Etiquette

Boogga

How do you practice good business etiquette?

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

thom

Be honest with everyone.

Pay yourself last.

DamionR

Pay yourself Last?

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marc

First rule in business that took me to long to learn

Pay yourself first or go to work for someone that will

What other reason did you start a business for?

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Marc

AtlanticWBConst

Always, always be honest and truthful with everyone. Get caught in a lie once and you will never be trusted again. One lie will overshadow a thousand truths. That includes carefully 'omitting' information or 'twisting' the truth.

Return phone calls within 24 hours, even if it's to tell them that you will call them back in detail at another time.

Always communicate regularly with your customers.

Never trust a worker or another sub to 'wrap up' the job. Go check it yourself and make sure that it's done and up to par.

A home owner should never have to tell you that there is somthing 'not lined up', something that got broken, something that is installed improperly, etc...If you are aware of it, fix it ASAP, or let the home owner know that you intend to...

Keep a home owner's property neat and clean. Wrap up your site tools at the end of the day...neat and clean. This makes a strong impression on people.

If a customer has really done something to tick you off and you know that if you call them...it's gonna explode....wait 24 hours to cool down and get a better grip on the whole situation.

Always try to pay your subs when their work is done, rather than making them wait till your next check...

Learn the phrase "no problem"....and use it when dealing with customer 's reasonable requests.


That's a few off the top of my head...

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POOLMANinCT

just dont do anything you wouldnt want mom to find out about...

Boogga

Well put!

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

thom

Pay yourself last means:

Pay your employees, subs, suppliers, then you. If you screwed up and underbid a job, that's your problem, not theirs. If you don't have enough work to reamain profitably busy, that's your problem. If your workers damaged something that you/your company should/must pay for that's your problem.

Don't make your problem someone elses.

As owners we get what's left. Paying ourselves a "salary" is, or should be meaningless. We get what's left after paying for everything else.

Paying ourselves before meeting our committments to employees, subs, suppliers, is unethical.

Bill Z

Totally agree! It's worked for me for 31 years.

Bill Z

Ed the Roofer

Atlantic,

I live my business with that philosophy, even when doing what you know to be right and you don't feel any reward for doing so, at least you can walk away knowing you did what the right thing was.

My 3rd in command was in charge of a shingle roof last December, and they didn't turn out straight enough for my liking going past a dormer, so I made them tear it off ad do it over with me showing them how to get it set up for a perfect alignment.

I informed the HO why we were doing the corrective work, (Not an additional charge to him), and he was upset that we wouldn't be getting done the day I initially stated, but one day later.

No warm fuzzy from the HO, but I know what I did was the right thing to do. The employees got paid for the do over and I hope they learned something from it. Not only how to do a better job, but also to aspire to higher expectations.

The other comment from others about paying yourself last. I agree with how it was stated and explained, but make sure you always pay yourself. It is too easy to accept the short end of the stick financially, just to make everybody else happy. what it really comes down to, is to have enough plus more profit built in to you budget for the job to ensure that you still walk away a winner, no matter what unexpected circumstances occur. Expect the unexpected and price accordingly. Charge for additional work and don't give your services away.

That way, you will ensure that your slice of the pie is always there.

Ed

Boogga

Thom!!

I agree, but also I'd add;

DON"T ORDER ANYONE TO WORK FOR YOU IF YOU DON"T HAVE THE MONEY OR INTEND PAYING THEM!

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

Frankawitz

I agree with all that, the only way to run a business. Very well put guys.

POOLMANinCT

right on ed,, shotty work gets by when an owner's "head is spinning"

take a deep breath, focus and ask your self would you have let a job of
said quality slide on your first season in biz? of course not

i admire your focus & the fact that you are still in the field, when you have 3 times the crews i run...

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