Construction Chaos

On today’s show we are talking about bad behaviour in the world of construction.

When you are building anything in the world of construction, whether it’s a light renovation or a high rise building, you will experience the full spectrum of responses from suppliers and trades people.

You would think that the best prices are found in the volume market and with those suppliers who serve the largest builders.

I believe that to be true. But the best pricing is truly reserved for those few large builders. I recently compared the pricing at a commercial lumber supplier with the big box stores.

It pays to shop around.

We have received a wide range of quotes for all manner of products and services.

We are experiencing all kinds of quotes that span the spectrum. Some of these are outliers that simply defy logic. It’s easy to wonder whether these quotes are the new normal. Am I out of touch, or is the architect out of touch?

It’s frustrating to waste time talking to people that are not a fit for your project. But the best thing to do is to let go of any emotional baggage associated with those interactions and not allow the memory to influence future interactions with high quality suppliers that you ultimately want to work with.

It is truly the wild west out there at the moment. You can expect to have to talk to more people than ever before in order to find subcontractors that you can work with. This will take more time. It will require you to dedicate more resources to shopping around than might ever have been your practice in the past.