You would not take a job to build a shed and not find out where the shed should go, would you?
In most cases, when hiring someone to handle a task, I go over the task, what I am looking to have as an end result, and I will let them do what they do to get to get the job done. I mean they are the professionals, right?
But there is always specific items the “employer” needs when hiring a contractor. I like to call these needs ‘requests’. Not too difficult a word, right?
You wouldn’t hire a contractor to build a shed and not tell them where you wanted the shed, would you? Or a painter to paint your house and not give them the colors you want for each room.
This is particularly true when hiring a contractor to perform work for a service-provider business.
I mean really, how often do you start a job, any job, and have all the answers no matter how much experience you have with other companies? If every company did everything in the same manner, there would be no competition or variety of services offered.
Most cases, when considering a contractor for my business assignments, I explain why I need things done a certain way and give my requests in detail, but hey, if I am asking for it and paying for it, then I really have no need to justify why I want what I pay for done the way I want it done, do I? After all, I could be giving these step-by-step instructions because I already know what works, and what is the best way to get to the end result that I am paying to get, and because that just happens to be what works for my business.
Am I wrong to expect a job done the way I want it done? I don’t think so. After all, I am a client using the services of contractors.
Again, in those cases where I may have a method to my madness, I give very detailed requests, step-by-step instructions if you will, on how I want something done and many times I do this to save time for me and for the contractor. I mean no one really wants to have to redo anything because a contractor didn’t pay attention to the requests of the client, do they? I know I put my clients needs and request on the front burner, so I expect the same when I am a client to others.
It may not make sense to them, but it is what the client is paying for, right?
What I find interesting is that sometimes those requests are not heeded in any sense of the word and the client will hear from the contractor, “I thought I could do this,” or “I thought doing it this way was better,” or “I thought you might like this.”
Really? So now you feel you know better than the paying client on what they want and why they want it? It isn’t as if you didn’t have time to discuss your thoughts when you accepted the assignment. It is simply what the client wants.
As I look around the internet and read forums and threads of other contractors complaining about the steps they have to take to complete a job they are paid to do, it amazes me. Complaints about steps they have to take for a task, not being able to find or use shortcuts, or just complaints about the client themselves.
If you are that unhappy, why do you do what it is you are doing? Either you love what you do, love the money you make, or simply love the idea you have a job to do at all, or then again, you have three choices:
- Do the job, grudgingly (or with a smile),
- Do the job, and ask for more money, or
- Quit, and find another job.
Even more interesting is that these same people who moan and groan about the job they are paid to perform, feel that the people who pay for their services should have the trust in them and their work. How? If you do not take pride in the work that you do, how are we ever going to have faith in the work?
If I am to have trust in work being performed, I ought to be able to trust my requests are being considered.
It is kind of like looking for a truck and the car salesman keeps showing you sedans. Do you trust them to make you happy?
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