In remodeling, the punishment can
routinely outweigh the crime. Take preliminary
budgets, for instance. If you forget
to ask one question — what a client's
budget is — you'll waste hours planning
a project that will never be built because
it costs twice what the homeowner can
afford. Just as bad is suggesting a preliminary
budget that's too high, because it
may disqualify you from a job that
you're actually a really good fit for. The
worst case, however — and possibly the
most common — is to venture a budget
that's too low, then have to backtrack
later. Not only does this undermine the
client's hard-won trust, but if the true
cost of the project