This new project is slated to start tomorrow, it is my biggest project to date and it is going to be one of those complete makeover types that I love to do, I have done complete makeovers before and it was extremely satisfying when the place was done, but compared to that other complete overhaul project that I did earlier this year, this one has a lot more renovation works that needs to be done and I am extremely worried about things going wrong.
Right now, I can't really foresee any potential problems, but I have pretty bad foresight when it comes to this kind of things so I have been in a worried state for probably the past week, and when you throw that with the ongoing haze for the past few weeks, it is a recipe for getting sick, which I did end up getting, the triple combo of fever, cough and runny nose.
What worries me about this project and what makes it so difficult is the unavailability of my clients, the husband is overseas 80% of the time and I honestly am not putting a lot of hope in the wife to make any important on the fly decisions on her own. I can call the husband or text the both of them to confirm certain changes, sure that works fine, but sometimes, there are aspects that would be best discussed in person, for example, should a tile they choose suddenly be out of stock and a new one has to be found to replace it within the next 48 hours, I would prefer for them to be present at the tile shop to look through the tiles together with me and make the decision then and there, rather than me taking a picture of tile A, sending it through Whatsapp, wait for their opinion, look for another tile, take a picture of tile B, send it through Whatsapp, wait for their opinion, look for another tile, take a photo of tile C, repeat, repeat, repeat for the next few hours because both of them are busy and can't respond immediately, and then to have them tell me...
"Can we trouble you to help us shortlist more option?"
... have me walk back to the tile shop, shortlist a thousand more tiles, repeat the process, only to have them then decide on tile A or worst, not be able to decide on anything because they can't feel how the tiles actually feel.
So far, this couple have been rather easy to work with, but in the early stages, a lot of them always are, it's normally during the renovation stage that they start showing their ugly side and I am really scared of how ugly they can potentially get and how much I might end up hating them during the reno, which happened to my very first clients. They just get really really particular with every single detail and the chat group would just suddenly get an influx of messages asking me stupid question.
My colleague recently had a client message her telling her our carpenters did a poor job because one of the shelving the carpenter did started wobbling when they put their safety deposit box on it, AFTER my colleague told them the shelving was not meant for heavy things. When I get this kind of message, the first thing that pops in my head is...
"Are you fucking dense?"
....I mean we can't scold them for being fucking stupid, even though they absolutely deserve to be called out for their stupidity, all we can do is explain to them that we have warned them before, but when we do that, they deny ever hearing us said that, demanding that it is a workmanship issue. This literally happened with my colleague just a few days back and when I heard her sharing this story with me, I actually felt angry for her.
But back to my client.
I do feel like I have a responsibility to make sure the renovation for this clients project goes as smoothly as possible, I honestly do for all my project, but more so for this because they were referred to me by my other client, who actually told me that he highly recommended me to his friends, and I feel like I have to live up to that expectation, but then there is that availability issue with them that makes it a little bit challenging and also a very very tight schedule I have to follow as well.
A part of me is dying to get this project started, just so all this pent up anxiety can go away once we actually get things moving. It has been a long time coming, this project was first brought to my attention the middle of last year, so it has been more than a year since then and it just feels a little surreal that it is finally happening on Monday. I am hoping things will go smoothly, but I am also anticipating there to be some minor hiccups, just don't be large bumps on the road that will affect my mood too severely because I actually have a client to meet the day after who is interested to engage me for my services.
And speaking of clients who are interested to engage me for my services, I will most likely be getting a new project on Tuesday, on hand right now there are also another 2 that I think are shortlisting me as well, one of those 2 I really don't want to work with, was really not expecting him to message me after I send him the quotation, but he did this morning much to my dismay.
There really isn't anything wrong with that particular client, the main reason I don't want to work with him is because I didn't click with him or his wife during our consultation, that's all, and if I don't click with them, I don't want to work with them, but he requested to meet me again and I can't really say No, so I lied and told him I was busy tomorrow and can only meet him next weekend because I want a break tomorrow, he then requested to look at my portfolio, which I shared with him and then replied back about 20 minutes later with...
"A lot of your past works are not really in the style that we want."
.... not really sure how to respond with this, I would have loved to tell him to go and look for more interior designers and get the one he feels can deliver the style he wants because it sounds like he is indirectly telling me he doesn't want to engage me if I have never done the style he wants, but how I am suppose to tell him that, am I suppose to grant him permission to take me out from his shortlist ? He then replies about 2 minutes later with....
"We can discuss again when we meet."
.... I honestly would rather not waste his time and him not waste my time. I mean I can do the style he likes, as long as I have some good examples from his end, I know I can extract the different elements to make it work. I will probably just grant him the time to meet up again, but I am not going to have a repeat of what happen with J&J, and end up working on a project I didn't want to touch in the first place and actually hating almost the entire renovation journey.
Not too long ago,of of my army friend actually referred his own friend to me for renovation services and I had quite a good chat with him, but I really do not sense any potential in him despite our chemistry.
He was very honest and told me he had already visited multiple designers and gotten their quotes, and even told me that he had visited one of the designers project that was in the residential area where his new house was located at, showed me a video he took of that house and then shared with me that the house the designer did was pretty much the style he wanted for his own place and what not.
You have found your designer...
1. They did a project at the same residential area as your new apartment
2. They brought you to that exact project.
3. It was done in the exact style you wanted.
.... just engage them already.
I feel like when he visited me, I had already gotten the short end of the stick.
That being said, I am also not that interested in his project simply because his new place is located at the other end of the island and I ain't interested to be travelling from Bukit Batok to Tampines every day for 2 months. I doubt he will get back to me as well because my pricing is probably going to be about the same as the other designers he met. The only thing I got going for me is that I am a friend of his friend, that's it, other than that, there is nothing else that would make me an enticing option for him.
Not too long ago,of of my army friend actually referred his own friend to me for renovation services and I had quite a good chat with him, but I really do not sense any potential in him despite our chemistry.
He was very honest and told me he had already visited multiple designers and gotten their quotes, and even told me that he had visited one of the designers project that was in the residential area where his new house was located at, showed me a video he took of that house and then shared with me that the house the designer did was pretty much the style he wanted for his own place and what not.
You have found your designer...
1. They did a project at the same residential area as your new apartment
2. They brought you to that exact project.
3. It was done in the exact style you wanted.
.... just engage them already.
I feel like when he visited me, I had already gotten the short end of the stick.
That being said, I am also not that interested in his project simply because his new place is located at the other end of the island and I ain't interested to be travelling from Bukit Batok to Tampines every day for 2 months. I doubt he will get back to me as well because my pricing is probably going to be about the same as the other designers he met. The only thing I got going for me is that I am a friend of his friend, that's it, other than that, there is nothing else that would make me an enticing option for him.
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