How to Vet Projects to Work With Your Ideal Clients
Experienced pros share strategies for assessing projects and homeowners when your firm has more demand than it can meet
With homeowners spending more time at home these days and reconsidering their spaces, many remodeling and outdoor pros report that business is booming. If you’re in the fortunate position of having more work than you can handle, perhaps it’s time to take a fresh look at how you select clients and projects.
We recently asked pros to share strategies for working with their ideal clients. Read on to find out what they said, then please share your own thoughts in the Comments.
We recently asked pros to share strategies for working with their ideal clients. Read on to find out what they said, then please share your own thoughts in the Comments.
2. Ask Leading Questions That Reveal Red Flags
One way to identify homeowners you’ll enjoy collaborating with is to consider your deal breakers. You can then ask leading questions to sniff out red flags indicating that working with this client will involve those deal breakers.
Deal breakers may differ by pro, but examples might be a homeowner who is consistently unavailable or one who struggles to make even the smallest decision. Often, you learn that these client characteristics are deal breakers only after experiencing them on a project.
For instance, Allison Lind of Allison Lind Interiors in Seattle asks potential clients how hands-on they want to be. Many creative people enjoy being very involved and functioning almost as a co-designer on their project. Others may have a strong vision and simply want the designer to execute it. Sharing creative control works for some pros but not Lind.
“I’ve learned personally over the years that my creative process doesn’t thrive in that environment,” she says. “The client isn’t getting the value for their money, and the end result is not going to be something I’d be creatively proud of.”
So Lind has developed a tactful way to ask about a homeowner’s desire for creative control in her intake form. If clients are looking for this kind of working relationship, she can quickly decline, as the project won’t be a fit.
You can quickly screen clients through a form they submit on your website, which is what Lind does, or through an email questionnaire you send to potential clients. You can stay on top of your project leads and keep communication organized through Houzz Pro, business management software built specifically for builders and remodelers and specialty contractors.
See more resources for pros in Houzz Pro Learn
One way to identify homeowners you’ll enjoy collaborating with is to consider your deal breakers. You can then ask leading questions to sniff out red flags indicating that working with this client will involve those deal breakers.
Deal breakers may differ by pro, but examples might be a homeowner who is consistently unavailable or one who struggles to make even the smallest decision. Often, you learn that these client characteristics are deal breakers only after experiencing them on a project.
For instance, Allison Lind of Allison Lind Interiors in Seattle asks potential clients how hands-on they want to be. Many creative people enjoy being very involved and functioning almost as a co-designer on their project. Others may have a strong vision and simply want the designer to execute it. Sharing creative control works for some pros but not Lind.
“I’ve learned personally over the years that my creative process doesn’t thrive in that environment,” she says. “The client isn’t getting the value for their money, and the end result is not going to be something I’d be creatively proud of.”
So Lind has developed a tactful way to ask about a homeowner’s desire for creative control in her intake form. If clients are looking for this kind of working relationship, she can quickly decline, as the project won’t be a fit.
You can quickly screen clients through a form they submit on your website, which is what Lind does, or through an email questionnaire you send to potential clients. You can stay on top of your project leads and keep communication organized through Houzz Pro, business management software built specifically for builders and remodelers and specialty contractors.
See more resources for pros in Houzz Pro Learn
3. Charge for Preconstruction Services to Screen Leads
Quick-fix home renovation programs have misled many people about what it costs to renovate and how long it takes. But after you provide a reality check, those expectations should adjust. Otherwise, you could be facing protests on pricing and schedule every step of the way.
Also, clients with unrealistic expectations are more likely to undervalue your work and question your contribution — not a pleasant experience for any professional.
General contractor Jeremy Peterson of Westin Hills in Sarasota, Florida, charges would-be clients for the preconstruction work of planning a project, which helps him create more accurate estimates and also weed out clients who aren’t a good fit. “We are not one of the companies who will fire off an estimate and change order later on,” he says. “We try to get them to agree to a preconstruction agreement, where we’ll do drawings and develop a scope of work” and bring trades on site to develop an accurate estimate.
“Usually we find that people that don’t want to do it are shopping for a low bid. That’s not a good-fit client for us,” Peterson says.
Peterson also can quickly tell in initial conversations “if this is a value-driven client or a cost-driven client,” he says. A value-driven client understands the benefit of what they’re buying. A cost-driven client simply wants the cheapest price — and may not connect that to quality of materials or work.
Red flags indicating a client may undervalue your skill can come in many forms, so it’s important to listen carefully for them. “Our [ideal client] is someone who understands the value of how we’re going to help them and isn’t going to try to interfere in that,” says designer Tracy Parkinson at Nest + Co. in Norwood, Massachusetts, who says 98% of her clients come from Houzz. Just as Peterson charges for preconstruction services, she charges clients to create a detailed design proposal.
Learn more about Houzz Pro for builders and remodelers
Quick-fix home renovation programs have misled many people about what it costs to renovate and how long it takes. But after you provide a reality check, those expectations should adjust. Otherwise, you could be facing protests on pricing and schedule every step of the way.
