Find High-Quality Vendors Through the Work

When I visit a job site, I pay attention to the people who show up on time, work consistently, and take pride in their craft. Those are the people I want to know before I need to assemble a project team of my own.

I gave that advice to a civil engineering student who was working on construction sites while preparing to start a contracting business. He asked what else he could do to move toward that goal. My answer started with the people already around him: notice who is doing dependable, high-quality work, and begin building relationships with them while he is still learning.

Watch how the work gets done

A finished job tells you something about the result. Watching the work unfold can also show you how a person approaches the job. I told the student to look for people who arrive when expected, keep putting in the work, and show sincere pride in their craftsmanship. Those were the signs I named to the student.

The setting matters. If you are already working on a project, you may have a chance to see tradespeople and subcontractors doing their work before you have your own company or project to staff. I suggested paying attention to the plumbers, electricians, and others contributing to the current job. The aim was to notice strong performers in the work itself, rather than trying to choose people from a distance based only on a pitch or a first impression.

Build the relationship before the first big job

I encouraged the student to let capable people know what he hoped to do after college. He could explain that he planned to take on contracting work and would like their help on future projects. That would give the relationship time to develop before he had a major job that depended on it.

He could also begin with smaller projects when he felt ready to meet the standard customers would expect. If he had family or other partners involved, he might bring them into a project or bring a lead to contractors he already knew. Those were possible ways to start managing relationships and work earlier.

The practical point was to avoid waiting until a project is underway to figure out whom you trust to do the work. People you have already observed and spoken with may be easier to approach when you need a particular skill. Whether they are available, interested, and a good fit still depends on the project.

Decide with the whole relationship in view

I also described a vendor I had used on several construction projects. I had spent more than $40,000 with the company on mirrors and glass. I was frustrated by the process: several different people handled estimates, payment, scheduling, measuring, production, and installation, and measurements had to be repeated. I had worked with the company before and said its work had produced good outcomes, though the timing could be frustrating.

For this project, I had set a deadline for the mirror installation because other work depended on it. Two of the smaller mirrors were wrong. I told the company I needed the installation completed by a specific day, and that I could not keep working with them if the deadline was missed. The crew said it might take weeks to return, so I contacted the company again about the deadline. The transcript ends before confirming whether the remaining work was completed.

At that point, I had to weigh a known vendor with a frustrating process against the time and effort of finding someone new. The choice could vary by project. My decision depended on what the project needed and what the working relationship had shown me.

A separate article covers what I did when a vendor relationship later involved broken commitments or a product-quality dispute.