It's Saturday and me and the other interior designer that works with me rotate working weekends. This weekend it's my turn, and as I am sitting here waiting for 3:00 to get here I conjured up a little list of the things I like and dislike about the construction business.
1. I like that I can kind of work on my own schedule. For example; I have a client meeting in Laguna hills and I live in Mission Viejo. I can sleep in, get to my meeting and then head to the office and work until 6 instead.
2. I have to do a lot of driving for material shopping and client meetings. This could be considered a dislike, except I get mileage and gas paid and it gets me out of the office!
3. I get to help people make their houses look beautiful. LOVE that.
4. The people at my office are pretty cool, this makes a huge difference in the moral at work.
5. Because it's a construction company, I can wear jeans and a tee to work if I want to or dress up. I never feel like I'm being judged.
6. If you've never been to a granite yard, you're missing out. It is SO Cool!
7. I get to spend other peoples money.
8. I get to see the inside of a lot of peoples houses, which is kind of interesting. I have learned that I am borderline OCD clean freak compared to most people, and I don't even come close to being as tidy as my mom or grandma.
9. I have a desk and business cards.
10. I'm in the industry that I've worked so hard to get to and I'm learning new things about the field everyday.
Dislikes
1. Working in a business that changes the structure of a home is very stressful. You have to make sure that everything is correct and also that the sub-contractors doing the work are knowledgeable.
2. Asking for money. On a regular basis I have to make sure that we are getting paid for the work that our company is providing. It is very nerve-racking to have to ask someone for a $36,000.00 check.
3. I have to B.S. a lot. If I don't sound like I know what I am talking about, I might lose a customer to a company that does.
4. I'm on call all the time. When people are spending giant chunks of their savings to remodel a kitchen, they do not care if its 10:30 PM on a Friday, they want answers to their questions.
5. Construction is not glamorous. I am always wiping dust off my jeans and can't be afraid of getting a little dirty.
6. Writing scary legal emails to unhappy customers. I am the only person in the office who speaks English as their first and only language, therefore I get the luxury of writing and correcting any legal documents. This is not exactly my idea of a good time.
7. Having to back down when a client insists on a hideous granite or back splash. Ultimately it is their house that they will be living in and looking at as long as they live there. But the reason we have interior designers working here is to help you make selections that will compliment each other. Sometimes, try as I might I cannot persuade a person to not want something gross.
8. The language barrier. Most of our workers are Mexican, and they do amazing work, however, a lot of them do not speak very good English and the only things I know how to say in Spanish are "Another beer please." and "Where is the bathroom?" This has caused a few problems.
9. My company does not have a lot of structure. This is nice in the sense that almost everything goes, and bad in the sense that almost everything goes. Structure is an important thing for a company to have.
10. I work in Anaheim and I hate commuting from Mission Viejo. If traffic is bad it can sometimes take me up to an hour and a half to get home.
There you have it. My likes and dislikes to the construction business and I have one more hour until I get to go home and start enjoying my weekend! Hope everyone is having a fabulous day!
Here goes:
Likes1. I like that I can kind of work on my own schedule. For example; I have a client meeting in Laguna hills and I live in Mission Viejo. I can sleep in, get to my meeting and then head to the office and work until 6 instead.
2. I have to do a lot of driving for material shopping and client meetings. This could be considered a dislike, except I get mileage and gas paid and it gets me out of the office!
3. I get to help people make their houses look beautiful. LOVE that.
4. The people at my office are pretty cool, this makes a huge difference in the moral at work.
5. Because it's a construction company, I can wear jeans and a tee to work if I want to or dress up. I never feel like I'm being judged.
6. If you've never been to a granite yard, you're missing out. It is SO Cool!
7. I get to spend other peoples money.
8. I get to see the inside of a lot of peoples houses, which is kind of interesting. I have learned that I am borderline OCD clean freak compared to most people, and I don't even come close to being as tidy as my mom or grandma.
9. I have a desk and business cards.
10. I'm in the industry that I've worked so hard to get to and I'm learning new things about the field everyday.
Dislikes
1. Working in a business that changes the structure of a home is very stressful. You have to make sure that everything is correct and also that the sub-contractors doing the work are knowledgeable.
2. Asking for money. On a regular basis I have to make sure that we are getting paid for the work that our company is providing. It is very nerve-racking to have to ask someone for a $36,000.00 check.
3. I have to B.S. a lot. If I don't sound like I know what I am talking about, I might lose a customer to a company that does.
4. I'm on call all the time. When people are spending giant chunks of their savings to remodel a kitchen, they do not care if its 10:30 PM on a Friday, they want answers to their questions.
5. Construction is not glamorous. I am always wiping dust off my jeans and can't be afraid of getting a little dirty.
6. Writing scary legal emails to unhappy customers. I am the only person in the office who speaks English as their first and only language, therefore I get the luxury of writing and correcting any legal documents. This is not exactly my idea of a good time.
7. Having to back down when a client insists on a hideous granite or back splash. Ultimately it is their house that they will be living in and looking at as long as they live there. But the reason we have interior designers working here is to help you make selections that will compliment each other. Sometimes, try as I might I cannot persuade a person to not want something gross.
8. The language barrier. Most of our workers are Mexican, and they do amazing work, however, a lot of them do not speak very good English and the only things I know how to say in Spanish are "Another beer please." and "Where is the bathroom?" This has caused a few problems.
9. My company does not have a lot of structure. This is nice in the sense that almost everything goes, and bad in the sense that almost everything goes. Structure is an important thing for a company to have.
10. I work in Anaheim and I hate commuting from Mission Viejo. If traffic is bad it can sometimes take me up to an hour and a half to get home.
There you have it. My likes and dislikes to the construction business and I have one more hour until I get to go home and start enjoying my weekend! Hope everyone is having a fabulous day!
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