Having a good relationship with your vendor is important, especially if you are a contractor. You need them to deliver high-quality services or products, each and every time. Their work is going to be a reflection of your own and that’s why you need to be confident with whomever you are working with. This is a relationship that takes time to develop but if you have a big project coming up, you need to be sure that they are going to deliver.
How can you tell your client that the project is taking longer, or something is not going the way you wanted it to, just because of your vendor? You can’t, you need to be able to rely on them for each and every project and if they aren’t delivering the work you need, then it’s time to shop around.
So how do you know the work isn’t being handled the right way or you are not getting the service you need? It starts with punctuality. Often times, people think that its price that needs to be addressed. That’s actually not true. You can pay more if you are getting great quality and service. Punctuality is important because you are trying to keep the project on schedule and you need your vendors to deliver on time whether they are a crane rental company, supplying concrete or something else.
The next thing you need to look for is quality of work or service. If you hire someone and they do not do a great job, that work will reflect on your company. That cannot happen because it can cost you work down the road. If you buy floor tiles from a company and they arrive in poor condition, the company needs to fix it, or they will lose your business.
Things like this may seem obvious but we constantly ignore signs that it’s time to make a switch because we do not have time to shop around. That cannot be the case in construction. You need to be ready to find a new team to deliver the work, especially if you want to get your project done on time and completed the right way.