The movie “Multiplicity” has a great opening scene where Michael Keaton, a contractor, shows up and cheerfully praises his crew for installing a beautiful driveway. They’re all happy until he screams that it’s the wrong house.
Communication with the crew is no less important than with your client. The assumption that a well-drawn plan or verbal directions will get the job done right is not at all safe. No matter how skilled the job leader, without clear communication, the profit can disintegrate as quickly as a saw can scratch marble in a room that was supposed to remain untouched.
As a kid, we played “Whisper Down the Lane”, delighted with the deviations in phrase from the first to the last in line. It is not funny, however, when the understanding of the last guy, the one actually doing the work, differs from the client who has to live with mistakes.
There are so many people involved in a project, making twice that many opportunities for misunderstanding. The client sits in their over-crowded or out-moded space month after month, feeding on ideas of what they would like to have. To a complete stranger, an architect or designer, they attempt to explain their dream and he’ll draw his version of their vision. The contractor (perhaps the same person) will pull numbers out of experience, presuming details that may be polish where the client saw gold.
If the project involves a kitchen, often another designer is included with bells, whistles, and recycle drawers on rollers. The plumber and electrician each have their exact spots where wires and pipes can and cannot go to make the finished wall look like what they think the client wants.
And finally, there is the crew, those loyal guys on the job every day, cutting out and putting back new. In actuality, living with the client, they get more details than anyone. They develop their own rapport and loyalty such that if the contractor becomes overly budget driven, the crew ensures the quality of each cut, placement and finish.
The spokes on a wheel works as a beautiful metaphor with the contractor at the center. As Michael Keaton's character learned, it only adds complications when throwing in more wheels, not speed. Communication is what makes it roll smoothly and efficiently, brings the vision to reality.
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