Who's Wrong Is It Anyway? The Deck That Ruined a Wedding

A contractor eats a rotted-post surprise, throws in free extras, burns a weekend, and blows his margin to hit a wedding date. The deck gets done. Then the homeowner withholds 25%, demands a discount for "the embarrassment," and posts a review calling the job unfinished.

So who's actually in the wrong?

In this episode of Contractor Cuts — recorded from a cabin in the North Georgia mountains — Clark and James try out a new format: read a real-world horror story, break down what went wrong, and figure out how you avoid ending up there yourself.

They dig into:

• Why "we'll sort out the price later" is how good contractors lose money
• The documentation email that turns free work into social capital
• How to sequence the conversation when a client is withholding your final draw
• Separating the emotion from the actual contract terms
• Why you never negotiate a bad review before you get paid
• How to respond publicly to a review that's unreasonable — and why an insane review can actually help you
• The back-order call you should be making the second you hear the news
• Why bringing the client into the hard decision protects you when it goes sideways

The contractor didn't do wrong by the client. He did wrong by himself — and that's the part you can fix.

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Contractor Cuts is a weekly podcast for contractors who want to build a better business — covering sales, operations, hiring, finances, and everything in between.

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Transcript

Cabin Setup And New Format

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Welcome to Contractor Cuts, where we cover the good, the bad, and the ugly of growing a successful contracting company.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Welcome to Contractor Cuts. My name is Clark Turner. And I'm James McConnell. It is weird doing this without headphones. Thanks for joining us this week. So, this week, if you're listening, you might not know, or you might be able to hear some birds, but this week we are shooting at my dad's cabin. I've never met your dad. He's got a cabin? We're we're in North Georgia at a we're doing our mid-year retreat. We are planning our 2027 January winter conference that we're doing in Austin, Texas. So we've we uh taking a couple days up here, and we are gonna be, we have been all day today, planning out everything that's gonna be going on. If you guys miss out on the retreat in January, you're missing out on something really good. Yeah, don't look on Instagram, you'll be upset. You're gonna be so pissed that you're not there. So, anyways, if you're interested in the retreat, email us now. We'll put you on the uh waiting list. That being said, today we are shooting uh a podcast and a video. If you want to see us and see our beautiful surroundings of North Georgia Mountains, uh, go to the YouTube. But today's podcast is gonna be a little bit different format, which is gonna be fun. Um, we are going to read a story or two, talk through who's in the wrong. What was the title that you came up with? Who are we gonna go with? Who's Who's Wrong Is It Anyway? Who's wrong is it anyway? It's gonna be like who's wrong, homeowner or contractor. But I like who's wrong is it anyway? Well, you know, it's it's like uh whose line is it anyway?

SPEAKER_02 2:53

I know. You're a huge Drew Carey fan. I love Drew Carey. So I've always loved Drew Carey, and I think he doesn't get enough, I don't think he gets enough credit. For sure he doesn't. And with everything that we know now in in light of who Bob Barker was, I think that uh Drew Carey should really get hoisted up higher. I met Bob Barker.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

I was in the studio audience. Well, he apparently was a huge creep. Yeah, yeah, grow up in women. Anyways, uh so today I'm gonna read a story.

The Wedding Deadline Deck Story

SPEAKER_01 3:22

James and I are gonna break it down and we're gonna figure out what went wrong, who was wrong, what should have happened, how do we fix this next time, uh, and try to break it down a little bit. So let me read it. Okay. Um a contractor takes on a deck patio edition for a family with one hard requirement. It has to be done before their daughter's backyard wedding. Oh, brother. A date. Oh, brother.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

A date. I smell trouble. Yeah, I smell trouble already. It's it's it's first sentence is a doozy.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

All right. Mid-demo, he finds Please tell me she's also pregnant with the contractor's baby.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Oh, this is spicy.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

