OK what I’m going to present to you is really not as rare in the construction/trade world as you would think-
Also the situation is not going to work out anything close to the other one- I don’t even need advice for this. It is over.
We have a person that learned to set tile alongside me over two decades ago and was a quick study and very skilled-
Early on he always wanted to be the best and then he gravitated to endeavoring to do things that other people could not easily replicate.
He made a name for himself as being skilled but the poor country people down here who hired didn’t realize that he was trying to add value that was beyond reasonable- In one case he actually told me he was trying to increase the value of someone’s home so that they could get better financing or whatever. There’s only so much you can do with a wet saw, things like comparables and current market value have more to do with that than any tradesman can doing 3 percent of the home.
He did things that he couldn’t figure out how to finish, enraged people for taking forever, and basically complicated the process of getting the entire job finished.
Ultimately he started a family and in need of benefits and he’s had a solid career management with a large retailer but always did tile projects on the side.
As my company grew and developed into a remodel firm he came to me wanting to work on his days off and all I wanted him to do was manage 1-2 tile crews- Make sure the jobs are ready, Make sure everything is flat plumb or level that needs to be, Make sure they know the design and they have everything to do the job. I figured surely he was ready for normal. Wrong.
So, how has it gone?
We’ve gotten a lot done over the last few years but it has not been a profitable venture.
He has missed things, ordered tile short, complicated jobs, designed jobs so he could only perform the work, experimented with shower drains and systems that failed, had tile delivered but no grout (in other words the next step was not planned), escalated cost far beyond budgets, not contained clients and not addressed service issues quickly, charged to fix things he allowed to get screwed up and basically will not communicate to my standards either - I’ll do a thread about the level of communication we have as a company later. Constant ongoing open communication with everyone.
He can NOT stop trying to be an avante gard tradesman- it is like a sickness.
Recently we got in front of an elderly customer with a husband who is about to die and did pass away before the job is completed and this person recommended a large format tile for the bathroom- Dude why don’t we use something that we can go purchase off the shelf and get this thing done and get our money and go down the road? Why on earth would we sell her on something we can’t even hardly get in the bathroom.
Then he got in front of another customer that needed a simple outdoor shower and he starts recommending a PVC rigid shower pan underneath the work to the customer that cost $500. Why? Dude it’s outside in the rain anyway. A simple $35 shower liner is more than sufficient.
The straw that broke the camels back was one of my old clients called in and I sent him out and he comes back with a $27,000 ticket to do her shower- Sounds good but we have to purchase $3000 worth of equipment and here’s how this goes-
First he doesn’t realize he hast to cut the shower walls completely wide-open of a new house in order to get the panels in the shower. So there is a ton of demo, extra framing and drywall work.
Then for some crazy reason he sets 4 of these very large tile panels on flimsy sawhorses that collapse and it breaks the material- to pieces- This was a $2000 mistake.
Then he applies the sealant and all the corners and he’s working with a neutral cure silicone that is very high viscosity- He doesn’t tape the joints or make any preparation to prevent smearing- Now we’re going back to cut out probably 80 linear feet of silicone-
The customer is at her wits end and just about fit to be tied-
Today he was supposed to be there and he cancels going up there to go look at something else that we’ve got a problem with (he created) that was not at all urgent- I’m like dude she owes money- they don’t- go take care of her. Did it ever occur to you that it will be easier to fix this other problem once we get paid for this job? It takes money bud!
I’ve got one customer that relaxed about his problem and preliminary work has to be done to fix it and I’ve got her who’s just about ready to lock the door and tell us to go spit- good grief.
So effective immediately he will never design or sell another job for our company, He can come in and help me with some administrative work that he does well and he can help me personally with some problems which is probably going to get back to going around and fixing a lot of his mess anyway- Other than that I’m not interested in anything else.
He thinks we should do bathrooms that are just absolutely show pieces and they advertise for the whole business.
I think we should do bathrooms that we can get paid for and people can use.
I’ll tell you right now he will stay on the John Bridge tile
Forum and this pattern will never stop- His ego is tied to it.
I know a person who began a very successful granite countertop company- He is one of the best at his trade in the eastern United States.
He was eventually forced out of the business by his partners because he would not quit over designing jobs and clogging the pipeline.
I actually begin realizing this a while back and started pulling away from the situation but I let him do this one particular job and boy do I regret it.
