About a week ago, my company had a little Christmas party planned for everyone and one of the event was a Christmas Gift Exchange.
The way it works is everyone will get a gift valued at roughly $20 dollar, leave it under the Christmas Tree, and when the time comes, each gift will be numbered, so everyone will pick a random number from a little box like a lucky draw and they will get the present with the corresponding number.
Since it wasn't really the traditional Secret Santa where the giver will actually know who they will be gifting, I decided it would only be right to get a gift that would be fitting for both guys and girls, so I went out and got a Bluetooth Speaker that was valued at $22. It was something I would be happy to get for a present, so I thought it will make for a great gift.
Well, turns out not everyone had the same ideas as I did when it came to selecting a gift because during the gift exchange, I actually got myself a necklace that was meant to be worn by a girl.
Why though?
Why would you go get a gift that was meant for a girl when you know the person who might end up getting the gift be a guy. I mean it just feels really badly thought out and I am sure it must have felt like a bummer when the person who bought the gift realize a guy actually got it.
I know who got the gift because that person ended up getting mine out of sheer coincidence and I also heard that the necklace actually originally cost $60 but was on a discount, but it's still a huge waste of money because I can't appreciate it.
My colleague who got the gift told me I could give it to a girl I know, but it really just defeats the purpose of it being a present that was meant for me if the intention was for the gift to be re-gifted to a girl if a guy ended up receiving it.
So I got a really badly thought out gift.I would have preferred like $20 worth of chocolate over female jewelry because at least I could eat the chocolates, what the fuck am I suppose to do with a necklace aside from wearing it and be judged by my family, friends and the public?
Sunday 31 December 2017
Wednesday 27 December 2017
Buh! Bye!
After my last blog post lamenting about not getting any new projects to run, I was finally able to get a new project over the weekend.
It is a relatively small scale one, and from what I have heard from my friends who have run similar projects before, it is going to be a lot easier than the ones I have been running in the past.
I was really not looking forward to getting any new projects to run after I came to realize that the clients from my fourth project will potentially be a huge pain in the ass. The husband actually got angry at me over text after I had a bit of miscommunication with him and his wife, he didn't curse at me or anything, but I could sense from the way he wrote the text that it was meant to be a confrontational "I've had enough of this crap" tone. I honestly wasn't having any of it, so I also didn't bother coming across extra friendly or extra apologetic in text after he pulled that shit on me, I did apologize for the miscommunication begrudgingly, because they are paying me for my services, but I wish I could have told them to go fuck themselves.
So that exchange with them really affected my drive to sign more new projects in the weeks to come, but out of all the customers I had the pleasure of getting in the weeks following, there was only one couple I was quite interested in, so I put in the effort for their proposal and they decided to engage me for my services a few weeks later.
Unlike all the other customers I have had so far, these couple's main focus was design, and they are actually willing to pay more for it, and when they are willing to spend more, I am also willing to put in more effort for the proposal.
We signed, I was happy that I manage to finally get a new project after months, and then I just stopped wanting to get anymore because every time I think about the fourth renovation project, it's like a motivational killer.
And then in the very same week, two of my follow up customers decided they wanted to meet me again to confirm my services. I haven't met these 2 different sets of customers for weeks and I was not particularly fond of one of their projects because the requirements were a complete mess.
That mess of a project actually belongs to the parents of one of my existing clients, had these couple met me with no prior connections, I wouldn't even have entertained the thought of meeting them a second time.
They are the kind of customers who think they know what they want, but when they share their ideas with me and I actually apply it to the space planning, it just becomes this whole cluster fuck of very bad and contradictory ideas.
For example, in the beginning, they will tell me they want to do an open concept kitchen, to knock the kitchen walls down completely, but then 5 minutes later, the husband will tell me he wants to keep the kitchen door because it was only recently installed by the previous owner.
Open Concept Kitchen = No Doors
...and it isn't just once, both the husband and the wife will constantly tell me they want to retain the doors, even though they have requested for the walls to to be demolished, it's fucking frustrating.
And aside from their contradicting request, their ideas were just extremely questionable, like knocking down a wall between a service yard and a study room, so those 2 rooms can be combined into a bedroom for their guest, the service yard is where the rubbish chute is located and they want to introduce that disgusting chute into the guest room. I told them it was a bad idea, but they just kept telling me it was alright, that they won't be using the rubbish chute often enough for it to become a concern.
The problem here isn't really about convenience....
... it just feels a little rude to be putting your guest in a room where you also go to throw the thrash.
Sometimes, I would tell them something was not possible, but they will forget about it and then ask me 5 minutes later if that impossible task was possible or not, its fucking annoying and I really want to scold them, but my client is sitting right beside them, so all I can do is pretend I find their forgetfulness endearing.
Lastly, because they are on a very tight budget, like so tight that the renovation shouldn't even be financially possible, the wife decided to take my quotation and pick out the items that she wants to do, so she actually took the time to slowly took the items from my quotation and created her own version of it, which reduced the total project cost, but when she was shortlisting what she wanted to do, there were a few necessary renovation works that were not included, so when she came to me last week and showed me what she had prepared, the final figure was just completely off and I ended up having to redo the entire quotation based on what she had prepared, needless to say, the figure was way too low because there were a lot of items she had failed to include in her own quotation, additional and necessary items that amounted to an additional $10,000.
She told me she stayed until 3 am to consolidate what I had prepared for her, like it's something I should be impressed about. I just find it hard to be impressed about something that will end up giving me more work to do.
When I prepare a quotation, there is a certain format that I follow to ensure that everything is accounted for, to make sure that I am not missing any items because I really do not enjoy charging my customers for additional items in the future, so when she came to me with her own version, everything was just completely wrong, the order completely threw me off and I had to spend more time that I normally would trying to come up with my version of her quotation, which was an experience I did not enjoy at all.
Because I honestly have zero patience to deal with them and also zero interest to run their project because it's just a fucking mess, I had to find a way to break the news to my existing client, hoping he can convey the message to his parents, so I dropped him a text a few days ago telling him that I will be busy over the next few months, that I can only start his parents renovation in March, a delay which I am very certain his parents won't be agreeable to, and well, he didn't respond. He told me his parents were actually planning to confirm my services that week, but fortunately, they did not show up, which means my client did convey the message to them, but he just didn't bother updating me about his parent's decision.
If a project is a little difficult to run, but I am able to earn a substantial amount, then fine, maybe I will consider running it, and it is a huge maybe because if the clients are going to such a mess to deal with, that will also affect my interest in the project. This project is not worth the time, it's not worth the effort and it's definitely not worth the measly amount I will actually earn from it.
So fuck it and good riddance to that project. Shitty thing is I still have to deal with him in the future once his project actually starts and I have no idea if he is upset at me or not about rejecting his parent's project.
It is a relatively small scale one, and from what I have heard from my friends who have run similar projects before, it is going to be a lot easier than the ones I have been running in the past.
I was really not looking forward to getting any new projects to run after I came to realize that the clients from my fourth project will potentially be a huge pain in the ass. The husband actually got angry at me over text after I had a bit of miscommunication with him and his wife, he didn't curse at me or anything, but I could sense from the way he wrote the text that it was meant to be a confrontational "I've had enough of this crap" tone. I honestly wasn't having any of it, so I also didn't bother coming across extra friendly or extra apologetic in text after he pulled that shit on me, I did apologize for the miscommunication begrudgingly, because they are paying me for my services, but I wish I could have told them to go fuck themselves.
So that exchange with them really affected my drive to sign more new projects in the weeks to come, but out of all the customers I had the pleasure of getting in the weeks following, there was only one couple I was quite interested in, so I put in the effort for their proposal and they decided to engage me for my services a few weeks later.
Unlike all the other customers I have had so far, these couple's main focus was design, and they are actually willing to pay more for it, and when they are willing to spend more, I am also willing to put in more effort for the proposal.
We signed, I was happy that I manage to finally get a new project after months, and then I just stopped wanting to get anymore because every time I think about the fourth renovation project, it's like a motivational killer.
And then in the very same week, two of my follow up customers decided they wanted to meet me again to confirm my services. I haven't met these 2 different sets of customers for weeks and I was not particularly fond of one of their projects because the requirements were a complete mess.
That mess of a project actually belongs to the parents of one of my existing clients, had these couple met me with no prior connections, I wouldn't even have entertained the thought of meeting them a second time.
They are the kind of customers who think they know what they want, but when they share their ideas with me and I actually apply it to the space planning, it just becomes this whole cluster fuck of very bad and contradictory ideas.
For example, in the beginning, they will tell me they want to do an open concept kitchen, to knock the kitchen walls down completely, but then 5 minutes later, the husband will tell me he wants to keep the kitchen door because it was only recently installed by the previous owner.
Open Concept Kitchen = No Doors
...and it isn't just once, both the husband and the wife will constantly tell me they want to retain the doors, even though they have requested for the walls to to be demolished, it's fucking frustrating.
And aside from their contradicting request, their ideas were just extremely questionable, like knocking down a wall between a service yard and a study room, so those 2 rooms can be combined into a bedroom for their guest, the service yard is where the rubbish chute is located and they want to introduce that disgusting chute into the guest room. I told them it was a bad idea, but they just kept telling me it was alright, that they won't be using the rubbish chute often enough for it to become a concern.
The problem here isn't really about convenience....
 |
 |
... it just feels a little rude to be putting your guest in a room where you also go to throw the thrash.
Sometimes, I would tell them something was not possible, but they will forget about it and then ask me 5 minutes later if that impossible task was possible or not, its fucking annoying and I really want to scold them, but my client is sitting right beside them, so all I can do is pretend I find their forgetfulness endearing.
Lastly, because they are on a very tight budget, like so tight that the renovation shouldn't even be financially possible, the wife decided to take my quotation and pick out the items that she wants to do, so she actually took the time to slowly took the items from my quotation and created her own version of it, which reduced the total project cost, but when she was shortlisting what she wanted to do, there were a few necessary renovation works that were not included, so when she came to me last week and showed me what she had prepared, the final figure was just completely off and I ended up having to redo the entire quotation based on what she had prepared, needless to say, the figure was way too low because there were a lot of items she had failed to include in her own quotation, additional and necessary items that amounted to an additional $10,000.
She told me she stayed until 3 am to consolidate what I had prepared for her, like it's something I should be impressed about. I just find it hard to be impressed about something that will end up giving me more work to do.
When I prepare a quotation, there is a certain format that I follow to ensure that everything is accounted for, to make sure that I am not missing any items because I really do not enjoy charging my customers for additional items in the future, so when she came to me with her own version, everything was just completely wrong, the order completely threw me off and I had to spend more time that I normally would trying to come up with my version of her quotation, which was an experience I did not enjoy at all.
Because I honestly have zero patience to deal with them and also zero interest to run their project because it's just a fucking mess, I had to find a way to break the news to my existing client, hoping he can convey the message to his parents, so I dropped him a text a few days ago telling him that I will be busy over the next few months, that I can only start his parents renovation in March, a delay which I am very certain his parents won't be agreeable to, and well, he didn't respond. He told me his parents were actually planning to confirm my services that week, but fortunately, they did not show up, which means my client did convey the message to them, but he just didn't bother updating me about his parent's decision.
If a project is a little difficult to run, but I am able to earn a substantial amount, then fine, maybe I will consider running it, and it is a huge maybe because if the clients are going to such a mess to deal with, that will also affect my interest in the project. This project is not worth the time, it's not worth the effort and it's definitely not worth the measly amount I will actually earn from it.
So fuck it and good riddance to that project. Shitty thing is I still have to deal with him in the future once his project actually starts and I have no idea if he is upset at me or not about rejecting his parent's project.
Monday 4 December 2017
Referrals Away~!
I haven't been getting any new projects for a while now and I don't really know how to feel about it.
About a month back, one of my existing customer actually referred his friend who was looking for an Interior Designer to me, and I honestly felt like this referral had tremendous potential to actually engage me for my services, so thinking this was almost a done deal for me, I decided it would only be right to go the extra mile and prepare a 3D drawing for them for their first consultation.
I thought we hit it off really well and I was able to schedule a second meeting about a week later, showed them the quotation and adjusted the changes they have requested on the spot for them, I knew they were not going to engage my services without first looking through the quotation and think over it for a few days, so they left.
About a week later, I receive a text message from them, requesting to view one of my ongoing projects, they wanted to see the workmanship of my contractor and since I had one that was almost completed, I granted their request. They came, I showed them around the unit, we spoke, they even met the owner, which was not planned, and then they left, but before they left, I told them to update me about their decision soon.
Well, they did just that this morning and it wasn't what I had anticipated.
They decided to go with another Interior Designer.
I honestly don't know what went wrong, because I thought everything went well. Normally when I feel like a customer has the potential to engage me, chances are very likely they will, especially after meeting them 3 times, so I am honestly really confuse what went wrong. That being said, I do feel a sense of relief that they decided not to engage me.
When they actually do get the keys for their home and proceed with the renovation, it will start around the same time as their friends' a.k.a my client, and it is going to be extremely stressful when they inevitably decide to start comparing with each other their renovation progress, which will then lead to questions like...
... I can't deal with this kind of issue, dealing with one difficult customer is already hard enough, just the thought of having to deal with 2 potentially difficult customers who actually know one another?
So I am actually more glad they decided not to engage my services than I am sad that they have rejected me.
One thing I do find extremely odd is how they were telling me in the rejection text that they will be sure to recommend me to their friends who are also looking for an Interior Designer.
Not going to be a very convincing recommendation, I mean you are recommending to them an Interior Designer you decided not to engage in the end, unless the Interior Designer they have chosen to engage really fucks them over, their friends are not going to settle for what is essentially second best.
I mean settling for second best in terms of food or drinks is alright, if I can't find a KOI nearby, then I will settle for LiHo, they are both good, except KOI is obviously better because it's KOI. It's a few dollars a cup, and I can always afford to have KOI another day, but settling for second best for your home renovation, that's at least a $20,000, ain't no first time home owners gonna settle for second best when $20,000 is on the line.
Second Best. If a couple rejected me because I didn't bother to follow up with them, then I have nothing to say about it, I deserve it for not putting in any effort, but if I did and they still are not impressed by it, it is really quite demoralizing. So if you are going to be telling your friends...
The rejection stings, but I'm sure I will get over it within a week and that sting will soon be replaced by a greater sense of relief. And by get over I mean it won't be at the top of my head, but it will still be constantly at the back of my bitter bitter mind and I am sure this experience will appear occasionally throughout my future blog post.
Evidently, I am not good at handling rejection.
Last month, I also had a potential customer slip out of my hands, but that was more my fault because I didn't really follow up with him after our second meeting, he was nice enough to update me of his decision though, so that was actually great, and really rare of customers these day.
I feel like I have on hand a few customers with potential, but a part of me just doesn't really want to bother getting more new projects.
The only reason why I want to get new projects is so I don't feel so stressed out about not having any new projects. The moment my next 2 projects are done, I am going to really consider making a career switch and get a job with a stable salary because right now, this career is just not cutting it for me financially, my savings has been on a steady decline and the amount I will be making from these few projects I will be closing soon will only be enough to cover what I have spend over the last 11 months.
The current stream of customers I have been receiving are pretty much a waste of time, I don't sense any sort of potential from them, either because I have no interest to run their projects or because it is painfully obvious that their only intention is to get a free quotation.
That being said, I think the biggest issue with this career is myself. I am just way too picky with the customers I want to work with.
Gawd! I really need a new job. Right now I am being tied down to the company because I have 2 more projects that have yet to begin, if by the time those end and I still have no new projects to run, it really doesn't take a genius to know that it is time to leave, which means by the end of March next year, I might be working in a different company, or be in the midst of looking for a new job.
About a month back, one of my existing customer actually referred his friend who was looking for an Interior Designer to me, and I honestly felt like this referral had tremendous potential to actually engage me for my services, so thinking this was almost a done deal for me, I decided it would only be right to go the extra mile and prepare a 3D drawing for them for their first consultation.
I thought we hit it off really well and I was able to schedule a second meeting about a week later, showed them the quotation and adjusted the changes they have requested on the spot for them, I knew they were not going to engage my services without first looking through the quotation and think over it for a few days, so they left.
About a week later, I receive a text message from them, requesting to view one of my ongoing projects, they wanted to see the workmanship of my contractor and since I had one that was almost completed, I granted their request. They came, I showed them around the unit, we spoke, they even met the owner, which was not planned, and then they left, but before they left, I told them to update me about their decision soon.
Well, they did just that this morning and it wasn't what I had anticipated.
They decided to go with another Interior Designer.
I honestly don't know what went wrong, because I thought everything went well. Normally when I feel like a customer has the potential to engage me, chances are very likely they will, especially after meeting them 3 times, so I am honestly really confuse what went wrong. That being said, I do feel a sense of relief that they decided not to engage me.
When they actually do get the keys for their home and proceed with the renovation, it will start around the same time as their friends' a.k.a my client, and it is going to be extremely stressful when they inevitably decide to start comparing with each other their renovation progress, which will then lead to questions like...
"Are you sure this is acceptable workmanship, I did not see this issue from my friend's site."
"This problem right here can be fixed, I know for a fact because you were able to rectify it for my friend."
"Why are you only charging him this amount for this item, but you are charging me almost double the price for mine?"
... I can't deal with this kind of issue, dealing with one difficult customer is already hard enough, just the thought of having to deal with 2 potentially difficult customers who actually know one another?
So I am actually more glad they decided not to engage my services than I am sad that they have rejected me.
One thing I do find extremely odd is how they were telling me in the rejection text that they will be sure to recommend me to their friends who are also looking for an Interior Designer.
Not going to be a very convincing recommendation, I mean you are recommending to them an Interior Designer you decided not to engage in the end, unless the Interior Designer they have chosen to engage really fucks them over, their friends are not going to settle for what is essentially second best.
I mean settling for second best in terms of food or drinks is alright, if I can't find a KOI nearby, then I will settle for LiHo, they are both good, except KOI is obviously better because it's KOI. It's a few dollars a cup, and I can always afford to have KOI another day, but settling for second best for your home renovation, that's at least a $20,000, ain't no first time home owners gonna settle for second best when $20,000 is on the line.
Second Best. If a couple rejected me because I didn't bother to follow up with them, then I have nothing to say about it, I deserve it for not putting in any effort, but if I did and they still are not impressed by it, it is really quite demoralizing. So if you are going to be telling your friends...
"You can look for Tim, he was able to prepare quite a few proposals and even came up with a 3D rendering for us before we even paid for anything, and he's really nice about it, so don't feel bad about it if in the end you don't feel comfortable engaging him."
a.k.a
"We wasted so much of him time and effort and you should too!"
Please. Go Away.
The rejection stings, but I'm sure I will get over it within a week and that sting will soon be replaced by a greater sense of relief. And by get over I mean it won't be at the top of my head, but it will still be constantly at the back of my bitter bitter mind and I am sure this experience will appear occasionally throughout my future blog post.
Evidently, I am not good at handling rejection.
Last month, I also had a potential customer slip out of my hands, but that was more my fault because I didn't really follow up with him after our second meeting, he was nice enough to update me of his decision though, so that was actually great, and really rare of customers these day.
I feel like I have on hand a few customers with potential, but a part of me just doesn't really want to bother getting more new projects.
The only reason why I want to get new projects is so I don't feel so stressed out about not having any new projects. The moment my next 2 projects are done, I am going to really consider making a career switch and get a job with a stable salary because right now, this career is just not cutting it for me financially, my savings has been on a steady decline and the amount I will be making from these few projects I will be closing soon will only be enough to cover what I have spend over the last 11 months.
The current stream of customers I have been receiving are pretty much a waste of time, I don't sense any sort of potential from them, either because I have no interest to run their projects or because it is painfully obvious that their only intention is to get a free quotation.
That being said, I think the biggest issue with this career is myself. I am just way too picky with the customers I want to work with.
Gawd! I really need a new job. Right now I am being tied down to the company because I have 2 more projects that have yet to begin, if by the time those end and I still have no new projects to run, it really doesn't take a genius to know that it is time to leave, which means by the end of March next year, I might be working in a different company, or be in the midst of looking for a new job.
Monday 27 November 2017
va te faire foutre
I'm sure my carpenter will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I'm sure my tiler will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I'm not sure if my electrician will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I have decided to go to the extreme and get all the relevant contractors down to speak to my clients, and I have to admit, I kinda wish my contractors would actually scold my clients for me for their ridiculous standards.
My plan is for this project to be handed over by this week, remove my lock from their main gate, get them to sign the necessary paperwork, and then good fucking bye.
When I was arranging the time for my contractors to arrive, I didn't really consider how it would actually affect my client's work schedule because the timing I have scheduled for the contractors to come down together makes it impossible for my client to actually take half day leave, if my client wants to be present, which he will be because he was the one who requested for it, he is going to have to take the whole day off.
I really did not plan for it to be impossible for him to take a half day leave, it just happened. He asked if it was possible for me to reschedule the date, I told him the contractor's schedule will clash, so it was not possible, but that was a lie because I was too lazy to call all 3 of them again to reschedule. I would be lying if I said hearing how the timing would make it inconvenient for them didn't make me a little happy.
If it was me one month ago and they asked me if I could reschedule, I would be on the phone calling my contractors to reschedule, but the aggravation they have caused me over the cause of the entire renovation has made me numb to their needs, so screw their needs, now my convenience comes first.