No. All right, so mid-demo, he finds the old support posts are rotted through. Not on the estimate. Nobody could have seen it coming. He calls the homeowner, they agree over the phone, he'll fix it right. Well, sort we'll sort out the price later. We'll figure it out later. Let me just get these fixed. Let's keep things going. Yeah, it's a good idea. That's the way I do it too. Sure. Kick the can down the road. No written change order goes out. He's slam, he's slammed and figured we're on the same page. Time is of the essence.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Let's get this going. There's the sand. I'm an ostrich. Here's my head in it.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yep. Over the next few weeks, the homeowner asked for a few small ads, an extra outlet, uh, a wider first step. Nothing crazy. Some if you could just. Yeah, would you mind? It'd be great to be able to plug lights in here. Could you just throw an outlet in here? Some while you're hears. Yes. Uh over the next few weeks, the homeowner asked a few small. I already said that. Uh, nothing crazy. So he just does them, eats the cost to keep things moving. No documentation email, no line items, just goodwill. What a good guy. Uh, then the deck materials. Good old Will. Good old good old billion. Uh, then the deck material gets back ordered. To hit the wedding date, he pulls a crew off another job site, burning his own margin, and works through a weekend he wasn't planning on working. He gets it done. The deck is standing.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

What do these clients have on him? Uh yeah. That's a lot of bending. First issue. This gets bending more than a Russian gymnast.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Uh, he gets it done. The deck is standing functional and on time. I don't know if it's the code. We didn't mean it doesn't mention if it's the code. Uh, but there was no final walk before the big day. Everyone was racing the clock. Oh no. Does everyone die? This is a really we shouldn't be laughing. This is a really sad story. The pregnant uh the the what? What's the bride? The word I was looking for is bride. Gotcha. Uh all right. So Hey, are you doing okay? I'm good. Thanks. All right. Uh, but there was no final walkthrough before the big day. Everyone was racing, racing against the clock. So the family discovers, with guests arriving, that one section of the railing had a wider gap than the rest. Code minimum, but visibly inconsistent. I don't know what that means. And a running a run of boards from the back order batches, a slightly different shade. Nothing structural, but it's photographed at a wedding.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Oh no. I smell damages coming. Uh litigation coming.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Litigation ringing. Uh the homeowner's furious, says that it uh this isn't what they paid for and withholds the final 25% draw. Yeah, you didn't pay for it. Holds the final 25% draw until it's fixed. And once a discount on top of it for the embarrassment. I would. What's for the embarrassment more? An embarrassment discount.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

What's what percentage? That's literally damages. It's embarrassment. I called it. I win.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Before the contractor can even get back out there, they've posted a review calling the job unfinished. Oh. The contractor is stunned. He ate a structural surprise, gave away free extras, burned a weekend, and blew his margin to hit their date. And now he's being punished for two cosmetic issues nobody flagged in advance. So who's in the wrong? I mean, we know who's in the wrong. Right. Uh, what could have we done to avoid this? How do we get this fixed? And how do we either repair at this point or next time do it differently?

First Moves To Defuse Conflict

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Well, some of these are just easy. Real low-hanging fruit boys. But legitimately. With the whole with the review part. I don't even know what to do with that. Yeah. I don't want to finish the job.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

No. Well, I mean, what's finished? It's warranty work at this point. It's going back, fixing the debt. It's like changing.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

How much was it again? $2,500 is what they kept? 25%. 2500%.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

