What's the biggest or most costly mistake you've made?

[rnt80]

The past 4-5 weeks I've been working on a small galley kitchen.  I should be wrapping it up within the next week and a half.  I've made more mistakes on this job than I care to admit.  For example, I had to redo one drawer yesterday and in the process of remaking it I screwed two other things up that required more correcting.  I've had to resize cab boxes, recut rails and stiles...the list goes on.  While it's cost me money in the form of  materials it has absolutely killed me in the amount of time I've wasted, which in the long run is money.  While I usually have my share of screw ups this job has been a train wreck and it's been no one's fault but my own.  In trying to determine the reason behind all of this I wondered how many of you have had a similar job.  I did have two other smaller jobs going at the same time and I haven't taken a day off in I don't know when so I'm sure all of those things have combined to make this process one I'd just assume forget.  Pics will be forthcoming if I ever get out of the woods.  How about the rest of you guys?

 

[Guy Ashley]

Russell

Total respect to you, and you are not alone.

Although there are some individuals whose ego's are larger than their tool collections and would never admit to making a mistake, and always seek to palm off their mistakes on others the fact is we all make mistakes.

Whether it is a "oops" in the manufacture of the job, or as is my biggest failing in the time I allocate, I think we have to take it as a learning curve and make sure we dont make that mistake again.

You wouldn't believe the amount of timber that has ended up in the firebucket in my workshop, usually because of pressure on timescales and clients not accepting that you have to run a few jobs at a time to survive as a business.

Dont be too hard on yourself, just learn from it and move on.   

 

[peter halle]

Russell,

I feel your pain.  I am on a streak right now.  Most of my issues have been due to finishes on cabinets, but I am in the process of remaking one cabinet in its entirety.  Then when I was half way thru I discovered that as the new one was designed - the raised panel doors wouldn't work.  So alter the size, narrow the rails and stiles of the doors, etc.

Until July 4 I had worked everyday since March 26.  I wonder just like you if there is a correlation.

Hang tough and when you get thru this one take a couple of days off!

Peter

 

[RC]

While renovating my own house I had an electrician come in and swap all cabling, wall sockets, switches to earthed three-wire modern models and install lighting rails in the ceilings.

I was asked would I like to have 1-phase or 3-phase light rails in the ceiling me being an electrical engineer by schooling thinks that what a dumb question that was - never even heard of 380V lamps! So I go and tell the electrician to go for 1-phase light rails thinking it means normal 220V circuits without asking anything... Big mistake!  [doh]

I wish I had opened my mouth and asked what's the difference... turns out 3-phase light railing means that the rail has three 1-phase circuits and the rail adapter has a switch in it to choose the circuit that particular lamp gets its current from. This would have opened up nearly limitless opportunities to design indoor lighting with three independent circuits in every room (i.e. one circuit for painting lighting, another for mood lighting with color lamps and one circuit for general lighting, etc.) and it would have cost about 10% more than the crappy 1-phase single circuit system I had installed.

Now where it would get really expensive is that when the cabling was renewed it would have been trivial to put the additional 2 wires into the pipes to enable the 3-phase independent circuits, but now when the cabling was done without the extra leads and the soap the cables were lubed with has set like glue it's virtually impossible to change the cables again without demoing every concrete wall and floor in the apartment and lay down new piping, concrete and cabling and trash the 1-phase light rails and about 3000€ worth of 1-phase lamps and get new 3-phase rails, lamps, switches, dimmers and... it would easily add up to 15.000€ not even counting what damage might happen to the parquet and electric heated granite flooring...

Needless to say, we never did change our minds and revert to the 3-phase system, but I still keep mentally kicking myself every time I turn the lights on [crying]

 

[Alan m]

a boss of mine did a job just before i started for him . he was doing up 2 houses beside each other that were the same layout to start  but for 2 diferent people. so different windows doors etc.
he sent out a few guys  to take out the old windows and put in the new  triple glazed ones . he sent them to the wrong house. they cut out the old teak windows and had them in the skip and the new windows in and plastered around. job done .
a friend of the owner poped buy and saw the house and rang the owner.
cost him a forture to buy new triple  glazed windows for the second house. the owner of the wrong house paid the difference in cost between teak and the triple glzed windows. that was only about 25% of the cost of the window . he had to pay for the new windows and the replacment cost of new teak ones (to the first home owner even thow they kept the triple glazed windows)

he will make sure that he has the right number on the sheet the next time.

 

[Vindingo]

There is only one project I have ever done with no mistakes...  it was 3 years ago, and I should have quit while I was ahead.  My list of mistakes is as long as my list of projects.  

I rebuilt a pantry what seemed like 3 times once.  It was horrible, but didn't cost me a dime.

My parents house was supposed to have 5 collar ties in their living room. I cut the first beam 1" too short.  The sawyer didn't have any more 16' poplar trees after he milled the 5 beams for me.   There are only 4 now.  

The tile guy on a job my mother is working on now installed a huge marble mosaic 3' off from center of the room.  Its all getting ripped up and moved over, almost an $80,000 mistake.    

EDIT:  OT - Russell, this is the first time I have noticed your website.  It looks great! 

 

[tiralie]

In my first business I lost a client because I was too busy to actually understand how much time I was actually spending to redo the their constant changes.
I ended up mouthing off when they questioned my fees. I mouthed off 'cause I was disorganized and overworked. I was so pissed off about constant requests for changes and my own stupidity for not tracking the time spent I said the wrong thing. I was too busy and tired working to cover overhead that I really should not have taken on.
Slower is better.
I lost them as a client after I mouthed off. They weren't a huge part of my business but it would have been good to keep them only to use them as leverage to keep my largest client (800lb gorilla) in line in terms of fees. Instead of having another client I could get work from, I was now left with servicing one very demanding and ever constricting one who knew and understood my vulnerability.
Tim

 

[tiralie]

While I usually have my share of screw ups this job has been a train wreck and it's been no one's fault but my own. 