I use the word convenience loosely because this project has been anything but convenient.
But from this project, I have come to learn that going the extra mile for my clients doesn't do me any favors, just give the minimum fucks required for them to not feel the need to complaint about me and that is enough.
I'm sure my tiler will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I'm not sure if my electrician will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I have decided to go to the extreme and get all the relevant contractors down to speak to my clients, and I have to admit, I kinda wish my contractors would actually scold my clients for me for their ridiculous standards.
My plan is for this project to be handed over by this week, remove my lock from their main gate, get them to sign the necessary paperwork, and then good fucking bye.
When I was arranging the time for my contractors to arrive, I didn't really consider how it would actually affect my client's work schedule because the timing I have scheduled for the contractors to come down together makes it impossible for my client to actually take half day leave, if my client wants to be present, which he will be because he was the one who requested for it, he is going to have to take the whole day off.
I really did not plan for it to be impossible for him to take a half day leave, it just happened. He asked if it was possible for me to reschedule the date, I told him the contractor's schedule will clash, so it was not possible, but that was a lie because I was too lazy to call all 3 of them again to reschedule. I would be lying if I said hearing how the timing would make it inconvenient for them didn't make me a little happy.
The pleasure I got from denying them their convenience.
Felt a little evil and extremely petty.
If it was me one month ago and they asked me if I could reschedule, I would be on the phone calling my contractors to reschedule, but the aggravation they have caused me over the cause of the entire renovation has made me numb to their needs, so screw their needs, now my convenience comes first.
I use the word convenience loosely because this project has been anything but convenient.
But from this project, I have come to learn that going the extra mile for my clients doesn't do me any favors, just give the minimum fucks required for them to not feel the need to complaint about me and that is enough.
Sunday 26 November 2017
Disrespectful
So I actually met one of my old customers today, I have talked about them is this post before.
Well, a little update on what happened after I saw them at the Roadshow.
Turns out when they visited the Roadshow, the designers that they met were not really interested to run their projects for them, so they actually emailed me a few days later, asking me if they could come meet me at my Showroom. I told them that I would be happy to meet them.
I thought since they were looking for me again a second time, chances are they are interested to engage in my services, so I prepared a 3D for them and met them a few days later. They saw my 3D and I ran through the quotation with them, but for some reason, they were not interested, so they thanked me for my time and left. I really didn't bother to get in touch with them after that because I have already offered all I could to them, if they were really interested, they would get in touch with me, if they weren't, then fine.
WELL!
Today, at around 3pm, while I was at the Showroom doing my weekend duty, I actually saw the two of them standing at the front of the Showroom, I was chatting with my colleagues at that time, so when I actually caught a glance of my old customers, I said to them...
... I was really confuse because they did not schedule any appointment with me, we haven't been in touch for more than a month now, so I honestly thought they were here to look for me to sign a contract with me, but as I was about to get up from my seat to go usher them in, my manager whom I was chatting with exclaims...
... as well?
And then I see my colleague who was sitting at the table in front of me get up from her chair and usher them in.
Needless to say, everyone got really shock, especially me. Once I inform that colleague about it, she was also really surprised and even though the 2 customers were interested to sign a contract with my colleague, she actually turn them down.
Her reason was that she felt one of them was really weird, a sentiment I shared, and that the amount she will make from the project isn't worth the time and effort, but I like to believe that one of the other reason she decided not to run the project for them was because they used to be my customer and it just didn't feel right to sign a customer that once belonged to me.
I honestly didn't have any hard feelings towards the 2 customers when they stopped getting in touch with me after I had shown them the 3D drawings, but seeing them today speaking to my other colleague while I was literally seated at the table behind them, that's just extremely distasteful.
If you find my price to be too high and do not want to engage my services, fine, continue your search for another designer that you are more comfortable with who will offer you a better price at a different company.
That's like an unspoken rule, homeowners don't look for another designer in the same company because that is just straight up disrespectful to the other designer who has put in the time and effort towards preparing your design proposal for free.
When a customer decides they are not going to engage my services, they hardly ever inform me about it because they don't feel comfortable actually telling me about it, because that would be the equivalent of telling me...
It's fucking KARMA!
Well anyway, just wanted to do a quick shoutout to my clients from my third renovation project!
.
Well, a little update on what happened after I saw them at the Roadshow.
Turns out when they visited the Roadshow, the designers that they met were not really interested to run their projects for them, so they actually emailed me a few days later, asking me if they could come meet me at my Showroom. I told them that I would be happy to meet them.
I thought since they were looking for me again a second time, chances are they are interested to engage in my services, so I prepared a 3D for them and met them a few days later. They saw my 3D and I ran through the quotation with them, but for some reason, they were not interested, so they thanked me for my time and left. I really didn't bother to get in touch with them after that because I have already offered all I could to them, if they were really interested, they would get in touch with me, if they weren't, then fine.
WELL!
Today, at around 3pm, while I was at the Showroom doing my weekend duty, I actually saw the two of them standing at the front of the Showroom, I was chatting with my colleagues at that time, so when I actually caught a glance of my old customers, I said to them...
"My customer is here?"
... I was really confuse because they did not schedule any appointment with me, we haven't been in touch for more than a month now, so I honestly thought they were here to look for me to sign a contract with me, but as I was about to get up from my seat to go usher them in, my manager whom I was chatting with exclaims...
"They are your customer as well?"
... as well?
And then I see my colleague who was sitting at the table in front of me get up from her chair and usher them in.
Needless to say, everyone got really shock, especially me. Once I inform that colleague about it, she was also really surprised and even though the 2 customers were interested to sign a contract with my colleague, she actually turn them down.
Her reason was that she felt one of them was really weird, a sentiment I shared, and that the amount she will make from the project isn't worth the time and effort, but I like to believe that one of the other reason she decided not to run the project for them was because they used to be my customer and it just didn't feel right to sign a customer that once belonged to me.
I honestly didn't have any hard feelings towards the 2 customers when they stopped getting in touch with me after I had shown them the 3D drawings, but seeing them today speaking to my other colleague while I was literally seated at the table behind them, that's just extremely distasteful.
If you find my price to be too high and do not want to engage my services, fine, continue your search for another designer that you are more comfortable with who will offer you a better price at a different company.
That's like an unspoken rule, homeowners don't look for another designer in the same company because that is just straight up disrespectful to the other designer who has put in the time and effort towards preparing your design proposal for free.
When a customer decides they are not going to engage my services, they hardly ever inform me about it because they don't feel comfortable actually telling me about it, because that would be the equivalent of telling me...
"Hey, all that time and effort you have put in to meet us and prepare quotations and 3D drawings for us, we just wanted to let you know, it has all been for naught because we have decided not engage your services."
So to actually see those 2 customer walk in to the Showroom today and speak to my colleague while I am literally seated at the table behind theirs, facing them, what audacity.
When they left, I was actually really curious what my colleague had prepared for them because her quote was about $5000 lesser than mine, if she had proposed the same design layout that I have done, there was no way the amount she quoted could have covered the cost.
Well, turns out it was a lot different because a lot of items were taken out and my colleague was actually charging them a higher rate for the each individual items, her profit percentage was actually a lot higher than mine, so had the customer actually came back to me, but adjusted their requirements, my price would have been a lot lower.
Now, I am hoping that they actually realize that and email me for a meet up, so I can turn them down and and tell them to engage my colleague, who has no interest for run their project for them as well, instead.
To see their disrespectful ass returning back to square one and having to continue their hunt for an Interior Designer again, after they have finally decided to settle for one, that's like the best outcome I could wish upon them.
Well anyway, just wanted to do a quick shoutout to my clients from my third renovation project!
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| A little picture I found of them online |
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Saturday 25 November 2017
Fucktards
My client from my third renovation are back at it again, ruining my day and making things fucking difficult for everyone.
Yesterday, they decided to bring their friends over to their house to show them around and when I found out about it, I can't help but get really nervous because there's nothing like a their friend telling them...
.... to completely paranoid my already paranoid clients.
Thankfully, the major issues that I felt the house had were not brought up last night, but a lot of plumbing issues were, and I wouldn't really call them issues, but my clients friend turn them into issues for me.
Had I been the one to tell my clients..
... and then slowly explain to them the reason why, they would have been more open to my reasoning and be convinced by it, but because it is their friend who told them first, I am getting screwed over for it.
Now the reason why I am actually writing a post about them today is not because of the inaccurate information their friends decided to share with them, it is because they themselves are giving me a lot of issues for a minor problem they have with the carpentry works, a small issue that if they want "fixed" would end up causing a lot of problems.
So they have this bedroom in their house that they have decided to convert into a study area, and they requested for a custom study table, so I came up with a designand they butchered it with their boring color selection, everything was confirm until it came to the electrical points, they didn't know where they wanted the points to be at, so I suggested to pull it inside their study table and conceal the top with a lid.
Similar to this. I have seen this done in other projects before so I was sure my carpenter was able to do something similar.
On the day of the installation, I realized my carpenter had open a little hole for the power outlets to sit in, but there wasn't any hinges for the little flap, it was just a loose cover, and so he explains to me that he had left out the hinges because installing it would cause some issues with the accessibility to the power plugs themselves. It made complete sense to me because it was a valid reason, so we proceeded with the installation.
Whether the flap had hinges or not, I felt was not really an issue, the main goal of the lid was to conceal the power outlets and it has achieve that goal, so I didn't really bother telling my clients about it, thinking they would share the same sentiments as me.
They didn't.
When I finally pointed out the issue to them, the husband was not happy about it and kept expressing his disappointment in the group chat, so I kept explaining to them that installing the hinges would make access to the power outlet difficult, to which the husband replied...
... Ummmm
I just told you it is going to be difficult to access the power outlets if you install the hinge and you reply with...
Do you even read?
And how much more aesthetically pleasing can the hinges be ? The whole point of the lid is to conceal the outlet plugs, which means the hinges are not meant to be seen, so whether the hinge are there or not, no one is going to fucking know visually because it is meant to be concealed.
And really? Aesthetics? I find this particular project to be the least aesthetically pleasing project out of all the projects I currently have on hand, so the addition of a few hinges isn't going to save it from that.
I had a few back and forth with my clients, where I just kept reiterating that it isn't going to benefit them if they installed the hinges, and for some reason, it just doesn't register at all, and then the husband tells me to draw a picture for him because he can't visualize how the hinge will affect the accessibility of the power plugs.
I was so fucking irritated at that point I just didn't bother replying, I read the message and I am sure on their end, the message is marked as read, but I was so fucking exhausted mentally at that point, I just really didn't give a fuck if it made me come across as unprofessional, but about an hour later, I decided to ask my carpenter to just install the fucking hinges, since they want it so fucking much.