The final 25%. Yeah. That's that's I mean, obviously you gotta get your money. Yeah. I I I think there's a couple of strategies I'd go with. Number one, I'd give it some air. They're just coming off a wedding. They're pretty angry, right? So if it was a bad wedding. What? Was it a bad wedding? It was a pretty bad wedding. She had the baby at the wedding. So it was pretty stressful. Oh boy. Uh no, the I'd give it a couple days, let the client breathe. I'd say, hey, can I come out? Let's have a meeting. Let's have a conversation. And I guess this is more not what she should have done, but this is how you deal with it at this point. And then we can kind of go through what could have been better to tweak some of the stuff. I would first and foremost try to line up with the homeowner to meet them out there at a neutral time with nobody else but whoever I've been working with, uh, and say, look, let's let's go look at what's going on. We need to figure out what's going on with the last 25% and have a conversation. I'm not gonna argue on the phone. I'm not gonna angry text and get all you better pay me or else I'm gonna put a lean about. Like I'm gonna say, hey, let's get let's get face-to-face. Face-to-face conversations are always gonna be better, right? So I go I go out to the job side, agreed. I'm gonna meet the homeowner and I'm gonna say, listen, a couple of things. Baby, baby, relax. First of all, relax. But I I think it's we've got three or four different conversations that I want to have separately, right? Let's start with the first conversation.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

And if we could, I'd like to wear different hats in each of them.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

I've probably first I'm gonna start with my derby. Uh all right. So I think the first uh the the where I'd start with it too is sitting, uh get during the conversation and go go to the client and say, listen, number one, first issue that I see wrong, or first thing I want to talk about is what do you think is unfinished? I see the boards are different color. We can get that changed out. It was either that or we would have no boards. It was back ordered and I don't I don't have control of the materials. What do we do? And trust me, you want boards. A deck without boards is very difficult to walk on. Uh I would start with that. I'd start kind of talking through what they think is unfinished. You're right. That that is not lined up. You know, I'm terribly sorry about that. We can get that fixed and get these boards switched out. But it was the best we could do. Uh that like there was no other options with the timeline and the and the delay. It was back ordered. It wasn't a lack of me not doing it right on the floors. It was, well, I literally didn't have the materials in hand. I forgot about the back order piece of this. Yes. Yeah. So the floors were back ordered, but the railing was thigh was, and I I'll claim up to that.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

I would have fixed that. I still will fix it. It's under warranty, but we did complete the work and I will I'll warrant you. Okay, I'll get that fixed. That stuff can get taken care of so we can have a hundred percent complete job. That's conversation number one. Is that what you want done to get this completed? And having that conversation with them. Um this isn't halfway done, right? It's not like, well, I'm just gonna hire another contractor. It's switching out some boards, yeah, it's adjusting a rail.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

It's uh 5% maybe. That sounds excessive.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yeah. Yeah. So I would say number one, that's that's our road to get this exit, right? And I'm not using that term with the client, but my job is what needs to get done for us to sign off, and you say job's done. That's my first conversation. Cool.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Well, we can get everything done, but what about the embarrassment still? I'm still just having to walk around. All my friends have seen the work you've done.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

That is super unfortunate. I I totally agree, right? Uh like that's okay. Like, I can't help with that. Like, that is what it's.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

If I'm gonna be honest, it's Muffy. She's the one that's mad. Can you please, can you please let me win this one? I'm gonna slip you catch and you give it to my wife. Listen, there's gold in this duffel bag, take it, but act like I really upset you.

Getting Paid Without Escalating

SPEAKER_03 12:32

It's good, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Uh going back to it, I'd start with that conversation. You're killing me today. Uh, it's probably the beer. Uh, start with that conversation. Have the uh how are we gonna get out of this? What's the exit strategy on this deck? Number two, let's have a conversation about pay. The deck is 100% complete. I've given you all the materials, I've done all the work. I'm not fixing those things until we have a conversation about pay and we have an agreement in writing about how and when I'm gonna get paid. Um, but I need to have that conversation. And if you like, and it's a client's not willing to pay me that last 25%. I'm gonna lay out what's happening next. Small claims court, liens, all that stuff that we're gonna have to go through. I don't want to do that. You've got the deck. There was nothing in my contract talking about a drop dead day that if it doesn't get done by X date, you get to hold 25. You get a whole money or any amount. Yes, that that is a risk that you took doing a renovation on your house this close to the wedding. And I'm sorry that there was a delay. I pulled guys off. I moved guys over from other job sites. I've lost money on this to make it happen.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

