with these general contractors, so we were pretty picky when it came to selecting one. We checked references, drove by recent jobs, and talked to as many people as we could for recommendations. We selected a good builder and are really happy with the work, but he tried to insist on final payment a few days before the job was complete. This soured the whole experience. Not only that, but he cost himself the opportunity for future work with me or a recommendation to my friends. This was totally unnecessary, stupid, and shortsighted on his part.
At work, one of the other contractors I'm working with went above and beyond the customer specs to create a tool they're finding indispensable for debugging and monitoring the system we built. Now - he's refusing to deliver the source code for this tool. How do you think the customer is reacting to this? (HINT: not good) Even if he had started this tool before he walked in the door at the customer site and didn't charge the customer for any of the enhancements - it's pretty clear that he worked on the changes at the customers site. The customer's perception is that they paid for at least some of the work. They believe they deserve the source so they can maintain and enhance this tool they've become dependent on. If I were the client, I'd feel the same way. I'm not affiliated with this person in any way other than we are both contractors, but this situation is starting to affect my relationship with the client.
It's tough to know how to react in these situations, but as a contractor myself, I feel it's important to at least recognize these trends and not let them interfere with my client relationships. As a contractor, try to:
- Explain all work to be done to the customer's satisfaction.
- Don't make trivial demands on the customer (like early payment). It sours the customer experience and may cost you future work.
- Happily deliver whats expected. I'm sure there are situation where customers expectations are too high, but part of the job is setting expectations at the right level.
Remember, even if you're working for a company directly the business is your client. This advice pertains to you as well. Hopefully it helps replace a lot of the doubt and distrust with confidence and assurance.
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