Part III: The Relationship

By Jerry R. Spumberg
The DIY Coach

If you read the previous articles of this series, you will remember my mentioning of Mike Holmes, Tom Silver, and Norm Abrams, their years of experience, and their desire to share their knowledge with others. The word teacher comes to mind.  One of my woodworking teachers was a gentlemen by the name of Ernie Conover.  He said to me one day that he has been a good woodworker for many years, but it is only after twenty years of teaching that he has become a good teacher.  He was being modest.  He is a great teacher!   And I completely agree with what he said.

Teaching requires experience, desire and patience.  It most importantly requires the understanding that sometimes you have no choice but to let the apprentice make mistakes.  The teacher’s responsibility is to teach the Why and How, to advise what he thinks best for the client, and to encourage the client to research a decision with diligence. The final decisions should be made by the client. This is why I like the descriptive term Coach.  This is the first part of the relationship.

The next part is sometimes difficult or at lest humbling for a successful builder or contractor who has had the final word when he ran his own company.  A Coach must accept that part of this relationship is more similar to that of an employee (the coach) and employer (the client).  It is important for the client to accept his responsibilities as owner.  In return, the Coach, as his employee, must be committed to a work ethic and the moral responsibility of what is in the best interest of the client.

It is my personal belief that without having an on-site presence, as needed during the construction, design and costing process, I would be delinquent in carrying out my duties.  Unless a client has a professional building background, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to have a successful project without the availability of a coach’s support from beginning to end.  I don’t believe in coaching from the distance or over the internet as a viable alternative to working side-by-side with a client as needed.  As a builder who had supervisors working for me, I still went to each project, inspecting and offering help as well as doing everything possible to facilitate a successful and timely completion.  Availability  by both parties is important to the relationship.     

Throughout the design stage, the coach’s responsibility is to advise the client so they define and set achievable goals that become plans and specifications for their project.  Some used to call this “value engineering”.  I rather think of it as a custom suit that fits right.  The next step is for the Coach, with any resources the client may have, to request proposals for the project from trades people and vendors to develop the preliminary budget.  If the project is within budget or slightly above, additional bidding and negotiating takes place to achieve a quality project at the right price point.  If the project is substantially above what the client wishes to spend, specifications may have to be adjusted as well as the plans.  One way of speeding up this process is to develop alternate specifications and plans and have options that are priced separately during the early design stage.

Throughout the above process (or shortly after it has been completed), the client and the Coach must discuss the construction process and how responsibilities will be divided.  In my experience, the client has almost always assumed the administration work that includes bookkeeping, purchasing, payments and entering into contracts.  I advised them on the methods I used for myself for the above and how and why I did so. They decided what would best work for them.

The day-to-day activities on site are usually my responsibility, with some assistance from the client.  The client and I also decide what labor I will perform and that which they will assist with or perform themselves.  Depending on the project, the availability of the client, volunteer help from family and friends, and the desire of the client to perform work, the amount of physical labor the client contributes to the project can be labeled as being “fully immersed”, “specific aspects only”, or “mostly administrative”.  I have worked on projects where the client and myself preformed almost all the work.  I have also supervised projects where almost all of the work was performed by subcontractors and others that lie in the middle.  The most important point for many clients is the final cost.  Remember, by eliminating a general contractor or builder, you are eliminating their markup for overhead and profit.  Go to our web site thediycoachusa.com and click onto the links to trade publications that discuss this cost to find out how much this is.

One of the prerequisite for performing any specific aspect is the equipment required.  In addition, the consideration of the client’s skill or the ability of learning the skill to perform the work required is discussed as well as how long it will take.  All costs are then developed and compared with the use of a trade-specific subcontractor.  I then help the client examine his objectives and goals, voice my opinion, and let him give me direction on how to proceed.  Any problem or issue with any subcontractor or vender is dealt with the same way.

I’ve tried to talk about how things generally work between Coaches and clients.  However, I have not talk about what a successful relationship is.  First of all, it is one of mutual respect.  I would expect that a client would not hire a person they did not respect.  I’m sure an ethical Coach would not work for anyone for the same reason.  The client should respect the Coach for his qualifications and people skills.  The Coach needs to respect his clients for their moral integrity and recognize that they are really the only ones who know what they want to accomplish.  A coach must understand that it is the client’s money being spent.

I don’t start out by saying either party should be looking to become friends.  However I do say that it’s extremely difficult not to like someone that you work with when there is mutual respect and commitment.  When working side by side, people very often have no choice at the end of the project but to be a little sad that it’s ended.  Friendship sometimes just happens.  So what should a Coach be in their relationship with you?  Should they be your home improvement teacher, master builder and carpenter, project manager, scheduler and coordinator, purchasing agent, construction adviser, building inspector/permit expediter?  Yes they should.  However, it is equally as important that you have confidence in them as your trusted advisor and for them to trust you to be straight forward with them.  The right relationship with the right Coach will give you a well-managed successful project that meets your goals, expectations and objectives.        

May The Coach Be With You,
Coach Jerry