5 Ways to Prevent Client Panic During a Renovation
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 renovating a home, it’s only natural for homeowners to feel anxious at some point during a project. Your job as a professional is to help them through it — and to work to prevent client anxiety as much as possible before the project even starts.
We recently asked US-based 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 section.
We recently asked US-based 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 section.
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 the way in which you handle the relationship. Renovating 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,” says Cathy Cherry of Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis, Maryland, 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, says Cherry. “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 hired 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,’ ” says Cherry. “They have that level of confidence in my skill set.”
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 the way in which you handle the relationship. Renovating 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,” says Cathy Cherry of Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis, Maryland, 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, says Cherry. “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 hired 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,’ ” says Cherry. “They have that level of confidence in my skill set.”
3. Acknowledge more than one right answer
Clients commonly experience stress during a design or renovation project over a specific product or material choice (or several). Selecting paint colours, or a stone for a countertop or splashback, can put them in a state of anxious indecision, says Cherry. 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,” says Cherry. “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 going to make 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 renovation 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 it might also be 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 us so they 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 dialled in — can backfire emotionally for clients if costs go higher than expected and push the budget beyond their comfort level. It’s better for everyone to dial in the selections and keep the budget on track.
Clients commonly experience stress during a design or renovation project over a specific product or material choice (or several). Selecting paint colours, or a stone for a countertop or splashback, can put them in a state of anxious indecision, says Cherry. 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,” says Cherry. “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 going to make 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 renovation 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 it might also be 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 us so they 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 dialled in — can backfire emotionally for clients if costs go higher than expected and push the budget beyond their comfort level. It’s 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. He also 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 a call and it’s me and the builder [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 personalised dashboard with all the documents and information about their project in one easy-to-access place.
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Read more stories for pros
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. He also 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 a call and it’s me and the builder [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 personalised dashboard with all the documents and information about their project in one easy-to-access place.
More for Pros on Houzz
Read more stories for pros
Just as with any relationship, there comes a point in every renovation or building project where the object of a client’s affection (the plan and the project) no longer appears ideal — and 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 at the first meeting, that they’re going to have moments where they question their decisions,” says Gage. For example, homeowners are often euphoric after they’ve bought a piece of land, and 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. Creating a custom-built 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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