I lost my daughter.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Oh God.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

This guy's so dramatic. Uh, but uh then I'm talking about the right, I'm kind of working backwards to the conversation. How do we get done? Then we're gonna talk about the pay. Uh, and then uh when they start talking about it's ruined photos, then this uh that I'm leaning heavily on that is a risk that you took when doing a renovation this close to the wedding, right? Like I I can't, I'm not gonna reimburse you for photos. Yeah. What what would you do? Am I would you do anything different than what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 14:18

I would uh no, that's all of the stuff that you said for sure. But like I'm way more emotional than you. So like this probably would have gone poorly for me. You I would have taught you off a ledge on your drive out there. Yeah. Uh James, put the gun down. I I'm bringing a crane with me because everything's coming back. It's coming back with me. I'm gonna pull all the nails and return everything.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

I think let's let's go back into this. Let's let's Monday morning quarterback this as to small things he could have done during this to get to to have this totally differently. Number one, during the CEA, during the original conversation, I'm laying out anything that could go wrong. If this happens, this is going to go into the the wedding. And yeah, plenty of things can happen. And I want to I won't buy in on that my Gantt chart is a tool, not a promise.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

I want to go back because I I would do something differently. My approach would be the first I wouldn't even address the the work being done or not, or whatever was warranty. Yeah. I would go straight into there is um there's nothing, what did you say? There's nothing in the contract that talks about withholding. Right. There's no penalty for not getting complete by a certain day. Right. I would I would separate the issues from the emotion first and foremost, and point to that being the 25%, because the first thing I'm gonna try to do is get them to back off of their number and find where they're like I need them first to see the this is not a fair uh assessment of the issue. There's nothing in the contract about any of this. And not only that, the uh shoot, I keep I keep forgetting the main point that I'm trying to come up with. You can buy separating emotions. Yeah, the the picture, the picture of the railing is insane. Yeah, it's insane to attach that and attach the word embarrassment to a reason to withhold money from somebody that has done the work, has paid the guys, and it's like I like that's where I would start, but that's probably where why I would not do make any progress. Let me come at you hot like you're coming at me.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Well, first off, your daughter was ugly anyways. You don't want those picks. No, that's bad. She's pregnant, huge. I mean, you it was not, she was sweaty. Good god. You might want to clip this out. So, no, uh I I really think like if you rewind it back, well, and let's not even rewind it back. Going back to what you were just saying, just then. I'm talking about what's what's to get done with the deck, how are we exiting? How are we getting done? Then I'm talking about the dollars, the final 25%, and coming into an agreement there. I am not mentioning the review until we get the deck done, until there's some space in this, until I get that payment. Because there's two things on every job: money and reputation. We're trying to keep them both. You've lost both on this job. You aren't gonna if I he's not gonna change his review if he's not willing to pay you. Like if he's like, Yeah, you know what, you don't I don't owe you this money, you don't deserve this final 25%, but I'll delete my review. Like, that's not gonna happen. Yeah, right. The reputation is is what it is. I would potentially, if I'm willing to give financially, if I'm willing to give financially, if I'm like, listen, you owe me $8,500 left from that. How about I I'm willing to let you keep a thousand dollars out of that that you can pay your photographer to do some photoshops on some photos to make the deck discoloration change and and get that correct. But I will And here's another $400 to bust your mom in from Philly to kiss your boo-boos. That's what I would have said. That's exactly what you would say. Yeah. No, I would say that, and then I'd say, but I don't think I owe I I owe you that money, to be honest. I don't think that's my responsibility, but I will do that in exchange for removing my negative review. And I would purchase the the deleting of that, saying, I I disagree with this, giving you that money back, but I'm also willing to do that just to get rid of that negative review. Um, and then if they say, no, I'm not gonna delete that, cool. Well, pay me the full amount. It's a matter of principle. Yeah, great. I agree. Pay me the full amount. Yeah, leave that review up. That that is what it is. If you want to leave it, that's your prerogative. But I'm gonna take uh you owe me the full amount because this is breach of contract on your side. There was nothing I did wrong per our contract. I did exactly because you have life circumstances around our contract. It doesn't fall on my responsibility or my my pay that I owe. Yeah. Um, if there was something that we wrote in the contract that if I wasn't done by a certain date, there would be a penalty, totally get it. That's not in the contract, and that's not how construction works. Yeah.

