12:45: The designer stopped by to finalize the hardwood flooring. While she was there, we went over the cabinets we were ordering. She hated amber—the color, not herself.
So we told her where Randy was having lunch and told her to stop by.
1:30: Our boss came back from lunch and told us we had a problem. (“Just a problem?” I thought.) While they were at lunch, they ran into a good customer of Randy’s who also happened to know Oak Tree Remodeling. Knew them very well, in fact, because they were suing each other for various issues on a job (a job that we, thankfully, had nothing to do with). Randy was now thinking about taking Oak Tree off the project.
1:35: As we were discussing this news, Oak Tree called and ordered the roof shingles for the addition. Then Randy called back. We convinced him to stick with Oak Tree, but he also wanted to stick with amber—the color.
2:00: The designer faxed in the specs on some custom locksets she was buying from another source for the doors. One quick scan at the specs and we knew they wouldn’t fit on the doors she selected. Perfect.
Before we left for the day: Oak Tree was mad at us for getting him a job with Randy because of all the change orders, we were mad at the designer who hadn’t really done this kind of thing before, the designer was mad at Randy for loving amber—right, right, you know—and Randy’s wife was mad at our owner because her addition wasn’t moving ahead.
In hindsight, the two lessons to be learned are painfully obvious. First, even when dealing with friends, make sure lines of responsibility are clear. That means decision-making responsibilities as well as contractual responsibilities. Just because we made introductions doesn’t alter our fundamental role as material supplier—nothing more and nothing less.
The second lesson, of course, is that naming your kids after colors can cause confusion! – Tad Troilo is a manager for Cranmer’s Kitchens by Design in Yardley, Pa. 215.493.8600. E-mail: TadNT@aol.com