Of course, my carpenter tells me the same thing I told my client, that it won't be easy to use, that if they wanted to install the hinges, they better be sure about it because once those hinges are installed, they cannot be removed.
I really had no strength left to knock some common sense into them, so I just copy and paste whatever my carpenter told me into the group chat for them to read and they were still not fucking convince.
Your Interior Designer is advising you against it but you do not want to listen.
The Carpenter is advising you against it and you still do not want to listen.
The sheer stupidity.
I use to think they were just indecisive, now I can add stubbornness to the mix.
The husband even called me up to check and no amount of reasoning was able to convince him that installing the hinge was a bad idea, I could hear him sighing on the phone every time I tried to advise him against the hinge and I just wanted to sigh out loud as well.
I mean for fuck sake, it's just hinges, it really should not have been such a big deal, but the husband made it into such a big deal, although I am not sure if the wife had anything to say about it because for all I know, the wife could have been the one who was really unhappy about it but the husband was acting as her mouthpiece, I mean she pulled that shit before with the tiles and I fucking detested her for questioning my design decision and then having the audacity to share with me her preferred design, which is FUCKING AWFUL, a sentiment shared by all my colleagues.
Every time I try to do something nice for them, they find a way to pay back my kindness by giving me even more problems.
This concealed power outlet idea, I could have charged them an additional cost for it, but I decided to absorb it for them and look at how they reciprocate my kindness.
I have never been this irritated by a client.
Goes to show, I can't always judge a book by it's cover.
They were a joy to talk to, but a complete nightmare to work with.
Guess the only thing I wish I could say to them is this...
Really just can't wait for this project to be fucking done so I no longer have to deal with them.
---
They just texted me again with a new problem and honestly speaking, it's getting too much.
When I first offered to help them get a doorbell, I didn't think too much about it, I was at the area where they sold door bells, so why not.
They thanked me for it but a few days later, the wife requested for me to get lights for them because they didn't know where to buy it from, so I decided to help them get a few since there are a bunch of lighting shops around the placed I worked at.
They thanked me for it once again and at this point, I started to feel like they were taking advantage of my kindness, I assume that the wife must have thought....
.... after that, I started to grow a bit wary of their request, and then today, the wife found some issues with the ceiling fan and ask me...
... like what the actual fuck? Call him yourself! It's not my fucking electrician who sold you the fan.
Her request was to have the fan shorten and tighten because it was wobbling too much.
Shortening the fan is not my problem, if you want to shorten the fan, get the manufacturer down to cut the rod for you, not my guys, and I told her that shortening the fan was not possible, because it's really not my problem, so even if it could be done, I'm just going to say it can't be done. This couple have honestly caused me so much fucking anxiety I just no longer want to help them anymore, if something can be done, but it's too troublesome for me, then go fix it yourself because I am no longer interested in problems that aren't related to me or any of my contractors.
So after telling her I can't shorten the fan, she decides to list down a to-do list in the group chat, and in one of the to-do, it's...
... they don't fucking listen, it's like I'm like talking to two fucking walls.
And not surprisingly, one of the to-do is...
.... even after sending them the audio message my carpenter send me about the disadvantages of having the hinge installed.
So this is essentially the list of problems I have to fix before the end of next week as listed out by her...
1. Solve Tile Lippage Issue.
2. Install Remaining Carpentry Works
3. Install Single Power Outlet
4.Painting Touch Up
5. Cleaning
6. Adjust Kitchen Tap Weights
7. Fucking Hinges
8. Install Solve Closing Casement Doors
9. Not my fucking problem Ceiling Fan
... and I'm going to run through how fucking invalid some of them area.
Point 1.
I have told them that lippages are to be expected.
Doesn't fucking believe me and keeps thinking my tiler did a bad job.
So I send my tiler down a few days ago and tried to rectify the problem.
The tiler did the best she could and I even told my clients that my tiler has done all she could with the lippage.
The very next day, my clients go back to their unit and started sticking fucking post it notes at the same area my tiler had already fixed.
These 2 fucking walls.
Point 2. - 5.
Completely valid rectification works.
Point 6.
Had they bothered to actually do some research, they could have fixed this issue themselves, all they needed is a screwdriver. So now I have to bring a screwdriver to their site and fix the issue for them.
Point 7.
Fucking Dense as Fuck. Nuff said.
Point 8.
I have told them that the soft closing can be toggled on and off.
There is a little switch for you to toggle on and off.
Even send them a pic of the fucking hinge to show them where the on and off toggle is.
Still list it as a To-Do.
Still list it as "Install"
It's already fucking installed!
IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! MY FUCKING GAWD! READ MY FUCKING TEXT! IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! READ MY GOD DAMN TEXT! LOOK AT THE FUCKING PICTURE I HAVE SEND! FIX IT YOUR FUCKING SELF!
Point 9.
I told them my electrician has already went to double check the fan for them, my side has done all they could.
Doesn't register in their fucking head because it's 2 walls I am speaking to.
Ask me to get my electrician to check again and then writes "shorten ceiling fan"
My fucking gawd.
READ MY FUCKING TEXT!
IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!
CALL THE FUCKING MANUFACTURER TO FIX IT FOR YOU!
To think I thought their project would be easier to run than my first one. I used to think my first project was the worst because every small imperfection gets scrutinized, but this project has made my first project feel like a breeze.
The problems my first customer had were mostly small aesthetic imperfections, which even though was annoying, wasn't exactly anything that was too drastic. They do their own research and they know how to source for their own suppliers, they were cheap and kept asking for discount, which was really annoying, but they are not dense, they let me make design decisions for them, they listen to my explanations for certain things and even though it takes a while, they will eventually accept it and move on.
This current one. I am typing in caps, bolding the text and then enlarging the text even more. I am legitimately pissed off and extremely irritated by them. They are truly truly annoying and I really wish to have nothing to do with them once this project is over.
I wished they had never signed a contract with me in the first place. All that gratefulness I used to have for them, it's all gone now. I am not grateful for this shit they are putting me through and I am sure as hell not grateful for the measly $1,800 I will be making from their project. It might drop further because I have a bad feeling that the husband might request for certain carpentry to be re-fabricated to fit the fucking hinges.
I just can't get over how the husband is making a mountain out of a molehill.
The additional hinges serves literally no purposes other than being a hindrance and the husband is actually fighting me for it, fighting my carpenter for it. It is fucking ridiculous. I mean if it actually benefits the carpentry, then sure, but it doesn't, it fucking doesn't serve any useful purpose.
That's like someone walking into Starbucks, ordering a frappacuino with Whipped Cream, getting it in this cup...
... and then demanding that they change the cover to a flat one because he wants a flat one, and when the barista tells him...
.... because fucking common sense, but the customer doesn't get it and keeps demanding a flat cover. So the barista gets him a flat cover and ends up smooshing the whip cream into the drink and all over the table, because BITCH! IT DOESN'T FIT!
I don't know how the Starbucks Frappacuino analogy ends because this issue has just begun, and the project is slated to be completed by Friday.
There was only literally suppose to be painting and cleaning for this week, that was suppose to be it. I was expecting to have a happy handover after this, but my clients have managed to really fucking pissed me off in just one day because there's nothing more aggravating than trying and failing to talk common sense into stupid people.
"I don't think your ID did a very good job with this."
"Get your ID to redo this part, it's not suppose to be like this."
.... to completely paranoid my already paranoid clients.
Thankfully, the major issues that I felt the house had were not brought up last night, but a lot of plumbing issues were, and I wouldn't really call them issues, but my clients friend turn them into issues for me.
Had I been the one to tell my clients..
"Hey, this is considered normal, so don't be too freaked out by it."
... and then slowly explain to them the reason why, they would have been more open to my reasoning and be convinced by it, but because it is their friend who told them first, I am getting screwed over for it.
Now the reason why I am actually writing a post about them today is not because of the inaccurate information their friends decided to share with them, it is because they themselves are giving me a lot of issues for a minor problem they have with the carpentry works, a small issue that if they want "fixed" would end up causing a lot of problems.
So they have this bedroom in their house that they have decided to convert into a study area, and they requested for a custom study table, so I came up with a design
Similar to this. I have seen this done in other projects before so I was sure my carpenter was able to do something similar.
On the day of the installation, I realized my carpenter had open a little hole for the power outlets to sit in, but there wasn't any hinges for the little flap, it was just a loose cover, and so he explains to me that he had left out the hinges because installing it would cause some issues with the accessibility to the power plugs themselves. It made complete sense to me because it was a valid reason, so we proceeded with the installation.
Whether the flap had hinges or not, I felt was not really an issue, the main goal of the lid was to conceal the power outlets and it has achieve that goal, so I didn't really bother telling my clients about it, thinking they would share the same sentiments as me.
They didn't.
When I finally pointed out the issue to them, the husband was not happy about it and kept expressing his disappointment in the group chat, so I kept explaining to them that installing the hinges would make access to the power outlet difficult, to which the husband replied...
"I feel that without the hinges, it will be less user friendly and won't look as nice."
... Ummmm
I just told you it is going to be difficult to access the power outlets if you install the hinge and you reply with...
"It's not as user friendly without the hinge."
Do you even read?
And how much more aesthetically pleasing can the hinges be ? The whole point of the lid is to conceal the outlet plugs, which means the hinges are not meant to be seen, so whether the hinge are there or not, no one is going to fucking know visually because it is meant to be concealed.
And really? Aesthetics? I find this particular project to be the least aesthetically pleasing project out of all the projects I currently have on hand, so the addition of a few hinges isn't going to save it from that.
I had a few back and forth with my clients, where I just kept reiterating that it isn't going to benefit them if they installed the hinges, and for some reason, it just doesn't register at all, and then the husband tells me to draw a picture for him because he can't visualize how the hinge will affect the accessibility of the power plugs.
I was so fucking irritated at that point I just didn't bother replying, I read the message and I am sure on their end, the message is marked as read, but I was so fucking exhausted mentally at that point, I just really didn't give a fuck if it made me come across as unprofessional, but about an hour later, I decided to ask my carpenter to just install the fucking hinges, since they want it so fucking much.
Of course, my carpenter tells me the same thing I told my client, that it won't be easy to use, that if they wanted to install the hinges, they better be sure about it because once those hinges are installed, they cannot be removed.
I really had no strength left to knock some common sense into them, so I just copy and paste whatever my carpenter told me into the group chat for them to read and they were still not fucking convince.
Your Interior Designer is advising you against it but you do not want to listen.
The Carpenter is advising you against it and you still do not want to listen.
The sheer stupidity.
I use to think they were just indecisive, now I can add stubbornness to the mix.
The husband even called me up to check and no amount of reasoning was able to convince him that installing the hinge was a bad idea, I could hear him sighing on the phone every time I tried to advise him against the hinge and I just wanted to sigh out loud as well.
