I’ll TRADE You

We never really know, do we, what motivates people?

We guess, and there are several dependable parameters from which to take a leap: Money. Greed. Ego. Kindness. Love. Need. Fear… you get the picture.

So, here am I and my family in the midst of doing renovations on our house and I discover that the trades people are in many ways from outer space – not what one would expect if one never had to deal with them before.

I am in the Real Estate business and have been involved in the sale of new homes, so I have had occasion to deal with trades people in the past. But today’s trades are somehow different from anything I have known before.

I had a framer come in and frame two bathrooms being redone. An electrician comes in after the framer because that’s how it is planned. The plumbers were already in to start the process and were expected to return after the framing and electrical and they were supposed to do the tiles as well.

The framer came in and complained about where the plumbers had started their work. The electrician told us that the framer had messed everything up and the plumbers were crazy to do things the way they had. Obviously the electrician was also an expert on framing and plumbing. When the plumbers came back to attach to the framing they had some serious problems with the framer and the electrician because their expertise extended to all those areas as well. And the dance keeps going around and around, with dancers  dosey-doing around the floor, changing partners and pointing fingers.

But one thing I have yet to hear is, “I apologise because I screwed up.” Nobody has yet to acknowledge his own mistakes.

The TRADES are a funny breed, aren’t they? They sell each other out. They throw each other under the bus. They make themselves taller by stepping on others.

However you want to FRAME  the expression… however you want to  PLUMB the motivations... however you want to shed some LIGHTING on their little worlds, it all comes out the same – they are TRADING  insults at each other and with each other.

I would love to take them all and TRADE them in for just one good person willing to step up and get the job done on time and on budget instead of wasting my time and money bitching about everybody else.

People, you are professionals. Start acting like it. Give the others a little respect. Give the others a little credit. Work with and around what you have been given. Complaining doesn`t further my cause or yours. Get it?

Sam Green