Who is responsible for this late raccoon?

Where does your job begin? Where does it end?

A friend of mine having a $300,000 reno done texted that a raccoon had crawled into his neighbour’s attic and died. My friend’s house was one of a row of houses connected to this neighbour. His house was gutted, with the back wall completely removed and open to the world. The renovation was the obvious entry point for the dearly departed (West End Torontonians would throw themselves in front of a bus to save an animal) and the neighbour was demanding he deal with it.

But was the smelly carcass his fault or the fault of his contractor, my friend was asking. Who should pay for the proper removal/burial?

I was reminded of a reno client I had in the early 90’s. She was widowed, single and a little infirm. After the first three weeks on site, I was walking her dog, watering her lawn and feeding the cat. Half way through, I was more worried about the health of the animals than the work we were doing. But, you know, you want to be helpful and keep the client happy, right?

I was wrong, of course. I should have drawn clear lines and left the cat and the dog to walkers and caregivers. But my friend’s festering problem was different. The hoarding around the house was badly installed, the tarp hanging loosely off the roof utterly inadequate to keeping man or beast out. The untimely death could have been avoided with a modest effort to enclose the site properly. It was the contractor’s fault. At my suggestion, my friend insisted the contractor pay for the removal. The contractor agreed.

No cat or dog was harmed in the execution of my client’s renovation. My friend’s renovation continues with better hoarding and site protection. The raccoon was given an appropriately dignified funeral. (It was named, prayed over, then lowered with solemnity into a dumpster.)

The greatest casualty of not drawing clear lines around your responsibilities is you. The wound you incur will bleed money. There are two places those lines are drawn: in the contract and in your communications. Make sure both are clear, unequivocal and slanted in your favour.