I mean for fuck sake, it's just hinges, it really should not have been such a big deal, but the husband made it into such a big deal, although I am not sure if the wife had anything to say about it because for all I know, the wife could have been the one who was really unhappy about it but the husband was acting as her mouthpiece, I mean she pulled that shit before with the tiles and I fucking detested her for questioning my design decision and then having the audacity to share with me her preferred design, which is FUCKING AWFUL, a sentiment shared by all my colleagues.
Every time I try to do something nice for them, they find a way to pay back my kindness by giving me even more problems.
This concealed power outlet idea, I could have charged them an additional cost for it, but I decided to absorb it for them and look at how they reciprocate my kindness.
I have never been this irritated by a client.
Goes to show, I can't always judge a book by it's cover.
They were a joy to talk to, but a complete nightmare to work with.
Guess the only thing I wish I could say to them is this...
FUCK YOU AND FUCK OFF!
Really just can't wait for this project to be fucking done so I no longer have to deal with them.
---
They just texted me again with a new problem and honestly speaking, it's getting too much.
When I first offered to help them get a doorbell, I didn't think too much about it, I was at the area where they sold door bells, so why not.
They thanked me for it but a few days later, the wife requested for me to get lights for them because they didn't know where to buy it from, so I decided to help them get a few since there are a bunch of lighting shops around the placed I worked at.
They thanked me for it once again and at this point, I started to feel like they were taking advantage of my kindness, I assume that the wife must have thought....
"Oh, he bought once the doorbell once, so what's the harm in trying to get him to help us get the lights."
.... after that, I started to grow a bit wary of their request, and then today, the wife found some issues with the ceiling fan and ask me...
"Can you help us call the fan person?"
... like what the actual fuck? Call him yourself! It's not my fucking electrician who sold you the fan.
Her request was to have the fan shorten and tighten because it was wobbling too much.
Shortening the fan is not my problem, if you want to shorten the fan, get the manufacturer down to cut the rod for you, not my guys, and I told her that shortening the fan was not possible, because it's really not my problem, so even if it could be done, I'm just going to say it can't be done. This couple have honestly caused me so much fucking anxiety I just no longer want to help them anymore, if something can be done, but it's too troublesome for me, then go fix it yourself because I am no longer interested in problems that aren't related to me or any of my contractors.
So after telling her I can't shorten the fan, she decides to list down a to-do list in the group chat, and in one of the to-do, it's...
"Shorten and tighten ceiling fan."
... they don't fucking listen, it's like I'm like talking to two fucking walls.
And not surprisingly, one of the to-do is...
"Install Hinge for Power Outlet Lid."
.... even after sending them the audio message my carpenter send me about the disadvantages of having the hinge installed.
So this is essentially the list of problems I have to fix before the end of next week as listed out by her...
1. Solve Tile Lippage Issue.
2. Install Remaining Carpentry Works
3. Install Single Power Outlet
4.Painting Touch Up
5. Cleaning
6. Adjust Kitchen Tap Weights
7. Fucking Hinges
8. Install Solve Closing Casement Doors
9. Not my fucking problem Ceiling Fan
... and I'm going to run through how fucking invalid some of them area.
Point 1.
I have told them that lippages are to be expected.
Doesn't fucking believe me and keeps thinking my tiler did a bad job.
So I send my tiler down a few days ago and tried to rectify the problem.
The tiler did the best she could and I even told my clients that my tiler has done all she could with the lippage.
The very next day, my clients go back to their unit and started sticking fucking post it notes at the same area my tiler had already fixed.
These 2 fucking walls.
Point 2. - 5.
Completely valid rectification works.
Point 6.
Had they bothered to actually do some research, they could have fixed this issue themselves, all they needed is a screwdriver. So now I have to bring a screwdriver to their site and fix the issue for them.
Point 7.
Fucking Dense as Fuck. Nuff said.
Point 8.
I have told them that the soft closing can be toggled on and off.
There is a little switch for you to toggle on and off.
Even send them a pic of the fucking hinge to show them where the on and off toggle is.
Still list it as a To-Do.
Still list it as "Install"
It's already fucking installed!
IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! MY FUCKING GAWD! READ MY FUCKING TEXT! IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! READ MY GOD DAMN TEXT! LOOK AT THE FUCKING PICTURE I HAVE SEND! FIX IT YOUR FUCKING SELF!
Point 9.
I told them my electrician has already went to double check the fan for them, my side has done all they could.
Doesn't register in their fucking head because it's 2 walls I am speaking to.
Ask me to get my electrician to check again and then writes "shorten ceiling fan"
My fucking gawd.
READ MY FUCKING TEXT!
IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!
CALL THE FUCKING MANUFACTURER TO FIX IT FOR YOU!
To think I thought their project would be easier to run than my first one. I used to think my first project was the worst because every small imperfection gets scrutinized, but this project has made my first project feel like a breeze.
The problems my first customer had were mostly small aesthetic imperfections, which even though was annoying, wasn't exactly anything that was too drastic. They do their own research and they know how to source for their own suppliers, they were cheap and kept asking for discount, which was really annoying, but they are not dense, they let me make design decisions for them, they listen to my explanations for certain things and even though it takes a while, they will eventually accept it and move on.
This current one. I am typing in caps, bolding the text and then enlarging the text even more. I am legitimately pissed off and extremely irritated by them. They are truly truly annoying and I really wish to have nothing to do with them once this project is over.
I wished they had never signed a contract with me in the first place. All that gratefulness I used to have for them, it's all gone now. I am not grateful for this shit they are putting me through and I am sure as hell not grateful for the measly $1,800 I will be making from their project. It might drop further because I have a bad feeling that the husband might request for certain carpentry to be re-fabricated to fit the fucking hinges.
I just can't get over how the husband is making a mountain out of a molehill.
The additional hinges serves literally no purposes other than being a hindrance and the husband is actually fighting me for it, fighting my carpenter for it. It is fucking ridiculous. I mean if it actually benefits the carpentry, then sure, but it doesn't, it fucking doesn't serve any useful purpose.
That's like someone walking into Starbucks, ordering a frappacuino with Whipped Cream, getting it in this cup...
... and then demanding that they change the cover to a flat one because he wants a flat one, and when the barista tells him...
"If we gave you a flat cover, there won't be any space for the whipped cream."
.... because fucking common sense, but the customer doesn't get it and keeps demanding a flat cover. So the barista gets him a flat cover and ends up smooshing the whip cream into the drink and all over the table, because BITCH! IT DOESN'T FIT!
I don't know how the Starbucks Frappacuino analogy ends because this issue has just begun, and the project is slated to be completed by Friday.
There was only literally suppose to be painting and cleaning for this week, that was suppose to be it. I was expecting to have a happy handover after this, but my clients have managed to really fucking pissed me off in just one day because there's nothing more aggravating than trying and failing to talk common sense into stupid people.
Saturday 18 November 2017
Abhorrent
I really hate running my third project, just absolutely abhor it.
My clients are a friendly couple and as I have said many times, I am grateful that they gave me a chance many months ago to run their project for them, but the project itself is just not worth the amount of trouble it has put me through.
I have slowly but surely grown to have great disdain towards the project and I honestly cannot wait for it to be over, I am not proud of the design because I think the colour choice my clients have selected is just not anywhere close to my design style at all, it is a very dull colour scheme it looks like inspiration for it was drawn from an interior design magazine in the 90s.
Looking at how the house is coming together, it looks like they didn't even bother hiring a interior designer for their project because there just isn't a single ounce of design in it, from the brown cabinets to the cream coloured casement doors, everything about the flat just feels very flat. Even when I was suggesting some colours for them to add to their boring colour scheme to try and spruce up the design a little, they somehow always settle for the wrong shade of blues and greens, picking the lighter tones instead of the darker ones.
The wife likes to do this thing where she will try to make someone else responsible for the design decisions, so if something goes wrong, like should I recommend a dark teal to her, she will say...
... that "hahaha" at the end is really just her way of trying to not come across as a nightmare of a client, it's like a "I'm just kidding, but not really" kind of "hahaha", and the thing is, I know my colour suggestion will work because I have looked at reference images online and the colour combinations works really really well, but she has this way of just constantly making me second guess my design decisions, so I always end up letting them do the colour selections themselves instead, so as to prevent myself from getting blamed by her for coming up with a design that she doesn't like. The husband is fine so far, he knows what he doesn't want, but that is also a huge reason why the colour scheme looks so dull and dated, because a lot of colours I recommended in the beginning were turned down by him.
Had the wife decided to just go with my design decision and not second guess me, using dark teal for the accent wall would have made the house looked modern, add a few gold accented decorative accessories like picture frames and the place would have looked amazing, Pinterest ready.
Their house needed dark accent colours to really make the space pop, but they kept choosing pastel colours and I know as their designer, I should have said something, but after making a single design decision for them once, and then getting blamed by the wife for not running through the design decision with them, a blame that almost cost me $500, no thanks. If you are going to get me as your Interior Designer, but then start to question the design decisions I have made for you and create so much issue for me and my contractor, you're on your own.
I may be biased against the project though, because of how much stress and anxiety both the project and my client has put me through, I have nothing but horrible memories of it and I really do not want to create any more new memories from it. I would like it to be done very very soon and one day look back and be glad that I am no longer an active part of it.
The project is coming to a close, with a few electrical works left and some minor touching up that needs to be done. My electrician has once again failed to show up at the time and date I had arranged for him to come, so yeah, not going to be engaging in his services ever again in the future.
So I was planning to have a nice day out with my friend today to watch a movie, thinking since my clients have already visited the house yesterday, they probably won't drop by again today and start disturbing me with text messages of...
... it's irritating as fuck and it can completely ruin my day, like it did a month ago when they started flooding me with text messages on my day off and the very rare day I was actually meeting up a friend for a movie, just constantly asking me so many questions, giving me so many problems to the point I started losing my appetite.
Well, I just receive a text message from the wife, telling me she will be dropping by the flat today to look for defects. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I can't have any peaceful day until this project is finally done.
Gawd I fucking hate this project.
They have informed me that they have stick the stickers in the problem areas around the house, I will be dropping by tomorrow to see the severity of their perfectionism, have a very bad feeling that a lot of non-defects will be marked out as well, as usual, really such a huge pain to deal with.
My clients are a friendly couple and as I have said many times, I am grateful that they gave me a chance many months ago to run their project for them, but the project itself is just not worth the amount of trouble it has put me through.
I have slowly but surely grown to have great disdain towards the project and I honestly cannot wait for it to be over, I am not proud of the design because I think the colour choice my clients have selected is just not anywhere close to my design style at all, it is a very dull colour scheme it looks like inspiration for it was drawn from an interior design magazine in the 90s.
