Honestly, I am not really sure what I will do once I complete all my projects on hand and finally leave my job, I might stay in the company a little longer until I figure it out, won't actively seek new projects to run but if a simple and quick one comes along, maybe I will consider and if I am able to find a new job after clinching the new projects, I will just pass that project on to someone else to run.
Speaking of passing on projects, I am really really tempted to pass one of my "about to start" project to another colleague to run, I am willing to forgo all the commission I will get from that project, that is how much I wish to get rid of it.
I got my hands on that project around the middle of last year and I actually met the customers at the beginning of my career, didn't really have a very good impression of them then and during the stage when they were planning to actually sign the contract with me, I also didn't really appreciate how unresponsive they were when it came to replying to my text messages, it is really quite frustrating.
A few days ago, the husband asked me if I could quote on them on the cost of certain additional items he wanted to add to his renovation, so I did, and he didn't bother to respond to my text, just left it as "read" and then nothing. Normally when a client ask me how much certain items cost, they will at least respond with a...
"Okay! Thanks!"
or
"Noted!"
... to acknowledge that they have receive my message, I mean that is basic courtesy. But with him, doesn't bother to reply until he needs to ask me about something else, so he literally replied that message I send to him days ago today with...
"Haha, okay, will confirm when we meet tomorrow around 2pm?"
... and the wife is also equally unresponsive, which is bloody horrible.
At the start, when they finally told me they got their keys, I was actually feeling a bit excited to finally start their project, because it seemed easy, there wasn't any permits I had to apply, the house came with the flooring already done, so my job is actually quite straightforward compared to the other projects I have done so far, but then the husband suddenly messaged me one day, requesting for further discounts because he felt that I was selling certain items at too high of a price.
I am earning jack shit from his project, so whatever I could charge higher, I charged higher, but even so, my profit margin is still extremely low, so when he requested for more discount, that really rubbed me the wrong way.
The reason why his contract was so low was because as I have said before, he was one of my earlier customers, so when those quotes were prepared, I still wasn't familiar with the prices of a lot of the items yet, as such, a lot of the renovation works were charged at either a really low price or below cost price. The fact that he had the audacity to actually request for even more discount despite the already low overall quote was what really pissed me off and almost instantaneously made me lose interest in his project.
With my other projects, my clients have never requested for further discounts after they have already signed the contract, unless it is discount for additional items they have requested. Once you sign on the dotted line, that means you have already agreed to the prices reflected in the quotation, so don't ask for anymore additional discounts after that, it just makes you look really cheap.
And another reason why I am not interested in the project is because it is fucking far, I just went to Google the directions and it is going to take me 90 minutes to travel there tomorrow to see them open the doors to their new home, 90 minutes there, 90 minutes back, that means a single trip back and forth is going to take me 3 fucking hours, and 90 minutes is for smooth traffic conditions, so fuck my life, I am really not earning enough commission for their project to go through this shit.
Their project is the reason why I am still in this job, I had contemplated to leave many times in the past, but every time when I want to, I remember the verbal agreement I made with the husband, that I will not leave the company until their project is done. When I made that agreement, I was under the impression that he will be getting his keys in 3 months time, not a whole freaking year later.
Do I wish for this project to go smoothly? Fuck Yes!
Do I think this project will go smoothly Fuck No!
I think it will be a shit show to run. I just do not have a good feeling about it, I can already imagine the amount of text messages I will be receiving from them once the project starts, enlightening me of how shitty of a job my contractor is doing, I can already imagine myself complaining about them to my colleagues and possibly losing sleep because of the problems they will be presenting me.
Tomorrow, I will be able to witness first hand how anal they truly are because tomorrow, they will be checking for defects and I think the husband is going to be extremely anal.
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