How to Deal with Difficult Contractors or clients

Working onsite is no easy job – there’s the early morning starts, constant battling of the elements and often dangerous equipment involved. Throw in some tricky clients or difficult contractors and sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you’d rather deal with a scorching hot day than confrontation with a difficult contractor!

Keeping your cool and trying to remain professional and composed while managing a client or contractor comes with many challenges. Let’s take a look at how you can deal with contractors and clients when they throw you a bit of a curveball.

Take a deep breath

First thing’s first – BREATHE! Especially if you’re a bit of a hot-head, or your client becomes agitated or even aggressive, it is important to take a deep breath and keep your cool. Try to take emotion out of the discussion – even if the cause of the confrontation isn’t your fault – and explain your side in a rational way.

If you don’t feel like the argument is getting anywhere or you’re struggling to keep a cool head, excuse yourself for a moment and walk away. Let them know that you will brainstorm a potential solution and get back to them as soon as possible.

Eliminate indecisiveness

Indecisiveness can be one of the most difficult things that clients and contractors can do. Changing their mind every 5 minutes can no doubt cause immense frustration when trying to complete a job, so it’s important to get everything out on the table early. If you know the client is prone to indecisiveness, consider drawing up a contract before you start the job that outlines a certain number of changes allowed. Make sure you document throughout the job any changes requested and get them in writing.

Check all records and logs and make sure the brief is clear

If your client or contractor starts making accusations about materials not being delivered or a mistake that has been made, instead of adding fuel to the fire by fighting back or becoming defensive, it’s time to do a proper fact check! Pull out all records and logs that you’ve got to see what has gone wrong as well as how it’s gone wrong. If there are other team members involved, have a chat to them before you go back to the client or contractor to ensure you have the full picture of what’s happened, and can piece together where things may have gone wrong.

Some simple apps such as Tradify can help storing records from current and previous jobs, meaning that you don’t have to sift through a mountain of paperwork.

Right from the start, it’s also beneficial to write a detailed brief leaving little room for error. If you’ve got the time, it may even be worth sitting down and having a meeting to clear up any questions either of you might have before beginning work.

Listen to what they’re saying

Similar to the first point, if there is ever a dispute between you and a client or contractor, it’s critical to actively listen to their point and what they have to say. Are they nagging? Aggressive? Haggling? Chances are, whatever their reasoning is, there’s probably a bigger issue behind how they’re coming across. If they’re nagging incessantly, perhaps they have deadlines from someone else that they need to meet. If they’re haggling, maybe their purse strings are tighter than you originally thought. Encourage an open dialogue with them to find out what’s really going on and if there’s any support you can offer them. Otherwise, if they’re talking about a specific problem listen to what their main concern is and offer to come up with a solution together.

Prevent major disputes from happening

This might seem like an obvious point, but sometimes you can simply nip conflict in the bud before it even becomes an issue. Landscaper Max Smith* says, ‘in my experience, I believe that preventative measures are always the best measures. Don’t wait for an issue to arise to fix it and be very personable, accommodating, and friendly and you’ll very rarely have any issues with a client at all.’

Making sure you’re honest, transparent, and reliable with the client or contractor is the best way to fight off disputes before they even happen. Practicing things like detailed briefs, signed contracts and getting any changes made in writing can help prevent issues in the long run.

Allowing time for both parties to cool off can be a way to come up with a compromise – especially if no one is budging with their side of the argument. Tradify says ‘sometimes, the best solution for a dispute is not about proving you’re right, but about giving your client a solution that satisfies them, without disrupting your business or ruining your good name.’ Come up with a compromise to try and resolve at least part of the issue. Once everyone has calmed down, most of the time an easily agreed upon resolution can be reached rather than escalation to a higher source. Talk through the issue, try to see it from their point of view and then find a middle ground where you can both be content with the outcome.

Refer to a trade association

If you’re having issues with a particularly difficult client or contractor that you just can’t solve no matter what you’ve tried, you may be able to refer to a superior from a trade association such as Master Electricians Australia or Certified Builders NZ for guidance. Associations like this have previously established complaints guidelines and assistance when it comes to disputes,

They may also be able to provide you with a mediator to help try and sort things out between the two parties, as well as help you come up with a compromise. They’re there to help, so while it’s not smart to call on them for every small thing, bigger disputes are what they’re there for!

We asked Max if he had any more tips for tradies when it comes to dealing with difficult clients or contractors. ‘A lot of the time, clients just want to be respected. After all, they’re about to spend a lot of their hard-earned money to make their family home (or other) beautiful. It’s a very personal business. So, my tips for other tradies is exactly that - be respectful and friendly.’

Dealing with difficult contractors or clients can be a challenge, especially on sites where personalities clash or smaller details are missed resulting in errors. There are many ways you can diffuse a situation though before it escalates into something more, and there are higher associations you can lean on for help if a conflict has gotten too far out of control.

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons.