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Couto Homes

“If You Rush, You Get Bad.”

During a selections meeting this past month I thanked a customer for their patience and understanding for how long it took to get their job started. I held my breath a little expecting an upset response, a gripe, maybe a raised tone of voice and the “ why is my job taking forever to start?” talk of disappointment but this time it was different. Instead I received the most unexpected response. A smile spread across both the husband and wife’s face and they said “You know, it’s ok, if you rush bad, you get bad.” I was thinking “WOW, that’s not what I expected” but I admired that response. That is such a true statement with something as big and important as building a home and quit true in all instances and aspects of life. When you rush things that aren’t going good, they don’t turn out good, ever, for anyone.

So, you may be thinking “Now why would it have taken so long to start their job?”, well things take time, especially when getting a home off the ground. Here is a brief on their story: Contract was signed, start sheet was out and ready to go and we were ready to get started. Things came up, a lot of them. 3 months passed. “OH MY!”, you’re thinking, “ I hope that doesn’t happen to us when we build.” The things that affected the beginning stages of this job were out of our (the builder) and the homeowner’s control. So you may be thinking, “Yeah right, come on now, how does that happen, you’re in total control when you build.” Guess what? You’re not. Neither is the builder sometimes. Things happen, just like things happen in life and we have to work through it. In the case of these sweet folks, the house plans changed and had to be approved once again by the HOA which only meets once a month, we lost 1 month, then mother nature kicked in and it rained A LOT and we lost nearly 1 more month, then we had a few issues on the lot we had to work through before we could pour foundation, another month had come and gone so we are 3 months in and just getting started. Approaching the end of the 3rd month, FINALLY people are working and we are making progress, we had sun – Hallelujah – sun and dry weather in construction is the best God send we could ask for.

Now from our perspective the construction team (superintendent & selections coordinator) hadn’t met this couple in person, they lived out of town and us being the bearer of bad news over the phone for 3 months was not particularly fun. Yet every time we called, they were more than understanding and so pleasant to talk to. I felt like we had a great working relationship, even though things were off to a rough start. On a positive note, other aspects of the job were moving along even though the job site had a slower start. They were taking something that could have been such a disappointment and making it in to something that can still be an enjoyable experience and I can appreciate that.

Ya know, the same phrase “If you rush bad, you get bad” could pertain to finding a builder – think about it.
When it came to deciding to build, it took time. When you looked for that perfect spot to build, it took time, no rushing. Then you started the search to select your builder, it took time, no rushing. You looked for the builder that felt like the fit, one that gave you the feeling of comfort and one that doesn’t give you the impression they are out for money or to cut corners or quality, no rushing that. You don’t want to rush bad, a bad decision doing something big is never good for anyone. It takes time, from the start of getting things going to the floor plan to determining what is going in the home to getting the right price, it all took time, no rushing. We say, don’t rush it, enjoy it, learn as you go, take it all in, sometimes it is good to have things click along at a steady pace. If a kink throws the pace off and it takes a turn for the slow, that is ok, no need to rush, if you rush bad, you will get bad.

Narrative: Amanda – Staff – Couto Homes