Negative Reviews And Damage Control

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Um, so I I I would start with what does we need to do to get out of here? What's your because oftentimes it's the two things now, and a week later it's like, and also that needs repainting, and that stain over there looks bad. And this over here, like they start going more and more and more trying to build their case. Yeah, give them out a cookie. Yeah. So first is listen, we'll talk about the dollars, we'll talk about everything else. What do you think needs to be finished here? Those three deck boards, that railing done. I can get that stuff done. Great. That's all warranty work. I'm covering that. I'll get it all handled. Next, we're talking about the money. I need payment. Uh, and I need, you owe me $8,600. I need five of it now. Hold the third, the the last $3,600 for when I do the punch out work. But I need, we need to get caught up because I've spent a lot of money on this for you. Um, once I get to that spot and we've talked through that and we've negotiated that, then I'm gonna ask for the review to be removed for dollars. Um, I don't think I've ever paid a client to remove a review. Um, I have actually no, I take that back. We didn't pay, but we negotiated with one client who uh what was her name and address? Ron. Really? Anyways, uh he it was a it was an agreement of a lean, I uh signing a lien release for final payment, but I built in the lien release verbiage saying that no one can slander each other online or publicly, that the the kind of like an NDA, but wrote it in part of the lien release. Yeah, and that way if he did write a negative review, I had that to go back on. Gotcha. Yeah. Um, but I don't think I've paid someone for that. I've I've worked that into part of the negotiation for dollars. I'm not against paying to get that off. Uh, those can really hurt. Um, but that's kind of the very final, final thing. Like I'm worried last about that.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah. And I feel like anybody reading that review, when you put your answer back under it and you're saying, very sorry that this happened, uh, that these small cosmetic issues caused embarrassment for your family's photos at your wedding that we talked about, but never promised the timeline on. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

That uh that was the other thing I was gonna say about the review is there is something that is semi-positive about an insane negative review like that. Yeah. Because I can when I'm responding. It's like a double negative. Sure. It's like two lefts, three lefts. Sure. Is one right. Correct. I would on those, like if someone has a negative review and I'm like, yeah, I screwed up, yeah, I know showed, yeah, I bailed and didn't communicate, you got me. Yeah. Like that's hard to argue uh in front of the world publicly on Google. So you should double down and be like, yeah, I did, and I'd do it again too. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, James. Uh no, the uh I would go to that review if they don't want to remove, I probably wouldn't pay a thousand bucks to get removed. I'd I'd leave it there and I'd respond to it and say, hey, uh I I would respond to it in a way that the next client in my future who's gonna read this would read it and be like, oh, I like these guys. Yeah. So I'm not sarcastic. I'm not airing out all of my anger and you did this and you, blah, blah. Like I'm gonna be as professional, kind, hat in hand, but this is what actually happened. Um And I'm not, it's not going to be a four-paragraph explanation where I just want all my details in there. It's going to be short, sweet. Mr. Johnson, I'm so sorry about what happened with the wedding. I I know that the discolored boards, because of the back order and uh the material supplier did probably look bad in those photos. And I'm so sorry about that. Um, like I like I came out and discussed, we we went at we were willing to change those boards out, part of our warranty, but you did have to pay us the full amount and not hold back 25%, and you weren't willing to do that. So, because of that, we and you can explain it in a way of like, I'm sorry, I'm still willing to fix that stuff. If we can come to an agreement, I would love to. Here's my phone number if you it if you want to have a conversation. I would love to come. Like, I am showing everybody else that I'm willing to fix it. I'm very reasonable. I've done everything in my power. In that situation, you did nothing wrong. I mean, you you did plenty wrong in terms of running a company, in terms of stop, stop saying you to me while we're doing this, okay?

