The construction industry has seen its fair share of criticism throughout Florida and the rest of the country. Contractors tend to get a bad rap because of one or two bad eggs.
But, what about the clients who cause problems for contractors? If you are a contractor you need to be on the lookout for the following warning signs of a difficult construction client.
1. You should stay far away from any client who wants to ignore the laws regarding construction permits. It is imperative that you always apply for and obtain the necessary permits no matter where you work in Florida. Your license depends on you following the rules.
2. Does the client constantly complain about the other contractors they worked with in the past? If they reel off a long list of contractors who never seemed to know what they were doing you are likely working with a difficult client. Not every contractor in the industry is clueless.
3. Any client that demands the contract be revised often will likely cause you a lot of problems. There are some clauses of a contract that can easily be revised, but when the request comes to change payment terms or other financial clauses, this is a big red flag.
4. It’s not unlikely for a client to ask you for a discount in one area or the other of the project. The red flag rises when the client asks for discounts on every single item in the contract or tries to get upgrades for free.
Now that you know the signs of a difficult construction client you can protect yourself and your business. It’s important to put strong contracts in place so that you don’t wind up losing money if a difficult client changes their mind or even tries to back away from the project.