It seems odd, wishing e veryone a very Merry Christmas as I sit in my office gazing out at a sunny October day. Such are the publication deadlines however and NRWB does like to keep the Master Builder Editor happy! (Editor's note: Too right...)
It has been a mixed year for all of us. The state of the economy hasn’t helped at work and the belt-tightening continues to impact on everyday life. Personally, it has been a year of change, I’ve moved house, bought a new car, had new doors on the house and painted the outside. I like to think that I have done my bit for the economy and spent as much as I dare (but not as much as my wife would have liked!) in order to kick start the construction industry.
Taking on a building contractor is a strange affair. For saying that there is not much work about I found it difficult to find a builder who could do the work I wanted. And the prices!!
It also got me thinking that builders are not necessarily good people persons - or even decent managers. Take this as an example and believe me; it is real!
I had four new doors fitted to the house. Bespoke joinery made from Douglas Fir with blacksmith-made iron fittings. Lovely. (I won’t tell you the price but let’s just say circa £6k as an example.) The doors were fitted perfectly but when the ironmongery went on they fitted it with plain gold screws with crossheads. At this point and also a joiner by trade (just didn’t have the time to make them myself). If I fitted blacksmith made fittings they would have been on with cut nails or slotted screws. I rang the chap at head office and told him to have the screws changed the following day.
HALF A JOB…
Sure enough the joiners came back armed with a box of slotted head screws (just the one box mind with all screws the same size) and changed them. They didn’t change them on the locks nor on the key escutcheons or bolts, just on the Suffolk latches. So now I had a mixture of the two!
Does this start to look like an episode of Laurel and Hardy to you?
I decided not to ring but to send an email to advise the head office of the mistake (generous aren’t I?). Have I had a reply yet? No. Have I therefore paid the bill? No. Is the work now complete? No. And I thought that there was a recession on!
COMMUNICATION WITH CLIENT IS VITAL
All this just goes to show that the dialogue with the customer is all important. I wasn’t penny pinching I just wanted a good job. My New Year’s resolution is to try to help improve the quality of our offering from the NRWB, not just the products we sell to builders and members of the public but in the way in which we communicate to our customers. These days, the service provided by way of dialogue is just as important as the quality of our workmanship. If we are to survive the dark days ahead we have to establish firm relationships with our consumers and provide them with excellence both in terms of product, price and delivery of the service.
From me and the team at NRWB - have a brilliant Christmas. Here’s hoping that the New Year is good to you and that we all do business together during 2012.
See you next time