Also, clients with unrealistic expectations are more likely to undervalue your work and question your contribution — not a pleasant experience for any professional.
General contractor Jeremy Peterson of Westin Hills in Sarasota, Florida, charges would-be clients for the preconstruction work of planning a project, which helps him create more accurate estimates and also weed out clients who aren’t a good fit. “We are not one of the companies who will fire off an estimate and change order later on,” he says. “We try to get them to agree to a preconstruction agreement, where we’ll do drawings and develop a scope of work” and bring trades on site to develop an accurate estimate.
“Usually we find that people that don’t want to do it are shopping for a low bid. That’s not a good-fit client for us,” Peterson says.
Peterson also can quickly tell in initial conversations “if this is a value-driven client or a cost-driven client,” he says. A value-driven client understands the benefit of what they’re buying. A cost-driven client simply wants the cheapest price — and may not connect that to quality of materials or work.
Red flags indicating a client may undervalue your skill can come in many forms, so it’s important to listen carefully for them. “Our [ideal client] is someone who understands the value of how we’re going to help them and isn’t going to try to interfere in that,” says designer Tracy Parkinson at Nest + Co. in Norwood, Massachusetts, who says 98% of her clients come from Houzz. Just as Peterson charges for preconstruction services, she charges clients to create a detailed design proposal.
Learn more about Houzz Pro for builders and remodelers
4. Decide to Work With People You Like
If you’re in the lucky position of having more work than you can take on, you can set additional criteria for projects you accept. Peterson, the Florida contractor, looks for a personality fit. He doesn’t have a list of specific traits he prefers. Instead, “I really look to see if I’m able to build rapport with people and if we get along,” he says. “If not, that’s not a fit.”
Lind, the Seattle designer, uses this criterion: “I only want to work with someone that I’d want to be friendly with,” she says.
This isn’t just a preference, she says. It’s important for the design process. “You’re in their homes, you’re creating these intimate spaces that they will be living in, that they will be experiencing every day. So it’s vital to know them. And in order to know someone you have to like them.”
If you’re in the lucky position of having more work than you can take on, you can set additional criteria for projects you accept. Peterson, the Florida contractor, looks for a personality fit. He doesn’t have a list of specific traits he prefers. Instead, “I really look to see if I’m able to build rapport with people and if we get along,” he says. “If not, that’s not a fit.”
Lind, the Seattle designer, uses this criterion: “I only want to work with someone that I’d want to be friendly with,” she says.
This isn’t just a preference, she says. It’s important for the design process. “You’re in their homes, you’re creating these intimate spaces that they will be living in, that they will be experiencing every day. So it’s vital to know them. And in order to know someone you have to like them.”
5. Listen to Your Gut
All the pros we spoke with said it’s important to listen to your gut when it comes to client red flags. Early in their careers when they were building their businesses, pros ignored red flags and took on projects anyway. And they suffered as a result.
“When you’re young you feel like you need to say yes to every job,” says Parkinson, the Massachusetts designer. “I had to learn the lesson that it wasn’t worth it. You ended up with an unhappy client. And that doesn’t help your business. They’re either going to bad-mouth you, or at the least certainly not recommend you.”
More for Pros on Houzz
Read more stories for pros
Learn about Houzz Pro software
Talk with your peers in the Pro-to-Pro discussions
Join the Houzz Trade Program
All the pros we spoke with said it’s important to listen to your gut when it comes to client red flags. Early in their careers when they were building their businesses, pros ignored red flags and took on projects anyway. And they suffered as a result.
“When you’re young you feel like you need to say yes to every job,” says Parkinson, the Massachusetts designer. “I had to learn the lesson that it wasn’t worth it. You ended up with an unhappy client. And that doesn’t help your business. They’re either going to bad-mouth you, or at the least certainly not recommend you.”
More for Pros on Houzz
Read more stories for pros
Learn about Houzz Pro software
Talk with your peers in the Pro-to-Pro discussions
Join the Houzz Trade Program
One straightforward way to screen your projects is to home in on the basic parameters in terms of location, scope, budget and timeline. For Katie Kath at Jkath Design Build + Reinvent in Minneapolis, working with ideal client starts with screening the project to make sure it’s a fit given the work her firm prefers to do: designing and building projects from ideation through to completion. She also screens for the location of the project and the design aesthetic the client wants to achieve.
“We’ve gotten pretty refined and pretty buttoned up to ‘What are your goals, budget and timeline?’ Those are hard questions for people to answer,“ Kath says. “If we’re able to get this, they’ve moved up a notch.”
While clients may need some coaching and conversation before they feel comfortable sharing their budget, it’s a must before signing a contract, Kath says. “We have never worked with a client successfully that hasn’t shared a budget upfront.”
If the budget and project parameters are a fit, then it’s also worth considering the homeowners themselves.
Demand for Home Design and Remodeling Soars Amid Pandemic