Inspect, Not Expect

Remodeling contractors need to have an inspector’s eye for code compliance and a customer’s eye for fine details. It’s what you inspect that matters not what you expect.

Most of us in the remodeling business genuinely want to do a great job on every project we do; but too many of us only occasionally hit that mark. Those of us who do not get there each time are only too willing to accept someone else’s word that everything on the job is just the way it is supposed to be.

Probably nobody was guiltier of that than I. You see, I have a side to me that I do not let many people see. It is called laziness. If it was late in the day and I knew that I should go inspect one more jobsite but it was a long ride, I could easily talk myself out of it and just go back to the office or go home. It was a bad habit and, fortunately for me, one I learned to break early in my career. Otherwise I would be writing each week, from personal experience, on how to fail in this business.

We are in a difficult to control business where everything we do we do in front of an audience, our customer. The customer does not just see the play in front of the theater; he also sees the chaos that goes on behind the curtain. As owners it is our responsibility to make order out of the chaos and to make sure that the job is first quality all the time.

We cannot do this if we just accept the idea that things are going along as we “expect” and do not make the time to perform regular inspections. Here is a good example of why I say this.

Many years ago we were building two additions at either end of a house for a banker and his family. At the end of the job we did a walk-through inspection of our work before he gave me the final check. He had two comments.

He told me that both he and his wife were very pleased with the work but that he did have one concern. He mentioned that whenever he happened to be home and he saw me come to the job he would watch what I was doing. He noticed that I was always instructing the workers, correcting the workers or criticizing some work that I wanted done better or redone.

His concern was about all the things he feared I missed when I was not there. I allayed his fear by explaining that this was the reason that I came by at least once every day; and I was sure that I did not miss anything important.

Again, it’s all about what you inspect, not expect!

Tagged as: building code, contractor, customer, inspection, project, remodeling