Hired Frustration: Tips to hiring construction professionals from a professional.

Building and remodeling is such an invasive and time-consuming process. You will have extreme highs and extreme lows, so finding partners that you trust and actually like to interact with is critical. Hiring construction professionals is a long-term relationship that will make you feel like an endless ATM and only when you see tangible evidence of progress, will it make it feel worthwhile.

I am not writing today as just a fellow professional that hopes to be hired, but instead as a client that is beyond frustrated with so many companies pushing you into their box of success. Even with having a clear vision and documentation of what my project outcome should be, I have encountered rigid processes that have no ability to adapt, condescending attitudes, and flimsy fee structures (at best). This is even with these individuals being told I work in the industry. I can only imagine the added frustration other clients feel who have no context to what they should be able to expect.

Here is my critical feedback, based on my recent interactions and contrasting with what Thirteen and Crowne offers their clientele:

1: Don't put me in your box!

• Stop telling me how many other projects you've completed - I don't care. I want you to work to find alignment on MY project. I want you to understand where in the process I am with design decisions, what MY timeline is, and clearly define where you can help based on these things.

2: Defined Process that is Personalized

• It is absolutely crticial that you know what the roadmap looks like to the finish line. Here is the BUT: Don't be rigid or assume it's not enough. Everyone comes in to the project at different points of progress, so to undermine the decisions or items produced is doing a huge disservice to progress. We see through this act - it doesn't make you more valuable, it makes you a frustrating obstacle.

3: Just give me a price!

• If you are professional with experience, you should know how much the average project should cost. I am not expecting you to be 100% right, but I am expecting that you can give me a confident price range for your service on my project. How am I suppose to feel confident that you'll deliver a product that meets my needs, when you aren't even confident in how much it will cost me?!

This personal experience has quite literally stopped me in my tracks and made me doubt if I even wanted to proceed. As industry professionals, we should be the solution and not the roadblock. Our clients deserve extreme advocacy from us when they entrust us with their project and financial investment.

So, today I write from a place of empathy. I write as someone who will be dedicated to avoid these pitfalls and better serve those seeking partnership on their projects. At Thirteen and Crowne, we will advocate fiercely for our clients, but first start by listening and meeting you at YOUR starting place.