5 Ways to Prevent Client Panic During a Remodeling Project
Lean into your expertise, teach clients that some anxiety is normal and help them see more than one answer
Given the financial and emotional investment involved in remodeling a home, it’s only natural for homeowners to feel anxious at some point during a project. Your job as a pro is to help them through it — and to work to prevent client anxiety as much as possible before the project even starts.
We asked pros how they manage projects and client relationships in order to support homeowners through the process. Read what they said below, then please share your own thoughts in the Comments.
We asked pros how they manage projects and client relationships in order to support homeowners through the process. Read what they said below, then please share your own thoughts in the Comments.
2. Show the Client That You’re the Expert
Another effective way to alleviate client anxiety is to consistently demonstrate that you’re in control and can manage their project. This is something you convey through confidence and how you handle the relationship. Remodeling and design may be a service industry, but the fact that clients pay the bills doesn’t suddenly make them the co-CEOs of your firm. “I think where younger or inexperienced staff make a mistake,” Cathy Cherry of Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis, Maryland, says, is “when you work too much to always do what a client asks of you. Then you begin to be perceived not as the professional, but as the order taker.”
There’s an important difference between helping clients achieve their goals and saying yes to everything they want, Cherry says. “Your job is to tell them if what they’re thinking or liking or wanting is right or wrong for the design. You are the person that has the greater knowledge — that’s why they hire you.”
Treating the relationship as a partnership in which you’re the one managing the project helps build clients’ trust. It also makes it easier for them to let go of control when problems arise. “When you build that confidence, and they start to panic, all I have to do is say, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it,’ ” Cherry says. “They have that level of confidence in my skill set.”
Working With Multiple Decision Makers
Another effective way to alleviate client anxiety is to consistently demonstrate that you’re in control and can manage their project. This is something you convey through confidence and how you handle the relationship. Remodeling and design may be a service industry, but the fact that clients pay the bills doesn’t suddenly make them the co-CEOs of your firm. “I think where younger or inexperienced staff make a mistake,” Cathy Cherry of Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis, Maryland, says, is “when you work too much to always do what a client asks of you. Then you begin to be perceived not as the professional, but as the order taker.”
There’s an important difference between helping clients achieve their goals and saying yes to everything they want, Cherry says. “Your job is to tell them if what they’re thinking or liking or wanting is right or wrong for the design. You are the person that has the greater knowledge — that’s why they hire you.”
Treating the relationship as a partnership in which you’re the one managing the project helps build clients’ trust. It also makes it easier for them to let go of control when problems arise. “When you build that confidence, and they start to panic, all I have to do is say, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it,’ ” Cherry says. “They have that level of confidence in my skill set.”
Working With Multiple Decision Makers
3. Acknowledge More Than One Right Answer
Clients commonly experience stress during a design or remodeling project over a specific product or material choice (or several). Selecting paint colors, or a stone for a countertop or backsplash, can put them in a state of anxious indecision, Cherry says. When that happens, she reminds them that they’re not going to make a mistake — she won’t let them.
“In the world of design there’s a lot of right answers,” Cherry says. “If a client is stressing over two different reds, and both reds work, you have to give them the confidence that they’re not necessarily making the wrong decision. When you can educate them about the bigger picture, it helps them not to see it so intensely.”
Clients commonly experience stress during a design or remodeling project over a specific product or material choice (or several). Selecting paint colors, or a stone for a countertop or backsplash, can put them in a state of anxious indecision, Cherry says. When that happens, she reminds them that they’re not going to make a mistake — she won’t let them.
“In the world of design there’s a lot of right answers,” Cherry says. “If a client is stressing over two different reds, and both reds work, you have to give them the confidence that they’re not necessarily making the wrong decision. When you can educate them about the bigger picture, it helps them not to see it so intensely.”
4. Put Clients in the Driver’s Seat on Budget
Of course, for many clients the biggest stressor in a remodeling project is cost. So when reviewing potential vendors and products, Gage, the Seattle custom home builder, explains to homeowners the benefits and trade-offs of each option. Clients learn that a particular paint finish might be higher-cost, but also longer-wearing and with lower VOCs, for instance. Then the choice is up to them. “We put the clients in charge of building the budget alongside of us so we don’t feel like that number is being dictated to them,” Gage says. “That typically helps significantly” with client anxiety.