Looking at how the house is coming together, it looks like they didn't even bother hiring a interior designer for their project because there just isn't a single ounce of design in it, from the brown cabinets to the cream coloured casement doors, everything about the flat just feels very flat. Even when I was suggesting some colours for them to add to their boring colour scheme to try and spruce up the design a little, they somehow always settle for the wrong shade of blues and greens, picking the lighter tones instead of the darker ones.
The wife likes to do this thing where she will try to make someone else responsible for the design decisions, so if something goes wrong, like should I recommend a dark teal to her, she will say...
"You think this will work? I think it looks great also, but if it doesn't work, then it's your fault ah? Hahaha."
... that "hahaha" at the end is really just her way of trying to not come across as a nightmare of a client, it's like a "I'm just kidding, but not really" kind of "hahaha", and the thing is, I know my colour suggestion will work because I have looked at reference images online and the colour combinations works really really well, but she has this way of just constantly making me second guess my design decisions, so I always end up letting them do the colour selections themselves instead, so as to prevent myself from getting blamed by her for coming up with a design that she doesn't like. The husband is fine so far, he knows what he doesn't want, but that is also a huge reason why the colour scheme looks so dull and dated, because a lot of colours I recommended in the beginning were turned down by him.
Had the wife decided to just go with my design decision and not second guess me, using dark teal for the accent wall would have made the house looked modern, add a few gold accented decorative accessories like picture frames and the place would have looked amazing, Pinterest ready.
Their house needed dark accent colours to really make the space pop, but they kept choosing pastel colours and I know as their designer, I should have said something, but after making a single design decision for them once, and then getting blamed by the wife for not running through the design decision with them, a blame that almost cost me $500, no thanks. If you are going to get me as your Interior Designer, but then start to question the design decisions I have made for you and create so much issue for me and my contractor, you're on your own.
I may be biased against the project though, because of how much stress and anxiety both the project and my client has put me through, I have nothing but horrible memories of it and I really do not want to create any more new memories from it. I would like it to be done very very soon and one day look back and be glad that I am no longer an active part of it.
The project is coming to a close, with a few electrical works left and some minor touching up that needs to be done. My electrician has once again failed to show up at the time and date I had arranged for him to come, so yeah, not going to be engaging in his services ever again in the future.
---
So I was planning to have a nice day out with my friend today to watch a movie, thinking since my clients have already visited the house yesterday, they probably won't drop by again today and start disturbing me with text messages of...
"Why is this like that?"
"Can you redo this part?"
"My friend's house doesn't look like this, why this wall not smooth?"
... it's irritating as fuck and it can completely ruin my day, like it did a month ago when they started flooding me with text messages on my day off and the very rare day I was actually meeting up a friend for a movie, just constantly asking me so many questions, giving me so many problems to the point I started losing my appetite.
Well, I just receive a text message from the wife, telling me she will be dropping by the flat today to look for defects. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I can't have any peaceful day until this project is finally done.
Gawd I fucking hate this project.
They have informed me that they have stick the stickers in the problem areas around the house, I will be dropping by tomorrow to see the severity of their perfectionism, have a very bad feeling that a lot of non-defects will be marked out as well, as usual, really such a huge pain to deal with.
Friday 17 November 2017
Le Peanuts
A few weeks ago, I decided to take things into my own hands and started calculating the amount of profit I will be earning from the current projects that I am currently running or have completed but haven't gotten my commission yet.
So before doing the actual calculations by comparing the actual renovation bills send in by my contractor with the actual quotation, I was basing the profit margin on a very rough estimate, and they are as follow...
First Project - $40,000
Estimated to earn about $1,800 in commission.
Second Project - $37,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.
Third Project - $34,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.
.... evidently, after looking at the profit margin for the first project and comparing it to my other projects, I just did not really want to do that project anymore but somehow tried to convince myself that I would run it for the experience and also as a sign of appreciation for my customer who decided to give me a chance.
The experience so far has been abysmal because my clients are very indecisive and don't trust me enough to actually make design decisions for them, so there ends up being a lot of last minute changes and a lot of questionable taste in colour choices for their homes.
But back to the topic at hand.
So once the bills starting coming in from my contractors, I decided to tabulate the prices from the bill and then minus that amount from the total quotation, including all the additional cost my customers might have requested mid-reno, and the new figure was really surprising because it ended up being a lot higher that I had thought.
First Project.
Old Commission - $,1800
New Commission - $3,200
Second Project.
Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500
Third Project.
Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500
Upon seeing those new figures, I was shocked, because it is so much higher than my original calculations. And I have to admit, prior to this, I was contemplating leaving the company and finding a new career because the commission I was getting from my projects were way too low, and I also didn't want to find and run more projects than I can handle, so I really wasn't making enough money to justify staying in this line anymore, but the new figure proved otherwise, and I was so happy about it for weeks,
I was going about, telling my colleagues how much money I was making from the projects, even going so far as to share with my boss how much profit I was making, everyone I told were impressed with the amount and they told me I was earning at a very safe range, that I should keep it up, Seeing how much I was making, I started to become really lax with the cost of several additional services I required from my contractors because what is making a hundred bucks less when I am making $3,200 and not the original $1,800 I had anticipated.
Well, fast forward to today, I decided to go check the new bills that had arrived and chanced upon this little thing called GST that was being charged by one of my suppliers, and in that instant, everything started to fall apart.
I quickly went back to the calculation and realized I had totally forgotten to exclude the GST amount in the original quotation figure when I was calculating my profit margin figure weeks ago, that means I had calculated an additional $2,000 to $3,000 for all my projects that was never supposed to be calculated and that means I did not earn more than I had anticipated at all, my profit margin has remained the same, I am still earning peanuts.
Just when I thought I was going to be receiving a profit margin of at least $10,000 by the end of the year, it turns out I had just miscalculated and I would end up only be raking in about less than $7,000 total if I don't incur any additional cost.
Earning only $7000 in 12 months is an extremely dangerous amount and I am now honestly starting to worry about the sustainability of this career. I mean I have worried about it in the past, but looking at the actual figure, it is really really depressing, and when I think of the amount of stress I have had to endure for the $1,800 project, the amount of stress my customer has given to me, and I am only earning a measly $1,800 from them, I should have my name legally changed to Sharity and be legally recognized as a pink fucking elephant.
Update :
So I just realized that I have miscalculated my earnings for my third project by a lot. In the beginning, I thought I was going to earn at least $2,500, but then a bill for the project came in and I found out I had completely forgotten to include that into my costings, an additional $2,500 costing.
Right now, this third project is the project with the lowest profit margin I have ever had, so much more lower than my small kitchen renovation project, only a meager $1000, that is insane. I cannot believe I was able to miscalculate by such a huge margin and thought that I would be earning the most from that project.
That means my total earnings from this 3 project is roughly only $5500, I'm a fucking idiot. The miscalculated $4,500 profit suddenly feels like a huge joke to me now.
So before doing the actual calculations by comparing the actual renovation bills send in by my contractor with the actual quotation, I was basing the profit margin on a very rough estimate, and they are as follow...
First Project - $40,000
Estimated to earn about $1,800 in commission.
Second Project - $37,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.
Third Project - $34,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.
.... evidently, after looking at the profit margin for the first project and comparing it to my other projects, I just did not really want to do that project anymore but somehow tried to convince myself that I would run it for the experience and also as a sign of appreciation for my customer who decided to give me a chance.
The experience so far has been abysmal because my clients are very indecisive and don't trust me enough to actually make design decisions for them, so there ends up being a lot of last minute changes and a lot of questionable taste in colour choices for their homes.
But back to the topic at hand.
So once the bills starting coming in from my contractors, I decided to tabulate the prices from the bill and then minus that amount from the total quotation, including all the additional cost my customers might have requested mid-reno, and the new figure was really surprising because it ended up being a lot higher that I had thought.
First Project.
Old Commission - $,1800
New Commission - $3,200
Second Project.
Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500
Third Project.
Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500
Upon seeing those new figures, I was shocked, because it is so much higher than my original calculations. And I have to admit, prior to this, I was contemplating leaving the company and finding a new career because the commission I was getting from my projects were way too low, and I also didn't want to find and run more projects than I can handle, so I really wasn't making enough money to justify staying in this line anymore, but the new figure proved otherwise, and I was so happy about it for weeks,
I was going about, telling my colleagues how much money I was making from the projects, even going so far as to share with my boss how much profit I was making, everyone I told were impressed with the amount and they told me I was earning at a very safe range, that I should keep it up, Seeing how much I was making, I started to become really lax with the cost of several additional services I required from my contractors because what is making a hundred bucks less when I am making $3,200 and not the original $1,800 I had anticipated.
Well, fast forward to today, I decided to go check the new bills that had arrived and chanced upon this little thing called GST that was being charged by one of my suppliers, and in that instant, everything started to fall apart.
I quickly went back to the calculation and realized I had totally forgotten to exclude the GST amount in the original quotation figure when I was calculating my profit margin figure weeks ago, that means I had calculated an additional $2,000 to $3,000 for all my projects that was never supposed to be calculated and that means I did not earn more than I had anticipated at all, my profit margin has remained the same, I am still earning peanuts.
Just when I thought I was going to be receiving a profit margin of at least $10,000 by the end of the year, it turns out I had just miscalculated and I would end up only be raking in about less than $7,000 total if I don't incur any additional cost.
Earning only $7000 in 12 months is an extremely dangerous amount and I am now honestly starting to worry about the sustainability of this career. I mean I have worried about it in the past, but looking at the actual figure, it is really really depressing, and when I think of the amount of stress I have had to endure for the $1,800 project, the amount of stress my customer has given to me, and I am only earning a measly $1,800 from them, I should have my name legally changed to Sharity and be legally recognized as a pink fucking elephant.
Update :
So I just realized that I have miscalculated my earnings for my third project by a lot. In the beginning, I thought I was going to earn at least $2,500, but then a bill for the project came in and I found out I had completely forgotten to include that into my costings, an additional $2,500 costing.
Right now, this third project is the project with the lowest profit margin I have ever had, so much more lower than my small kitchen renovation project, only a meager $1000, that is insane. I cannot believe I was able to miscalculate by such a huge margin and thought that I would be earning the most from that project.
That means my total earnings from this 3 project is roughly only $5500, I'm a fucking idiot. The miscalculated $4,500 profit suddenly feels like a huge joke to me now.
Friday 13 October 2017
Marie Antoinette Syndrome
My third renovation project is running much worst than my first, and it's not the project itself is facing a lot of problems, but my clients who are giving me a lot of problems.
That is the downside of having young couples as clients, they don't really know what to expect since it's their very first home, so they expect perfection and it's understandable, but extremely fucking annoying.
I had a few days of peace, apart from the last minute carpentry changes they wanted made which was a whole other ordeal, until one fine day, when I receive a tile related text from the wife, still unconvinced about the tiles...
