Job Quick Sand - What Do You Do When Things Go Sideways?

Question

We are on a job right now where we are in a bit of job quick sand and nothing can go right. We have been working with this client for years on a number of projects but this is the biggest one we've done. A bunch of tile in the kitchen, painting kitchen cabinets, and replacing all their doors. Fairly straight forward.

It all started with something they didn't like about the tile layout in one section. No big deal easy fix.

Then they were nit picking the paint job before it was done. Still not that big of a deal.

Then it started when the doors we ordered were delivered damaged. We were only doing one at a time but the door they asked us to install was in their master bath. Now they don't have a door till the replacements come in.

Then they started asking for add on tasks but complaining about the price. Then they approved a quote for gutters but I guess the wife wanted vinyl and the husband wanted aluminum. He comes home and flips out because his wife approved vinyl gutters.

Then the replacement doors arrived and and were the wrong ones. All the while the husband calls me everyday at the end of the day to discuss the plan.

Some of this is our fault, some of this is out of our control but either way it's putting stress on the team and myself.

What do you guys do when you start to get in that quick sand?

turft · Answer

Different scale of problem than yours, but here's the method that worked for me: find the actual root cause instead of just apologizing generally, then actively redirect attention to what's positive.

I had a client whose fence section got damaged in a storm — my fault indirectly, because I'd missed our scheduled appointment and he'd taken the fence apart for access expecting me. The real complaint wasn't the storm, it was the miscommunication. So that's what I fixed: personal messages before every visit instead of relying on automated reminders.

Separately, I noticed the weed pressure was too high for the top dressing to be worth doing yet anyway — so I reframed the delay as a blessing in disguise (worse weeds post-dressing would've meant more problems, not fewer), followed up to confirm, and treated the weeds when they showed up. Small thing, but it gave him something current and positive instead of another thing to be annoyed about.

A couple things that might apply to your job specifically:

The gutter blow-up sounds less like a communication issue and more like a structural one — two decision-makers who don't agree is like having two bosses. Worth pushing for one point of contact per project up front, so you're not caught in the middle when they disagree with each other.

And the husband calling every night to "discuss the plan" reads like a trust gap. A daily update at a set time, through whichever channel he prefers, might take that off his plate so he's not the one chasing you — combined with making sure what's going well doesn't get buried under what isn't.

homeownership · Answer

One thing that stood out to me is having two decision-makers. I wonder if it would help to ask the homeowners to choose one primary point of contact for approvals. That can save a lot of back-and-forth and reduce misunderstandings.

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Job Quick Sand - What Do You Do When Things Go Sideways?

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