Just yesterday the Builder and I had a tough chat about what could reasonably be achieved by Christmas, every year is the same. So many builders and tradies are in the same position, so much so I felt it would be beneficial to share with you, the stress of Christmas for a tradie, it might give you some comfort.

November and December are ALWAYS the same. The pressure begins to build. Clients, understandably want their homes to be completed, or their repairs to be done, or their job to be over before the big day arrives.

Yet every year most, if not all tradies will be letting clients down. It is not so much that the tradie is doing the wrong thing, but that they haven’t set your expectations as a client. They bow to pressure and do all they can to make everyone happy, and yet there is not a Christmas that goes by that I don’t hear of disappointment from clients all over.

Harder still, they begin to let down their own families by trying to fit in the client’s jobs. Just today I observed a bricklayer having to tell his disappointed wife, that he needed to work on Sunday just to get through his workload this week.

That isn’t normal! Tradies biggest tool in their business is their bodies, and yet in many cases, at this time of year, they are expected to exhaust their bodies and minds.

So, if you are a client, and you’ve got a job you’d love to be done by Christmas, maybe you can understand now if your tradie can’t get there in time, or if they do their best and your job still isn’t finished.

And if you’re a tradie, be open with your clients, let them know you simply cannot finish the job or get there without jeopardising all the other work you are trying to complete. Work hard to set the expectations of your clients, help them understand why you can’t get it done, allow them to learn from your experience.

As much as we love Christmas, it certainly brings excess stress pressure that simply doesn’t need to be, it is, after all, only one day.

Nicole xxx