... honestly speaking, I thought they were acceptable, but after the constant barrage of messages from her and her husband, I couldn't help but second guess the tiler's workmanship.
It gets really tiring when you try to convince someone about something but they just don't want to accept it, so they keep asking you until you give them the answer that they want and that's exactly what the wife did, despite many attempts at trying to convince her that the lippages were normal, she just kept going on and on about how it's not suppose to pop that much because she had read about it on an article online and everything you read online should be accepted as the ultimate truth I guess.
And so if I were to Google "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe" and be showed 100 different "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe", I guess that internet will start to create a wormhole from the paradoxical result and suck everything thing into itself and become nothing.
I mean who knew that reading a few articles online suddenly makes you an expert at tiling works and makes you more qualified than my tiler at determining what's acceptable and what's not acceptable huh.
A few weeks ago, I finally found a bit of time to meet up with my friend for a movie, and everything was going well until I started getting messages from them, asking me about the renovation, asking me why things were happening the way they were, asking me why they were not informed of certain design decisions I had made for them, requesting for a few last minute changes that had to be made and just completely ruining my entire day with their bloody questions. I did not manage to finish my burger and fries that day because I just completely lost my appetite that day from having to deal with them, I was so busy texting them and explaining myself to them and that was the day that I realize they were going to be a real handful and my hand has been full of their loaded question ever since.
I get a little panic attack every-time I get a message because every-time I get a text message from either this couple or the other couple who's project still hasn't been handed over yet, it's almost always never a good thing, which is why now these 2 Whatsapp group gets their own ringtone and LED Indicator colour.
I used to tell myself...
... Well, that tune has fucking changed because it's not fucking worth it. I am almost running this project for them for free, so I'm not really seeing why I should be showing any sort of gratitude to them when the only thing they have given me so far is a bundle of stress.
That is the downside of having young couples as clients, they don't really know what to expect since it's their very first home, so they expect perfection and it's understandable, but extremely fucking annoying.
Just recently, they found certain issues with the way their tiles were laid, so the wife kept asking me if the lippages that she found on the tile was considered normal, I didn't really think too much about it, so I checked with my tiler and he assured me that it was considered normal, an information I relayed to my client, making sure to let them know that that was what my tiler told me and it wasn't something I made up.
I had a few days of peace, apart from the last minute carpentry changes they wanted made which was a whole other ordeal, until one fine day, when I receive a tile related text from the wife, still unconvinced about the tiles...
"Honestly speaking, do you think the tiles are considered acceptable?"
... honestly speaking, I thought they were acceptable, but after the constant barrage of messages from her and her husband, I couldn't help but second guess the tiler's workmanship.
It gets really tiring when you try to convince someone about something but they just don't want to accept it, so they keep asking you until you give them the answer that they want and that's exactly what the wife did, despite many attempts at trying to convince her that the lippages were normal, she just kept going on and on about how it's not suppose to pop that much because she had read about it on an article online and everything you read online should be accepted as the ultimate truth I guess.
And so if I were to Google "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe" and be showed 100 different "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe", I guess that internet will start to create a wormhole from the paradoxical result and suck everything thing into itself and become nothing.
I mean who knew that reading a few articles online suddenly makes you an expert at tiling works and makes you more qualified than my tiler at determining what's acceptable and what's not acceptable huh.
A few weeks ago, I finally found a bit of time to meet up with my friend for a movie, and everything was going well until I started getting messages from them, asking me about the renovation, asking me why things were happening the way they were, asking me why they were not informed of certain design decisions I had made for them, requesting for a few last minute changes that had to be made and just completely ruining my entire day with their bloody questions. I did not manage to finish my burger and fries that day because I just completely lost my appetite that day from having to deal with them, I was so busy texting them and explaining myself to them and that was the day that I realize they were going to be a real handful and my hand has been full of their loaded question ever since.
"Do you think the tiles are acceptable"
If I say Yes!
"But I read about it online and it states that it isn't."
If I say No!
"I knew it, so can you get your guys to fix it"
I get a little panic attack every-time I get a message because every-time I get a text message from either this couple or the other couple who's project still hasn't been handed over yet, it's almost always never a good thing, which is why now these 2 Whatsapp group gets their own ringtone and LED Indicator colour.
I used to tell myself...
"Don't run this project thinking about money, do it out of gratitude for the client, for the chance they have given you and for the experience you will gain from it."
... Well, that tune has fucking changed because it's not fucking worth it. I am almost running this project for them for free, so I'm not really seeing why I should be showing any sort of gratitude to them when the only thing they have given me so far is a bundle of stress.
Thursday 5 October 2017
Everything's a defect
Now that my very first renovation project has completed, all that is left before the flat is handed over to the clients is to do the final touch ups, and depending on how anal they are about the rectification works, these project can be handed over as soon as this weekend or dragged as long as months from now.
Knowing my clients and their penchant for finding even the smallest flaws, I can safely say that the hand over won't be happening anytime soon. Every single paint streak is heavily scrutinized and labelled as a defect if it is not completely even with the rest of the wall, the smallest bumps on the doors are labelled as a defect, even hairline scratches don't get off the hook and are obnoxiously labelled.
I have spoken with my clients and tried to reason with them to be a little bit more lax in the spotting of such small imperfections, because the contractors who does all the works are human, there are bound to be small little errors that will pop up here and there, but if it isn't anything that is glaringly defective, then turn a blind eye to it and live with it because a few months from now, they won't even notice that "defect" anymore.
The husband was agreeable and said he will "close one eye" for some of the imperfections and the wife has grown to be a little cautious when it comes to actually pointing out what she considers a defect to me because I think deep down, even she is aware how ridiculous some of her request are.
There were a few rounds of checks that were done prior to the completion of the project and I was agreeable to the first few rounds of checks, when they took down the defects and handed the list to me, I called up my contractors and told them to rectify the spots that needed to be rectified, some were legit defects, but most of them were extremely minor aesthetics imperfections, and I just got my contractors to fix them all.
As more and more of the bigger issues got rectified, smaller non-issues starting popping up and it just got so ridiculous to the point where I didn't even want to ask the contractors to come down to fix it for them because it was almost akin to calling an entire battalion of soldiers to kill a single rat, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix those issues on my own instead.
I bought a $20 tin of paint with my own money and touched up the frame for them.
I went to buy a small tube of silicone and fixed it myself.
I went to the nearest hardware shop and got my own set of screw drivers, but realized they were too small, so I went home to get the correct size ones and tighten the basket for them.
All those are legit request from them and I did all of them on my own, fixed all the small issues, even went to buy a small tub of wood putty that cost me $30, just to fix a few knocks on their timber skirting, the putty was never used because I ended up just using black marker to colour and conceal the chipped parts, which totally worked.
A few days ago, I finally got the cleaners to come down to their flat and do a final washing, and the point of the final wash is to ensure that the flat is clean enough for moving in, emphasis on "clean enough". The cleaner's job isn't to make the flat spotless, no one died in the flat, there isn't any need to use any heavy duty cleaners to clean the floors or scrub the walls, the owners will ultimately still have to do their own cleaning up when they move in, because when the movers bring the loose furniture over, the place is going to be dirty again, so there really isn't any point in making the space spotless.
Well, I get a text from the homeowners today asking me...
... and attached to the text is a picture of the window with a bit of mark on the outside. I wasn't really thinking at that point and was actually a bit flustered about the so called "dirtiness" of the window, so I asked them if the windows are dirty on the outside or on the inside, not really sure where I was going with that question, to which the homeowners just went...
Knowing my clients and their penchant for finding even the smallest flaws, I can safely say that the hand over won't be happening anytime soon. Every single paint streak is heavily scrutinized and labelled as a defect if it is not completely even with the rest of the wall, the smallest bumps on the doors are labelled as a defect, even hairline scratches don't get off the hook and are obnoxiously labelled.
I have spoken with my clients and tried to reason with them to be a little bit more lax in the spotting of such small imperfections, because the contractors who does all the works are human, there are bound to be small little errors that will pop up here and there, but if it isn't anything that is glaringly defective, then turn a blind eye to it and live with it because a few months from now, they won't even notice that "defect" anymore.
The husband was agreeable and said he will "close one eye" for some of the imperfections and the wife has grown to be a little cautious when it comes to actually pointing out what she considers a defect to me because I think deep down, even she is aware how ridiculous some of her request are.
There were a few rounds of checks that were done prior to the completion of the project and I was agreeable to the first few rounds of checks, when they took down the defects and handed the list to me, I called up my contractors and told them to rectify the spots that needed to be rectified, some were legit defects, but most of them were extremely minor aesthetics imperfections, and I just got my contractors to fix them all.
As more and more of the bigger issues got rectified, smaller non-issues starting popping up and it just got so ridiculous to the point where I didn't even want to ask the contractors to come down to fix it for them because it was almost akin to calling an entire battalion of soldiers to kill a single rat, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix those issues on my own instead.
"There are spots on the door frame that needs a bit of touching up."
I bought a $20 tin of paint with my own money and touched up the frame for them.
"There is a little gap between the carpentry that needs to be filled up with silicon."
I went to buy a small tube of silicone and fixed it myself.
"The soap basket is a little loose, please get your plumber to come and tighten it."
I went to the nearest hardware shop and got my own set of screw drivers, but realized they were too small, so I went home to get the correct size ones and tighten the basket for them.
All those are legit request from them and I did all of them on my own, fixed all the small issues, even went to buy a small tub of wood putty that cost me $30, just to fix a few knocks on their timber skirting, the putty was never used because I ended up just using black marker to colour and conceal the chipped parts, which totally worked.
A few days ago, I finally got the cleaners to come down to their flat and do a final washing, and the point of the final wash is to ensure that the flat is clean enough for moving in, emphasis on "clean enough". The cleaner's job isn't to make the flat spotless, no one died in the flat, there isn't any need to use any heavy duty cleaners to clean the floors or scrub the walls, the owners will ultimately still have to do their own cleaning up when they move in, because when the movers bring the loose furniture over, the place is going to be dirty again, so there really isn't any point in making the space spotless.
Well, I get a text from the homeowners today asking me...
"Why are the windows still dirty?"
... and attached to the text is a picture of the window with a bit of mark on the outside. I wasn't really thinking at that point and was actually a bit flustered about the so called "dirtiness" of the window, so I asked them if the windows are dirty on the outside or on the inside, not really sure where I was going with that question, to which the homeowners just went...
"Definitely needs a rewash, I don't think they have cleaned the windows at all."
.... thinking back, I'm pretty sure they did, I mean what did you expect? A squeaky clean window after 4 days? The window panels are bound to get a little dusty after 4 days, especially because the house hasn't been ventilated for 4 days and there was some rain happening during the past 4 days, but at that point, my common sense wasn't working, so I just told them to tabulate all the "defects" they can spot and just send them all to me to take a look, and the photos started streaming in one by one, unsurprisingly, all of them were minor aesthetic issues that I could barely spot in the photos, and they just kept sending them my way.
