‘What Would You Do?’ contest winner!

In our last What Would You Do? contest, contractor Peter Trussman discovered his trim carpenter Gordon Twohey had ‘poached’ additional work on a custom home build by quoting the client directly on some bookshelves and storage units not listed on the original contract but indicated as an ‘extra’ on the drawings. The client would save about 20 per cent going with Twohey, equal to Peter’s mark up. Peter was angry at both Twohey and the client for going behind his back, but wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.

Having work ‘poached’ by a sub-trade would be annoying to say the least, and almost all contest respondents were quick to condemn trim carpenter Gordon Twohey for his actions. Almost as many felt he should be sacked on the spot or never hired again. Several felt the situation would never have occurred if Peter an agreement in place with his sub-trades to control such behavior. And a few pointed out potential warranty issues should Twohey’s subsequent work fail to please the client.

A question of balance
The delicate matter was, in our judgement, how to keep a relatively cool head and not blow the relationship with the client. After all, this was a custom house and a presumably large contract overall. Referral business is important. What a shame it would be to ‘blow’ future recommendations over some book cases.

Michael Whitfield of Whitfield Home Improvements (Peterborough, Ontario) reminded us of all this, plus the fact that, although Twohey was clearly wrong, the customer might be unaware of the violation of trust that occurred. He continued, saying that when it comes to clients, “We don’t own them.” Michael also suggested finishing the contracted job with Twohey for consistency’s sake, then cut him loose.

Congratulations to Michael. He will receive a DeWalt Tough Storage system complete with the DeWalt Tough Music System

Get ready for our next ‘What would you do?’ contractor dilemma!