“The Perfectionist”

Ever work for a perfectionist? I have my whole life. That’s one of my greatest problems – and attributes. To bad there’s no such thing as perfection in construction. Don’t let anybody tell you there is. You can drive yourself crazy. And guess what? I just about have. There’s one thing worse than working construction as a card carrying perfectionist and that’s working for a client that’s more anal than you are. Now that’s Prozak!

I’ve worked through a number of real hummers for an absolute died in the wool, born again death row perfectionist ever since he first graduated college scoring his first million in just a few short years. I had worked for his father in years past and was quite happy doing so. His dad was a boat builder (a really superb wooden boat designer/builder). He had a kindly attitude for what was financially feasible and what was not. Having built a career on reality driven concepts from the drawing board to manufacture, he had a strong appreciation for craftsmanship and was not afraid to pay for it. Unfortunately, when I began working for his son, we damn near drove each other nuts. As luck would have it, the son had acquired a sum of money in his short lifetime that could be described as behemothic. I think he came on the money so quickly it jaded him – at least for a while. Or maybe, he just hadn’t developed the kind of balance necessary to manage such wealth when I did my first projects for him. Whatever the case, each time I did a job for him I found myself on the biting end of the financial equation. At last, I had to tell the son I could only continue working for him on a time and materials basis with no upper limit. That was unless the money and the project’s limits were explicitly tied to one another. When he refused, we parted company. With time, I believe he has learned to treat other contractors with the respect they’re due, allowing them to tie up loose ends without forcing them to pay for everything. When I worked for him, every big or little extra charge that came up as a result of his design changes or project modifications were seen by him as my duty to overcome or pay at least pay for. The good part was, like his dad, he bore a strong heartfelt appreciation for quality workmanship and possessed extremely good taste with a creative flair. Too bad we had to part company when we did – that is before he learned the give and take of a normal client/contractor relationship. I always enjoyed the son’s need to find the finest end to each new beginning. But when a perfection-oriented contractor agrees to work for a perfection-mined client (loads of money or not) the operator’s bones are bared routinely.

~Don Bollinger