Another way that JayMarc, Gage’s firm, works to alleviate client anxiety is insisting that all selections be made before construction begins. Working with allowances — placeholders used when a particular product is not yet dialed in — can backfire emotionally for clients if costs go higher than expected and push the budget beyond their comfort level. Better for everyone to dial in the selections and keep the budget on track.
Of course, for many clients the biggest stressor in a remodeling project is cost. So when reviewing potential vendors and products, Gage, the Seattle custom home builder, explains to homeowners the benefits and trade-offs of each option. Clients learn that a particular paint finish might be higher-cost, but also longer-wearing and with lower VOCs, for instance. Then the choice is up to them. “We put the clients in charge of building the budget alongside of us so we don’t feel like that number is being dictated to them,” Gage says. “That typically helps significantly” with client anxiety.
Another way that JayMarc, Gage’s firm, works to alleviate client anxiety is insisting that all selections be made before construction begins. Working with allowances — placeholders used when a particular product is not yet dialed in — can backfire emotionally for clients if costs go higher than expected and push the budget beyond their comfort level. Better for everyone to dial in the selections and keep the budget on track.
5. Only Work With Clients Who Can Get on Board With Reality
While many strategies can help ease client anxiety along the way, the key to eliminating unbearable client panic that leads to a disastrous project experience is choosing the right clients to work with in the first place, says Daniel Lajoie of Departure Architecture in Oregon City, Oregon. “It’s just managing the client from the beginning. Not trying to do it as you’re going along,” he says.
Lajoie is careful in his screening to make sure a client both understands and is on board with the costs and process of working with him. And he only works with clients with a reasonable budget for the project they want to bring to life. Also, he works exclusively with general contractors with a track record of accurately predicting a project’s cost. “The only time when there’s a little bit of angst is when we’re on the Zoom call and it’s me and the contractor [and the client] and we’re looking at those numbers,” he says.
There are too many horror stories of projects going way over budget or timeline and unhappy homeowners stuck with a big bill and a bad experience. That’s unacceptable, in Lajoie’s view. “That’s not what our role is. It’s about people,” he says. “It’s about solving their problems, not making their problems worse.”
While many strategies can help ease client anxiety along the way, the key to eliminating unbearable client panic that leads to a disastrous project experience is choosing the right clients to work with in the first place, says Daniel Lajoie of Departure Architecture in Oregon City, Oregon. “It’s just managing the client from the beginning. Not trying to do it as you’re going along,” he says.
Lajoie is careful in his screening to make sure a client both understands and is on board with the costs and process of working with him. And he only works with clients with a reasonable budget for the project they want to bring to life. Also, he works exclusively with general contractors with a track record of accurately predicting a project’s cost. “The only time when there’s a little bit of angst is when we’re on the Zoom call and it’s me and the contractor [and the client] and we’re looking at those numbers,” he says.
There are too many horror stories of projects going way over budget or timeline and unhappy homeowners stuck with a big bill and a bad experience. That’s unacceptable, in Lajoie’s view. “That’s not what our role is. It’s about people,” he says. “It’s about solving their problems, not making their problems worse.”
One way to keep everyone on the same page from first contact through project completion is with Houzz Pro. With Houzz Pro, you can give clients a personalized dashboard with all the documents and information about their project in one easy-to-access place.
Your turn: What steps do you take to prevent client anxiety? Please share in the Comments.
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Learn about Houzz Pro software
Talk with your peers in the Pro-to-Pro discussions
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Just as with any love affair, there comes a point in every remodeling or building project where the object of a client’s affection (the plan and the project) no longer appears ideal — they begin to perceive flaws and question fit. But that doesn’t mean there’s a problem with the project, Brenda Gage, vice president of custom homes at JayMarc Homes in Mercer Island, Washington, tells her clients.
“I explain to them, even from the first meeting, that they’re going to have moments where they question the decision,” Gage says. For example, homeowners are often euphoric after they’ve bought a piece of land, and also seem to enjoy demolition. But after that, Gage often observes a shift. “All of a sudden you have this expensive mud pit that just cost you $1 million,” she says. That’s when homeowners question what they’ve done.
When this happens, Gage reminds clients that at this point in a project, anxiety and self-doubt are normal. Building a custom home is a long process, and Gage finds that keeping in touch with clients regularly to create positive interactions — for instance, dropping by with gifts during the holiday season — helps keep them motivated. Similarly, weekly site visits to view progress help keep clients engaged and the sense of momentum going.
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