Strictly Business: Learning To Say “No”

Homeowners love to tell each other horror stories about contractors. Most of these stories are not about dishonesty or gross incompetence — they’re about over-commitment. We contractors just don’t know how to say “No” to people, and it gets us into more trouble than anything else. We say “Yes” to more jobs than we can possibly handle, “Yes” to jobs we’re not the best match for, and “Yes” to clients who should really be in closely-supervised group homes. We say “Yes” because we don’t have any good ways to say “No.” The Big Six Actually, I lied a moment ago. Contractors do have a few tried and true methods for saying “No.” Unfortunately, none of them contributes to the