I have a car that can go fast. Speed limits to me are a pain, but at the same time they’re good. Without them I would drive too fast.

My car could probably handle the sustained additional speed but, being human, not me. Why? For one thing, too many distractions can get in the way of paying attention to what’s happening on the road. The results—accidents, distress, loss—would cause tremendous grief and frustration for me and those who care about me.

Meanwhile, we are in a period of opportunity for remodeling companies. There is increased demand, often with less concern about price. At the same time, this sense of “it is time to make hay while the sun shines” is pushing the staff at many companies to do more and more.

It may look like a good time for the company to consider a spec house or flipping a house or two. It could be that the success being enjoyed by a remodeling company now will attract a wealthy investor, who wants to use the remodeler to run the project.

To that I say: Slow down. Think about what happens to a company’s employees in situations like these.

Expectations Get Unrealistic
The client will only sign if the company can get the work done by a certain date. Design is too busy to provide a complete package, but the company needs this business to continue to grow. Price is not an object, the thinking goes, so let’s get something to production so the job can get started.

Production is already over-committed. Design is frustrated that they are not given enough time to produce a good package. The good people on the existing staff struggle to keep their sanity. Some quit.

Disconnect Occurs
The owner of the company, being driven by possibility and with an unusual capacity for work, keeps on expecting more of their employees.

The employees, being very stressed, attempt to help the owner be more realistic. The employees simply cannot keep up with the workload.

The owner does not hear what the employees are saying. The owner simply “sells” the employees on the likelihood that they can get the work done.

The employees start thinking this is not sustainable.

The Consequences Are Ugly
Inevitably what happens is the company experiences problems.

  • Slippage creeps up. Job costs keep on coming in over-budget. There wasn’t time to get firm quotes from the trade contractors. The proposals needed to be presented too quickly for another set of eyes to proof them. So, production feels more and more demotivated.
  • Turnover increases. Good people leave for various reasons. Now less experienced employees are supposed to do the work. The result is a series of small problems that add up to everyone being frustrated.
  • The company starts losing employees to other companies.

What was a good company limiting its pace of growth is now a shell of itself, with increasing problems and a staff that sees the situation as hopeless.

Reading this far you might think what I am describing is overly dramatic. Unfortunately, it is not.

Limits exist for a reason. Set realistic ones with your employees. To do so means listening to them. That is hard to do for many owners.

If you don’t listen to your employees when they are asking for limits, they will tell you with their feet what they think of what you have to say. You will find yourself in an empty meeting room.

Exceed the limits of the company and its employees and you will have a bad accident.