SPEAKER_02 24:08

This is somebody else. Quit coming at me.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

James, you did plenty wrong. You did it. But you know what I'm saying? Like, I think that there's a there is a that's a great one to respond to, a great negative review. I don't know. If you're gonna have a negative review, that's a great one.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah. I might even have someone put that on your website, like so that you can answer to it. That's how good it is. Perfect. That's how good a negative review it is. This is a whole new tactic.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Reverse negative reviews. You were too quick for too cheap, and it looks too perfect. Uh I think I think all of this being said, there's plenty that the contractor did wrong setting the business owner. Yes. But not as a as he didn't do wrong by the client. Yeah. He did he did wrong to himself.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

He didn't set it up well enough.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah. So uh if we broke it down again, I don't want to rehash every podcast we've ever done because every single one talks about something in this in the story, it feels like you said a couple areas.

Preventing This With Better Communication

SPEAKER_01 25:12

The the CEA, obviously, where we talk about the timeline, the Rada posts. We've talked about this before. If I'm doing free work that I can just handle and I just want to power through, I'm social capital. Documentation email for the social capital. I'm sending them an email. Hey, here's a post. Normally I chose charge about $800 to get this replaced. I went ahead and just did it for you because I know time is of the essence. Don't worry about paying me that $800. Uh, I'm gonna cover that on this one. Um, blah, blah, blah. Like get to social capital, get the thank you from the client and document that you're doing free stuff and say, hey, this slowed me down for a day, but I'm making it up. I'm gonna come out this weekend. So I got you covered. I'm still trying my hardest to do to meet your timeline. Then when the materials dropped, it didn't talk about like how they talked about that, but if material back order, my very first call as soon as I hang up, knowing that the materials on back order is to the client. Here's alternatives. We can do this, we can have this, we can do yellow wood. I can buy that today and have it installed tomorrow. Like we can get deck boards put on, it might not be the ones that you want, or we can wait and it will be really, really tight. Your call. So I'm letting the client make the call, even though I know what they're gonna say. I know what the right answer is. The boards will be here in time. The problem is they're on back order, and then when they showed up, they had some discolored boards, right? And so I I if normally I'd be cool, it'll be here, I'll figure it out, I'll work a double, I'll get it done, we'll handle it, I'll pull some guys over. I still got time, and I'm just gonna handle it. And the problem that contractors have is they don't say any of that to the homeowner.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Yeah. And and by the time you get all the information, it's like, oh, we could just add all that to the CEA meeting. Like there are so many variables documenting all of those types of issues, like dialots and like different grain patterns coming in the same, you know, uh skid number. Is like you can't spend that much time in a contract. Yeah. So there's gonna always gonna be things like this that pop up, and it's I think that's the hardest thing is finding the examples that speak to more than just itself, yeah. So that you can kind of put things under certain umbrellas, but there's always gonna be stuff that falls through the cracks. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

And it's more, it's one of those things of like like I was saying about the letting the client know, I know what what we're gonna do. The client's gonna say, yeah, just as if you can work a double and get other guys out here and get it done, it's fine if we wait till they get here on Friday. And so I know that that's gonna be the answer because we have the time to fix it. So instead of saying, hey, there's a delay, don't worry, we'll get it covered. That's what normal guys say.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