I got really uneasy for a while and decided since the car was available, I should just drop by the house and hope they are still there doing the spot checks so I can address some of this so called "defects" to them directly, so I grab a bottle of thinner from home and made my way over, the stream of pictures had stopped by the time I was on the road, so I assumed they were probably done for the night and had left the flat.
By the time I reach the flat, they were already gone, so I went ahead and took a look at all the defects they had pointed out to me and not surprisingly, despite having told them them how some of these are not considered defects before, they still stick a post it note on them and expect me to get them rectified. I couldn't fix those issues today, because I needed plaster to even out the small little gaps that should be expected from a paint job done by a human, but I could clean the paint marks off the veneer doors, so I did just that.
I got a relatively dirty cloth that has been around the flat since the renovation started, wet a small portion of it with thinner, and started rubbing away at the paint marks, they came off really easily, and in an attempt to make the process faster, I used more and more thinner and started rubbing the doors really vigorously, that was when I realized the once blue cloth was slowly starting to turn brown, and it wasn't getting brown because of dirt.
Turns out thinner actually damages veneer doors if used undiluted because the doors started getting really cloudy at the spots I was cleaning, so the doors are now free from paint spots, but in it's place are huge wipe marks of the veneer slowly getting worn off by the thinner, the wood stain was slowly getting cleaned off with the paint spots.
I screwed up really bad and I am worried about how they will react to it, but a small part of me also just wants to go...
This isn't the first screw up I have done to their flat though, there was another issue they had with the painting, a minor issue once again, and this was the day after I had told the painter to come down and do the rectification work for a second time.
Normally, the painters will only need to come down once for the rectification works, the homeowners will tabulate the defects and they will get all of them fixed in one visit, that's how it is suppose to go, but with my clients, that is not the case, every time after the painter is done, they will find new problems, and really, after making the painter come down for the second trip, I honestly felt really uncomfortable asking him to come down a third time, not even a week after his last visit, it was free to repair any painting defects but I didn't want to call him down every time there was a small issue, so I decided I was going to solve this issue on my own.
The problem that was presented to me by my clients was this little paint drip that was running down the wall, and honestly speaking, unless you were specifically looking for it, it is not even visible to the naked eye, but my clients being my clients, they went ahead and marked it out as a defect, so I put a post it note on that drip and came back the next day in an attempt to fix it on my own.
I have read online that in order to fix that issue, the drip needs to be sand off first, so I went to buy sandpaper and started rubbing against the wall really vigorously, I got more than I asked for because instead of the drip slowly smoothing out, the entire patch of paint just flaked off the wall, leaving this huge round white gap on what was suppose to be a brown wall.
Now that is a defect! (But it can be rectified with some plastering, so it isn't as big of a screw up as the veneer doors)
That's what happens when you find issue with even the smallest flaws, sometimes things get worst.
Out of desperation, I decided to try and fill that gap with paint, so I dip my brush into the paint bucket and slathered paint on the wall, smoothing it out with my name card, because that was the only thing I had on hand that could work as a trowel, my name card started crumbling apart for some reason and as I drag the edge of the card to smooth out the paint, it left in it's wake black fibers that just spread across the entire area, it was horrible. Left with no other choice, I just painted over those black fibers and decided that the patching up will be done at a later date when I have some plaster on hand.
The funny thing is the clients didn't even notice that dent in the wall when they went down to the site this evening. I was expecting them to send me a picture of the dent and ask me what happen, but they didn't even notice it, and that dent is a lot more prominent that the paint drip they had noticed days before, this is how ridiculous their spot check is.
I feel like the longer they drag their hand over date and the more problems they try and find with the renovation, the more I will try to fix those problems for them and make those problems much worst than they originally were.
What was originally a 95% perfect renovation has now slowly been reduced to a 92% perfect renovation thanks to all the unnecessary meddling on my end that was only brought about because of the unnecessary rectification works they have requested on their end. This sounds completely irresponsible, but if the owners want someone to blame for the decaying state of their home, they can only blame themselves.
I'm honestly just getting really tired dealing with them, now that I have 2 new sites to run, I want to quickly get this first one over and done with once and for all because the second one is already giving me a whole new set of problems to deal with, and to make things worst, I was recently asked to prepare a design proposal for one of my Dad's client for a Landed Property project that I am just completely not interested to do.
This is probably the most stressed I have been ever since I started working, having to be available 24/7, getting text messages from my clients at midnight asking for my opinions on certain things or complaining about certain design decisions I have made without their approval, there are times I am just very tempted to completely switch off my phone for a few hours, just to know that for that few hours, I won't have to deal with any clients.
Would be really nice if I could just get a month off and be completely unproductive, like the good ole days when I was still working for my Dad and not have to worry about money.
Sunday 1 October 2017
Paranoid Much.
Met a new client yesterday that I thought had quite a bit of potential, them being a walk-in customers and looking to do renovation work for their kitchen that was of a very similar nature to the one I had just completed about a month back.
Initially I wasn't very interested to get any more new customers, seeing how I am currently running 2 projects on hand with another 2 that will probably start at the end of the year, I didn't want to encumber myself with new ones to worry about until at least one of these 4 current ones have been completed and handed over happily to the clients.
When they walked in, I wasn't the one who went to greet them, one of my managers did that and because he also had a tone of projects on hand, many times more than me, he didn't want to take any new customers as well, so he directed them to me.
The client were a pair of couple, somewhere in their late 40s, almost the same age as the Malay couple who also did their kitchen renovation with me, except this time, this pair was Chinese. I really enjoyed working with the Malay couple because they were really easy going and didn't rush for things to be done, they wanted the renovations to be done as soon as possible, like most homeowners would, but never once did they actually pressure me to be faster, even when the renovation brought them some inconvenience, they have never actually complaint and just found alternative solutions to the problems on their own.
Well, this Chinese couple wasn't as easy going, in fact, they were extremely wary of Interior Designers in general because of a bad experience they had with their very first Interior Designer.
The reason why I know that is because after the consultation session, I had a quick chat with them and learn that they have had experiences with Interior Designers before, curious as to why they did not choose to return to him for the current renovation needs, I learned that things did not end of a good note with them and their designers due to bad a lot of promises that were were made by that Interior Designer that was not delivered.
I didn't have a good feeling about this because there was a very high chance that they could end up projecting their disdain towards their first Interior Designer on me, and every small delay could be a trigger for them to start going ape shit and accusing me of not delivering what was promised. Simply running through with them my company's payment method was enough to make them go super suspicious of me....
.... he doesn't really know how this works, so I was curious, and incredibly annoyed, and asked him what industry he was in, to which he tells me he does commercial projects. So, it is a pretty similar field in a sense that we are both in the renovation industry.
I explain to them the reason why we are charging the way we are, and the wife looks to the husband and goes...
Initially I wasn't very interested to get any more new customers, seeing how I am currently running 2 projects on hand with another 2 that will probably start at the end of the year, I didn't want to encumber myself with new ones to worry about until at least one of these 4 current ones have been completed and handed over happily to the clients.
When they walked in, I wasn't the one who went to greet them, one of my managers did that and because he also had a tone of projects on hand, many times more than me, he didn't want to take any new customers as well, so he directed them to me.
The client were a pair of couple, somewhere in their late 40s, almost the same age as the Malay couple who also did their kitchen renovation with me, except this time, this pair was Chinese. I really enjoyed working with the Malay couple because they were really easy going and didn't rush for things to be done, they wanted the renovations to be done as soon as possible, like most homeowners would, but never once did they actually pressure me to be faster, even when the renovation brought them some inconvenience, they have never actually complaint and just found alternative solutions to the problems on their own.
Well, this Chinese couple wasn't as easy going, in fact, they were extremely wary of Interior Designers in general because of a bad experience they had with their very first Interior Designer.
The reason why I know that is because after the consultation session, I had a quick chat with them and learn that they have had experiences with Interior Designers before, curious as to why they did not choose to return to him for the current renovation needs, I learned that things did not end of a good note with them and their designers due to bad a lot of promises that were were made by that Interior Designer that was not delivered.
I didn't have a good feeling about this because there was a very high chance that they could end up projecting their disdain towards their first Interior Designer on me, and every small delay could be a trigger for them to start going ape shit and accusing me of not delivering what was promised. Simply running through with them my company's payment method was enough to make them go super suspicious of me....
"We have to pay up to 95% before we even see the kitchen cabinets up? That is ridiculous! And you are telling me you have accreditation. I don't think a company with the proper accreditation would follow the payment method your company is following, I am also in a similar industry, so I know how this works."
.... he doesn't really know how this works, so I was curious, and incredibly annoyed, and asked him what industry he was in, to which he tells me he does commercial projects. So, it is a pretty similar field in a sense that we are both in the renovation industry.
I explain to them the reason why we are charging the way we are, and the wife looks to the husband and goes...
" Actually, that's like what your company does also."
... and then looks back at me and says....
"But if you put yourself in our shoes, would you be willing to pay 95% before you have even seen the actual carpentry?"
WHAT? You just said to your husband that his company does the same payment method as what my company does, so why are you asking me to put yourself in your shoes when you clearly understand that this payment method is completely normal.
At this point, I was starting to get even more annoyed, so I reiterate that we can only deliver the goods when the payment is made, this is to cover our company's backside in case the customer suddenly decides they were not going to pay when the carpentry has been installed, to which the wife goes...
"Your company only covers yourself, never cover the customers at all."
... so I told her that we have an insurance that will protect their money should we run away with it, they still were not convinced and really at this point, I just didn't bother looking at them as potential customers anymore because they had more potential becoming a pair of huge pain in the ass. I mean of course the company has to protect themselves, there are all sorts of customers out there who would try their best to wiggle out of payment, if we were to give every customer the benefit of doubt, the company wouldn't be able to last.
During the course of our conversation, every time the wife says things that customers who are genuinely interested will say, things like...
"So when can we commence work should we agree to reward you with our project?"
... in my head...
... so I told the wife...
"Why don't you go to other Interior Design firms to compare the prices as well and look at their payment methods."
... because that was the nicest way tell them to fuck off, and then they left, I hope they won't call me back though, really hope they have found someone else because I'm really not that desperate to run the project for them.
Had I really wanted to close the deal with them, I honestly believe I could, because the wife was clearly very interested despite her reservations, but I didn't want to over promise and I didn't want to deal with them for a month, so I decided to let them walk out the front door and hopefully never return again. One can hope that they don't.
Had I really wanted to close the deal with them, I honestly believe I could, because the wife was clearly very interested despite her reservations, but I didn't want to over promise and I didn't want to deal with them for a month, so I decided to let them walk out the front door and hopefully never return again. One can hope that they don't.
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