Vision Quest
Warren Kaufman, of Renovations, in Carmel Valley, Calif., doesn’t take his client’s vision for their project for granted. Kaufman’s jobs begin with a staged event that sets the tone for the working relationship. He introduces his lead carpenter to his client (usually a couple) and says, “This is your knight in shining armor. He will take care of anything you want.
“It’s an emotional transfer of power and authority to the lead,” says Kaufman.
Next, the lead carpenter presents a visibly over-taped box to the couple. When they can’t open it, the carpenter’s pocketknife does the trick and he becomes an instant hero. Inside the box is another box, wrapped like a wedding present, decorated with a flower and dabbed with perfume. That box holds a white hard hat with the woman’s name embossed in gold letters and a notebook for her and her husband to track the job.
Finally, the homeowners walk the house while telling the lead in their own words what the house will look like when the remodel is finished. “There’s a real transfer of feeling and authority,” Kaufman says. The spoken vision prompts new details and emotional responses. “I remember a woman said, ‘We’re going to remodel the kitchen and the dining room, and baseboards are going to be so smooth, I’ll be able to take a cheesecloth and run it around so easily when I dust every day.'” Kaufman said he never heard that kind of statement in any earlier client meeting, and it sparked a special effort to make the enameling on the trim super smooth.
“We never know what’s going to happen,” says Kaufman of that final spoken vision. “But something magical happens every time.”