What you need to say is, hey, situation, right? I'm gonna be as emotionally heightened as I think the T's coming at me. So I'm gonna be as concerned. Yeah. Hey, we got a situation. I think I got some answers, but let's figure it out. Bring that client in that conversation. The boards are coming, they're all delayed. It's coming. I've got verification. They are on a truck headed this way, but it's gonna be Friday before they get here. I know the wedding is X, Y, and Z. It's gonna be cutting it real tight. Here's my game plan to get it done. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna work the weekend, I'm gonna have pull guys off another job site. We will get it done. But your alternative, if you don't want to risk that, is we can go out and get X, Y, and Z boards from Home Depot and put them on there and have it done. Your call, it's it's 100% up to you. It's out of my hands. The the delay from the blah, blah, blah. At that point, the client's like, yeah, no, that's a good game plan. If you can pull those guys over and can you guarantee it's gonna be done? I mean, I I will promise you I will have every hand that I uh available to me on site. And a deck like this takes us two days. We should have it done by the weekend being done, right? And so I'm not promising anything, I'm not guaranteeing anything. I'm saying I usually can handle it in that time period. But if you want to make the call for us to go ahead, sir, we will go ahead and wait for those and we'll be good to go. So he's bought in to that decision along with me. It's not just my decision of why they're late, you bought into it too. And so every single time that something negative happens, especially when there's a timeline and time crunch and a stressful type of client, you probably should have sniffed out by now. It's gonna retain 25%. Like you know, those guys pretty quickly. Yeah, the the clients that are gonna try to rip you off that talk like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Um here's the deal I only enter into contracts my lawyer's presence. So we're gonna have to schedule this for Thursday next week.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

So I I would say that's one of the big things that he did wrong. You didn't document, you didn't do the CEA properly, you you didn't do do have discussions on you go again. Not you. You, you, you, you. They didn't do it. Thank you. You're welcome. They didn't uh really talk bring the client into the tough decisions and quick the uh like or like the natural reaction for us as contractors is it's not a big deal. Be here Friday, we'll get it taken care of. Because I don't want you to react. Yeah, don't want to kick the hornet's nest. But it's uh the counterintuitive way you need to think about it is this is a problem. I've got some solutions, let's talk. I need your help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Everything needs to be triage. Yes. Everything is like a nurse. So you have the bedside manner, but it's like, this is the situation that we're in right now. Yep, let's get it out on the table. Because everything else just sets you up, it exposes you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

It's all about your exposure with this. Yep. So uh I think that there's a handful of stuff the guy could have done done differently, could have done better along the way. Um, but at the end of the day, he still deserved the money, was owed the money, and should get the money. Um, and at worst case, just respond to that negative review and and we're good to go.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I mean, not a sponsor, but JG Wentworth 877 Cash Now. They are a sponsor. They are? Yeah. Dope. Should have gone to his cabin. I bet he has one. I bet he's got a couple cabins. JG. I mean, when you need an annuity and you need cash now. I call JG Wentworth.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

All right. So I think that's good. I think I think running through that is good. I uh yeah. Any other final thoughts on that story?

Retreat Invite And Closing

unknown 31:36

No.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Do you believe in Bigfoot? No. Do you? Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Here we go. Maybe I do, maybe I don't.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

All right. Well, thank you guys for joining us again this week on the podcast. Next week, we should be live back in the studio. Um, if you want to come on the retreat, why don't you get some information from us first? Go to proSruck360.com, go to the contact us, go to contractorcuts.com, hit us up, get on the waiting list. If you're listening to this in a couple weeks after it came out, you can start signing up. We got signups coming. Um, but we got a lot of fun stuff coming in January out in Austin, Texas, where we're gonna be hosting a three-day conference. We got a two days of the conference are going to be um the retreat, like we've done every other year, and we're adding a third day, which is our workshop. We're gonna get some more information about that to you guys uh very soon. But it's now a three-day retreat where um the workshop, the first two days are working on the company and that third day is working in. We're gonna figure out what we need to fix. And on day three, we're gonna start working on fixing that stuff. So it's gonna be a really cool retreat. I'm I'm super excited about it. If you wanna come, contractorcuts.com, get on the wait list, hit us up, we'll we'll chat. Yeah, link in bio. Click and subscribe and share. All right, we'll talk to you all next week. Bye. Bye.