Andy
Also the situation is not going to work out anything close to the other one- I don’t even need advice for this. It is over.
We have a person that learned to set tile alongside me over two decades ago and was a quick study and very skilled-
Early on he always wanted to be the best and then he gravitated to endeavoring to do things that other people could not easily replicate.
He made a name for himself as being skilled but the poor country people down here who hired didn’t realize that he was trying to add value that was beyond reasonable- In one case he actually told me he was trying to increase the value of someone’s home so that they could get better financing or whatever. There’s only so much you can do with a wet saw, things like comparables and current market value have more to do with that than any tradesman can doing 3 percent of the home.
He did things that he couldn’t figure out how to finish, enraged people for taking forever, and basically complicated the process of getting the entire job finished.
Ultimately he started a family and in need of benefits and he’s had a solid career management with a large retailer but always did tile projects on the side.
As my company grew and developed into a remodel firm he came to me wanting to work on his days off and all I wanted him to do was manage 1-2 tile crews- Make sure the jobs are ready, Make sure everything is flat plumb or level that needs to be, Make sure they know the design and they have everything to do the job. I figured surely he was ready for normal. Wrong.
So, how has it gone?
We’ve gotten a lot done over the last few years but it has not been a profitable venture.
He has missed things, ordered tile short, complicated jobs, designed jobs so he could only perform the work, experimented with shower drains and systems that failed, had tile delivered but no grout (in other words the next step was not planned), escalated cost far beyond budgets, not contained clients and not addressed service issues quickly, charged to fix things he allowed to get screwed up and basically will not communicate to my standards either - I’ll do a thread about the level of communication we have as a company later. Constant ongoing open communication with everyone.
He can NOT stop trying to be an avante gard tradesman- it is like a sickness.
Recently we got in front of an elderly customer with a husband who is about to die and did pass away before the job is completed and this person recommended a large format tile for the bathroom- Dude why don’t we use something that we can go purchase off the shelf and get this thing done and get our money and go down the road? Why on earth would we sell her on something we can’t even hardly get in the bathroom.
Then he got in front of another customer that needed a simple outdoor shower and he starts recommending a PVC rigid shower pan underneath the work to the customer that cost $500. Why? Dude it’s outside in the rain anyway. A simple $35 shower liner is more than sufficient.
The straw that broke the camels back was one of my old clients called in and I sent him out and he comes back with a $27,000 ticket to do her shower- Sounds good but we have to purchase $3000 worth of equipment and here’s how this goes-
First he doesn’t realize he hast to cut the shower walls completely wide-open of a new house in order to get the panels in the shower. So there is a ton of demo, extra framing and drywall work.
Then for some crazy reason he sets 4 of these very large tile panels on flimsy sawhorses that collapse and it breaks the material- to pieces- This was a $2000 mistake.
Then he applies the sealant and all the corners and he’s working with a neutral cure silicone that is very high viscosity- He doesn’t tape the joints or make any preparation to prevent smearing- Now we’re going back to cut out probably 80 linear feet of silicone-
The customer is at her wits end and just about fit to be tied-
Today he was supposed to be there and he cancels going up there to go look at something else that we’ve got a problem with (he created) that was not at all urgent- I’m like dude she owes money- they don’t- go take care of her. Did it ever occur to you that it will be easier to fix this other problem once we get paid for this job? It takes money bud!
I’ve got one customer that relaxed about his problem and preliminary work has to be done to fix it and I’ve got her who’s just about ready to lock the door and tell us to go spit- good grief.
So effective immediately he will never design or sell another job for our company, He can come in and help me with some administrative work that he does well and he can help me personally with some problems which is probably going to get back to going around and fixing a lot of his mess anyway- Other than that I’m not interested in anything else.
He thinks we should do bathrooms that are just absolutely show pieces and they advertise for the whole business.
I think we should do bathrooms that we can get paid for and people can use.
I’ll tell you right now he will stay on the John Bridge tile
Forum and this pattern will never stop- His ego is tied to it.
I know a person who began a very successful granite countertop company- He is one of the best at his trade in the eastern United States.
He was eventually forced out of the business by his partners because he would not quit over designing jobs and clogging the pipeline.
I actually begin realizing this a while back and started pulling away from the situation but I let him do this one particular job and boy do I regret it.
Andy
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