Tag Archives: builder conflict

Secret to A Successful Relationship

Whether a building contractor, pole building kit supplier or someone considering investing in a pole building, this is going to be important to you. Important enough so if you are a competitor you should consider adding it to your agreements with your future clients to ensure a successful relationship.

“GENERAL: This Agreement constitutes the only agreement between Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC (herein known as Seller) and Purchaser and supersedes all previous Agreements, conditions, contracts, designs, discussions, negotiations, quotations, plans, promises, representations, and/or terms on this sale either written or verbal. It is understood there are no oral or other agreements between Seller and Purchaser with regard to the subject of this Agreement which are not incorporated herein. The extent of Seller’s obligation is covered in this Agreement and this Agreement only. This clause is not a mere recitation of fact, but is intended to be an absolute and binding acknowledgment of legal consequences. ”

If you are unsure of why this is important, let me explain.

Find A Professional Contractor

There are three keys to any successful relationship – whether personal or business. They are communication, communication and communication. Unless both parties are able to clearly express their wants and needs, the relationship is going to be headed for struggles at best, or failure at worst.

Most people, when shopping for a new pole building, will discuss their wants and needs with multiple different potential providers. Each supplier will relate differently with you and most will provide a plethora of features which they will attempt to influence you to pick them as “the one”. Trying to sell on features alone makes the end result a commodity. Commodities are great and wonderful if shopping for the best price on an exactly identical item (e.g. getting the best deal on a new car), however it is the benefits which make the difference. It does not matter if the price is wonderful, if the end result does not meet the needs.

Confusion can occur when the discussions between providers begins to blur – who said what to whom?

This is why the ONLY things which apply are those which are actually stated on the actual contract document(s). At a bare minimum what should be included is: all building dimensions (width, length and eave height) and roof slope; all design loads and Code information (Code and Code version, Ground and Flat roof snow loads, Wind Speed and Exposure, Seismic Category and Soil bearing capacity); as well as all included features.

As a consumer, don’t sign or approve any document without fully understanding what it is you are investing in. It will save a world of disappointment and hurt feelings later!

Homeowners Association Horror

Halloween has passed, but the horrors still lurk everywhere.  This is one of those Paul Harvey type tales which has “….and the rest of the story…”.

One of our clients is going to be constructing a new Hansen Pole Buildings kit. His hurdle – his local HOA (Homeowners Association).

Even though it added significantly to his costs (not to mention the having to maintain it), he didn’t grouse about having to use wood siding, as opposed to steel. IMHO (in my humble opinion) over the long haul, no one would object to a tasteful color of steel siding. Having to have had my own wood sided pole buildings repainted recently, I can attest to wood siding being an error I would never make if I had to do it all over again.

Our client’s idea was to use resawn plain T1-11 for siding. To add to the curb appeal, he proposed using 1×4 battens vertically every 16 inches to give the look of board and batten siding…without the cost (budget does play a part somewhere in most projects).

To his surprise, the Homeowners Association turned him down! Even though he had rolled over to go with wood siding, they want him to use actual cedar boards to create the board and batten look. Pretty well creates an instant doubling of the costs for his siding, not to mention a tremendous amount of extra time in the labor to construct.

Not to be daunted, our client pressed on.

He wanted to know the reasoning of the HOA. To his surprise, but not necessarily shock, there was a culprit to the siding game. Early on, he had contacted a building contractor to give him a price on a constructed building. Our client decided the builder’s proposal was not within his means, so opted to do the work himself. The builder happens to live in the same neighborhood and put the bug into the Homeowners Association to make life miserable for our client.

My recommendation to the client – push the HOA to exclude the builder from the discussions, as the builder has a conflict of interest.