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The Insurance Policy A remeasure visit from an installer will save you and your clients money time and again BY ROGER MAGALHAES
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ost people (myself included) are not big fans of paying insurance premiums. If you add up the amount you have paid for insurance over the years, it will probably shock you. But on the rare occasion that something goes wrong, you are glad that you did. The peace of mind of knowing you are protected is priceless.
When it comes to hiring an installer to double-check measurements for a project, very few people see value in doing it. I hear very often from decorators, designers, contractors and even dealers, “I know what I am doing” or “I have been doing this for so many years.” And yet, as an independent installer, I have seen the same mistakes over and over again when I arrive at the installations. There are mismeasures, incorrect applications, the wrong products ordered and a lack of necessary parts, just to name a few problems. To illustrate my point, I am going to share a story from my second year in business. My client was a professional carpenter who was remodeling his own home. He bought vertical blinds from a factory-direct outlet. When the product arrived, he contacted me to schedule the installation. I asked who had measured his 28 | wf-vision.com | November + December 2019
windows and he said, “I did. I am a carpenter. I know how to read a tape measure.” My reply was, “Well, there is more than a width and a height involved when specifying window treatments. If I arrive to the site and I am not able to install the blinds, you still owe me for my visit.” Sure enough, none of his eight blinds fit. To make a long story short, the windows were not deep enough to accommodate the product. On top of that, the valance did not have the right projection. This guy was extremely angry and the whole situation was uncomfortable. Yet he had to pay for my time. Another example came from one of my regular installation accounts. I had this decorator who insisted on ordering products without a second visit from the installer to confirm sizes. She used to say that it would slow down the process and give homeowners a chance to change their mind about the sale. I sort of relate to her point. However, if she had “upsold” having an installer confirm the dimensions, she could have avoided many mistakes. There were problems so often that this particular account decided to make a remeasure visit mandatory for every sale.
