My flag in the ground moment

You may be sat there Wondering WHY?

You probably have noticed that we do things a little bit different here compared to other builders, contractors and tradesmen that you might have worked with in the past, some people ask me why, let me explain why so I can keep you in the loop.

I know YOU and ME likely we are the same, at some time or other we experienced a poor, bad or terrible experience with a tradesman or business that could, and should have been better. Perhaps you can relate to what I experienced as follows.

My van was due in for its annual MOT as per normal, but being very busy as we all are, it slipped my mind (I'm only human). Of course the garage did email me a reminder, BUT I missed it, consequently leading me to drive around for about for 3 months having had no valid MOT certificate. Obviously, as soon as I became aware of this, I of course booked it in. However, the knock on effect was I now had to wait about a week before the garage could get to do the MOT, as they were busy too. This meant I now had to find a work around for a problem that felt like it was dumped on me from the sky! With jobs booked in and quickly stacking up, I could no longer run the risk of using the van in the meantime, a problem I, and many tradesmen have found being dependant on a vehicle. All this cost, down time, money, inconvenience for me and my customers too, but also causing an unnecessary headache, anxiety and stress! Time spent being distracted that should have been better spent doing more constructive things.

BUT did this situation have to be this way? NO, 100% NO!

IF only the garage had sent me a text, as well as an email or actually picked up the phone, then the MOT would have been booked in 3 months prior, keeping me legal, safe and all that good stuff not to mention peace of mind.

Now, I am not blaming the garage, that is not the point I am trying to highlight here. And yes I hear you cry, I should have put something in place myself as a reminder, BUT this is, as YOU and I know, only one relatively small example of how things generally ARE and how things HAPPEN and HOW things can and do quickly SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL and leave you as the customer in a mess.

BUT it does not have to be this way, ESPECIALLY today with all the  technology at our disposal. Yes, its not an earth shattering story in itself, but in life some things just have a knack of smacking you in the face and  opening up your eyes, especially so when you have some time on your hands to reflect on what just happened, what went wrong, when you are trying to allocate blame to a situation and you have just had to rescheduled 5 jobs in a row just to release the mental pressure!

But at that point then I thought, THIS HAS TO CHANGE, THIS IS RIDICULOUS, THIS IS UNNECESSARY, THIS IS JUST PLAIN STUPID from that day forward I....

PUT A FLAG IN THE GROUND!

And said to myself, things don't have to be this way, things can't continue like this and moreover this is 100% totally avoidable. I am sure you have had some similar experiences and situations. Maybe your experience was something like mine or who among us mortals has not had this experience, a deliver driver texts you to say your parcel is on route whom you may have spent as little as £5 on, YET the builder / trader who you may be spending £1000s with barely notifies you what time they will arrive on the start day of your home project.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH You deserve better service than this, join me, lets make things better, better for ourselves our family our employees and our customers who are being forced one way or another to put up with "the way things are". We can be the change we want to see in the world.

So I am implementing systems to run what we do AS RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT as possible, expanding this idea out to as many areas as I possibly can, a system which never forgets a new customer, never sleeps, never forgets to send out the quote, never forgets to chase up the quotes, never forgets to send the certificates and invoices. Whether its in the quoting stage, booking in process, works in progress, job completion, getting certificates completed and sent and maintaining effective communications with existing clients in the future, by holding THAT FLAG HELD HIGH and RAISING THE BAR, KEEPING THE STANDARDS UP, we can together hold other trades feet to the fire becouse if there is a better service to go to, then customers will vote not only with their feet but also their money.

So in conclusion I say, choose the service you deserve, choose a trader that you deserve, a trader that values you and your family, your time, your property and your money.

All the best, I look forward to seeing you on your next project.