The typical service business spends a considerable time putting together written expectations about what they’re selling a client.
In a remodeling business, that could be preparing a floor plan, a list of specifications, an estimate, and, finally, a proposal and contract. Doing all that takes weeks or, more typically, months.
In a good company, that information is reviewed and double-checked many times. Why? It is the basis for the company being successful when the project goes from sales/design/estimating to production. It is the foundation for the company to generate the needed gross profit dollars from the projects being built.
You might say it is like the play that the company is now performing for their clients, who are the audience.
Were it a real play, there would be weeks of rehearsal before the play was performed. The actors would have time to read the script over and over. The director would shape the production as needed. Only then would the play open.
What happens in a remodeling company? After all the work by sales/design/estimating is done and the client signs the contract, production might be given a week or two to wrap their heads around the massive amount of information that was created. And they would likely have to fit that in while completing another project or two.
I believe that all the money to be made from a remodeling project is made before the project is underway. Once production starts, the company’s success is only as good as the information developed by sales/design/estimating and production’s ability to review that information thoroughly without being under pressure to get the project underway.
That means scheduling quiet time, both in the office and on the site of the new project, for the project manager to own the package given to him.
That means a meeting with sales/design/estimating, the production manager, and the lead carpenter so all the questions production has can be answered.
That dialogue might involve adjusting expectations regarding the needed time and/or cost of certain aspects of the job, based on the feedback from production. These adjustments would be made with in-house change orders, not at additional expense to the client.
And it would certainly entail a meeting with the client to formally hand off responsibility for the project from sales to production. Such a meeting should have a script and associated checklists to make sure all the needed items are covered.
Only then, with what is a tiny bit of preparation and work compared to all the work and time sales/design/estimating put into the project over a period of weeks or months, is the project ready to start.
All that said, in most businesses there is not the opportunity to do a true “rehearsal.” But do everything you can to make the production of your company’s “script” a rousing success. Why? Because that is the only way to get the kind of reviews you want to the client to be telling their friends!