Russell:
Like all your posts, I really enjoyed this one.
Can you share with us the lesson(s) you learned on this project. I am not interested in the details of the mistakes but rather why the mistake was made. It's like a case study. I am not interested in pointing finger and saying I would have never done that etc., or even what went wrong. I am curious, was there a root cause of these errors, i.e. lack of planning and insight into complexity, which led to over commitment etc.

Sometimes clients don't know what they want and their dreams become our nightmares because we so desperately want to do the work or project either because we have financial pressures etc. but instinctively we feel we are walking into quicksand.
Tim

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

The last large deck I finished was full of unexpected things.

I had to add piers and beams (change order) but I hit a Geo Thermal line drilling the last hole.  It was only 32" deep instead of 5 feet.

That cost me 600 bucks.

I blew a head gasket on my truck when that job was going on and that cost me 3k when it was all said and done.

I got the job done on time for a party and had clients that were happy, appreciative and have already given me several referrals.

I put in 16 hour days for 3 weeks straight too.

Moral of the story, head down, keep going and it will be worth it.

 

[jmarkflesher]

I will not name the company but: A benchmark was given in the parking lot as 4'0" AFF. This was so after cut through into the existing building the floor levels would match. The poured foundation was in and the steel was about to start. Someone decided to take a shot through a window and low and behold the foundation was 8" to high. To correct the foundation was jack hammered 24" lower to retie all the re bar and column plates. The GC, who gave the benchmark, said check you're contract. It says verify all benchmarks.

 

[semenza]

Man you guys have me beat.  Mine was about $700.00 in materials and probably about 10 - 12 hours.  I used some wardrobe lifts that were not very good quality. Not having used any before I didn't know they were junk. Anyway after  just about zero use they all needed changing out to some that were better made.

Other than that  just the usual stuff like forgetting to add an inch of length to a rail measurement to allow for the tongue coped on the end. I've done that a couple times  :  [embarassed]

Seth

 

[ericbuggeln]

The one that hurts the most is when you try to keep material costs down by purchasing the least amount extra ever and then make a mistake and have to drive back to the lumberyard costing you more time and money then if you just bought enough in the first place. I blame it on HOs that arent willing to pay for anything. Eric

 

[JLB builders LLC]

Getting married and divorced. All other mistakes have been minor ones here and there and far from as costly.

 

[Kev]

My private life is like Dorian Gray's portrait compared to my business facing persona - for other people I help them avoid costly business blunders, etc ... in my personal life I do things like buy a boat and sell if for half without using it ... the list would be LONG.

My biggest blunders in terms of making stuff has two common themes - over-engineering and assumptions. I've recently spend $3K on materials for something that should have been less than $1.5K all up - plus I've made things bigger and heavier ... and harder to work with. I also have this knack of thinking a professional builder would make things square and level (NEVER BELIEVE THIS!!!)

The good news is I'm learning and by the time I'm 825 years old I should have a clue  [blink]

 

[jmbfestool]

Finding out about festool was a mistake as that has cost me a lot of money!

Jmb

 

[jmbfestool]

I think on average I make at least one mistake on every job!  Most the time I can get away with it!   If not finding a way to solve it is next best thing  but I have made mistakes where I was unable to make it good and had to scrap or redesign what I had in mind which annoys me!  

But the most annoying mistakes are the ones you don't notice untill later and they catch your eye or if your working on something and it won't fit because of something you did previously wind me up! As often they are hard to fix because the amount of work to redo it.

Jmb

I got one of those mistakes on is job on Tuesday I'm working on!  I'll take a picture!  I did something and only until I was finished I noticed the mistake!  Very very annoying as its all glued!  [crying] I'm still thinking should I leave it or redo it not sure yet!  See wa you guys think!

 

[Jonhilgen]

Russell,

You've started a thread near and dear to my heart.  Just recently, I was in a hurry while hanging a large vent hood, did something stupid and it fell off the wall (while I was in it!). It crashed into the island and damaged a drawer front.  I just got the bill from the kitchen designer:  954.00.  Could have been worse, the hospital bills I could have gotten would UBS made it look like a pittance.  Lesson learned, slow down and you'll actually be more efficient and make more money

Two months prior, I had to pull am icemaker out of an opening to figure out how I was going to attach the panel to it.  I pulled it put and left for lunch, came back to a large pool of water and warped floors (they were already finished).  Total: 542.00.  Lesson learned, don't touch an icemaker that's already making ice.

Jon

 

[Sparktrician]

My gunsmith has a great philosophy.  When he and/or his son are having a day that starts to go to worms, they shut down rather than screw up a customer's firearm.  I know all too well that this often isn't possible in our line of work, but it's good thinking on his part. 

[smile]

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

Russell,

You've started a thread near and dear to my heart.  Just recently, I was in a hurry while hanging a large vent hood, did something stupid and it fell off the wall (while I was in it!). It crashed into the island and damaged a drawer front.  I just got the bill from the kitchen designer:  954.00.

Jon, what kind of kitchen unit has a drawer front on it that costs $954........?????? Surely, unless it was made of Titanium and had Diamonds encrusted in it, there must have been more damage than just that!

Tim.

 

[Rob Lee]

They're not mistakes....they're learning opportunities with varying degrees of financial positive reinforcement.... [unsure]

Cheers,

Rob