Why 'showing your work' is the end all be all in modern building.

We all remember our high school math teacher telling us to “show our work”. What was the purpose behind the request? Why has it been a requirement for generations? Well, it’s quite simple…It shows that you know the ‘whys’ and the ‘how’s’ of the problem you’re working on. It shows you have a process, a system.

So, why have we gotten so far away from our early lessons in life? Why have we not transferred this nagging to our every day life? Well, in some ways we have…People love HGTV and the Food Network, multi million dollar businesses that make a fortune by, you guessed it, showing the work.

What I’m saying to you is to expect the same out of your builder! Consumers toss thousands of dollars at these guys and take them for their word. They see a handful of finished pictures or get a weak endorsement from a neighbor (who ultimately knows nothing about the trades) and think ‘Joe the builder’ will do a great job. I’m sorry to say, my friends, in the 21st century this is simply not how business should be done.

Remodeling is a cut throat business, with many builders in a race to the bottom. Cutting costs and corners to stay relevant in a business that chews people up and spits them out. A business where your time and money can be lost in a slow drip with absolutely no repercussions from the law. Oh yes, if you roll through a stop sign, expect a major fine…If you take $10k from a family of four on a kitchen remodel, expect not even a slap on the wrist.

I see it all the time, one job after another, where we come in to bat cleanup for the fly by night re modeler. The story is always the same. Homeowner thinks they’re getting a ‘deal’ Job is hacked, resources used, money wasted….Angry homeowner, at this point, starts doing research. “Wow, I guess he wasn’t trustworthy.”

Let’s talk ‘trust.’ In our early years, we learn lessons like, ‘show your work’ that we now ignore. Something we never learn in school, is the intricacies of human nature, and how not to get had. THAT is something we traditionally learn from experience.

I remember my first brush with human nature. I was buying my first vehicle. A Jeep Cherokee, 4x4 four door, perfect for the harsh Northern New England winters. I made a connection with a ‘friend’ that I worked with at Lavalley Building Supply, I was 16, my first real job. I saw him driving the thing, it needed a paint job…He told me he was going to paint it and told me I could buy it for $1500. I thought that was a pretty good price for a 4x4, I had the money, I had been saving for a year, and on a whim I gave him asking price, and felt I was getting a special deal because he was going to paint it too!

Well, he painted it, with spray paint and the four wheel drive didn’t work. The power windows didn’t work as well…I ended up selling it for a loss not too long later.

You’d think I had learned my lesson, but I was bamboozled a few more times before it really set in. You better believe I learned everything I could about cars and the car buying process after that. Started working at a garage in my late teens, made friends with mechanics…but I mostly learned about human nature…How I had to protect myself against unscrupulous, unethical people that were ALL AROUND ME.

Now that I’m in business, I use the golden rule. I help consumers by educating them because that’s the world that I want to see. If I’m making a major purchase today, I utilize technology to RESEARCH what I’m buying, So, I do that for my customers by creating content! I don’t trust my instincts. I’m realistic, my instincts (as well as yours) have largely been dulled by external factors: bad food, bad water, fatigue. I can’t believe what I hear or what people say, I go by what people DO and I recommend you do the same in relation to your next remodel.

We show our work on all our platforms, and I want you to make my peers in the building trades do the same!

It is inexcusable for a business in 2018 to not be showing their work. We have devices in our pockets that can take professional videos and photographs. A company that DOESN’T show their work should be a signal to you that their work is not any good and they, in fact, don’t take pride in their work. Most builders simply can’t show their work, because it’s not good. If most of us saw how our McDonald’s was made we would never eat it! If we saw how our food was processed we’d never put it in our mouth! Construction is NO DIFFERENT.

When I’m doing something amazing, all I want to do is show people what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. That’s what craftsmanship is all about. I’m not talking about finished pictures, that’s not showing your work! That’s like that math problem with just the answer at the end. With building, what shows on the outside is secondary to what is BEHIND the finish.

The ‘cult of personality’ hire is very common today. “Oh, he’s a nice guy, I’ll hire him.” It’s not enough! Being nice has nothing to do with whether his guys, (that presumably do the work) are people you want touching your largest investment, your home. Let’s see some photos of them! Their trucks, what’s their history, their story? Why does that matter? It will tell you if they stand behind their work, if they’ll be around in 5 years if there is problems.

The old school hand shake model of business is a thing of the past. Look for regular content. It doesn’t have to be anything special. Some do it better than others. I’m writing a blog right now, with coherent sentences…this is a symbol that I am an educated person and can problem solve. My videos are a symbol of the fact that we can work in your grandmothers house and not damage the china. My countless pictures of “Flood tests” are indicative that our showers will not leak and we use due diligence while building. It’s all about re enforcement of value and building confidence in our customers.

The famous refrain from other builders I talk to about content marketing is “I don’t have time for that crap!” Guess what, I DON’T EITHER! I do it for my customers though. So you can have confidence and peace of mind. This is now part of the business and if they aren’t doing it, they don’t care about you like they should.

Allow me to tie this up with a nice little bow for the holidays: For you, the consumer, my advice is to take the extra time at the beginning of the process to discover the finer points of the remodel and save yourself a ton of time and heartache BEFORE it goes south. Don’t do your research during the job, after you’ve made the hire, take an hour before! Make your next re modeler PROVE TO YOU, they know what they are doing and that they are someone you can trust. Videos, pictures, blogs, websites, reviews, and yes, word of mouth. Cover your bases…Don’t be a lazy shopper. If you could blindly trust every human being this world would be a much better place, but you can’t…They are not all like us, especially in this business. The ultimate goal is to get a finished product that will last, and that you won’t have to re-do at the double the cost. Keep that goal in mind and remember, like Mrs. Flint told me in 9th grade algebra….”SHOW YOUR WORK!”