You know you're in trouble when............

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heaterman

Minister of Fire
Oct 16, 2007
3,374
Falmouth, Michigan
The customer walks into the room where your guys are working and asks "Why do you level the pipes"?........... seriously!


So what was the moment you knew you were in trouble?.............
 
heaterman said:
The customer walks into the room where your guys are working and asks "Why do you level the pipes"?........... seriously!


So what was the moment you knew you were in trouble?.............
You going to keep us in suspense here? Why were you leveling the pipes, lol. I've had some Ebay shipping experiences that would have made Ghengis Khan cry, Randy
 
This makes me think of a guy that would walk up a worker and say" Do you always do it like that?"

Some would get nervous, some would get mad/defensive.

Then he would say"Just wondering, cause I've never did it before."

It was quite comical if you were the third person.
 
Tarm Sales Guy said:
"how do you refill the boiler after you have pumped the hot water away? And where does that water go??" Guess that's why we should call them circulators instead of pumps :)
That's good Chris, you could include a 5 gallon pail with your boilers, lol, Randy
 
Why are you spending time laying out the house, checking elevations, etc before you dig? ..... Isn't it faster to just dig a hole & put the house in it?

Why waste time waiting for the utility co's to locate the lines underground? ..... Isn't it faster to just dig the hole & call them if you hit one?

Why are you spending time planning where all the utilities will enter the house? ..... Isn't it faster to just let them come in wherever & then deal with it?

Why does the area around the house have to slope away from the house? ..... Won't the weeping tile that you put in handle that little bit of water that will run in? {That's thousands of gallons of potential flow & no, not even close.}

Why does the elevation of the home matter? {Well ..... would you like your basement windows to be above the ground or not? ...... Would you like your walkout basement to be a walkout & step up or down basement instead?}

Why do you use so many braces when you are building? {Well ..... Would you prefer crooked walls instead of the straight ones I intended to build for you?}

Why do you spend time double checking everything for size, square, level etc? ..... Wouldn't it be better to just build it & fix mistakes latter?

Why do you use so much adhesive & screws when you lay the subfloor? ..... Wouldn't it be faster to just put in some nails in it & skip the adhesive?

Why do you insist on talking to the other trades I have hired to build the home? (electrician, plumber, HVAC, etc, etc.) Wouldn't it be easier to build it first & fix things later? {Nope quite the other way around actually} Thats why I asked for their phone #s.


OK that's enough, my blood pressure is getting up there, I can here the thump thump in my ears now. I have many thousands of these ????? over the years. Makes me believe I should teach an evening course locally, good title for the course would be something like... things you should about your home ( or at least discuss with your builder ) before you spend $250,000 - 750,000 on it!

Honestly I don't expect folks to know "how to" build that's clearly & understandably what they hire us for. It is a pleasure though when you get "one" that has at least a grasp of what is involved in the largest financial (for most) decision of their lives.

Speaking of that ONE, thats reminds me of a 100% statement that I heard a number of years ago. Goes as follows IIRC. 87% of people spend 13% as much time researching their home buying choice, as they do their car buying choice.

Given that the average home costs at least 10 times more than the average car ..... kind of makes you wonder. Add to that, a lot of cars are gone from their owners yards within 5 years & you can really end up shaking your head.
 
You mean you want your customers to spend as much time picking out the colors for their new house as they do for their car?
 
No; by the time we get to paint we are talking really small potatoes, so at that point I am OK with a color change. Heck I would be much happier if the average owner just spent 50% of the time reasearching a house purchase as they do a car purchase. That alone would greatly improve the knowledge they have BEFORE they start the process. In most cases save them a lot of $$$$$ too, as they wouldn't be changing their house as they go.
 
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