Assessing a difficult job before you agree

Assess a potential job by the unresolved questions about scope, access, decisions and payment. Clarify those questions before quoting, allow for real coordination work, and decline jobs whose terms you cannot accept. The checklist below is a discussion aid, not a tested way to predict customer behavior.

Questions to resolve on the first call

• "We don't need all that paperwork." [3] Explain why you need written scope and terms. For covered work, California requires a written contract above $500 and Massachusetts above $1,000, with required contents. A customer’s preference cannot remove those requirements.
• Cash, no permit, can you start Monday. [3] Check the permit requirement and responsible applicant with the local building department. Do not agree to skip a required permit; paying cash does not change that requirement.
• Every previous contractor was a crook. [2] Ask what went wrong and review any available records. Previous complaints are context to investigate, not proof that the customer will mistreat you.
• A budget that never appears. [2] Ask for a range or offer separately priced options. Do not assume that reluctance to name a budget means the customer cannot pay.
• Scope that grew between emails. [2] Confirm the current rooms and tasks before quoting; explain how later requests will be priced.
• "Just give me a ballpark." [0] Not a flag. But give a wide honest range and say the site visit sets the price — a number said on the phone comes back three weeks later as "the price you promised me."

Questions to resolve at the walkthrough

• The decision maker is not there. [2] Normal on a first visit. On a third visit, the person approving your change orders has never seen the space.
• "While you're in there…" three times in twenty minutes [2], with no question about what any of it costs.
• The brother-in-law "in the trades." [1] Ask which technical concern they want addressed and who approves the final scope.
• Half-finished work nobody wants to discuss. [1] You may be tying into another crew's rough-in and inheriting its warranty question.
• Pushback on deposit terms before you have named an amount. [1] Explain the proposed payment milestones and identify the objection before treating it as a payment risk.
• Access or approval nobody has settled. [1] A tenant who has not been told, an HOA that has approved nothing, a dog nobody will crate.

What the score means

The points below are an illustrative prompt for reviewing unresolved issues, not validated risk scores. Resolve each issue on its merits; a high total alone is not a reason to charge more or turn someone away.

• 0–2. Use your normal scope and terms review; follow up on any unresolved item.
• 3–5. Set aside a separate conversation to resolve the questions and identify any additional coordination work.
• 6 or higher. Complete that review before committing a price or date. Decline only if you cannot agree workable scope and terms, not because of the score itself.

Example: pricing additional coordination for a bathroom

In this fictional example, a 40-square-foot hall-bath remodel has a base price of $22,400 after the walkthrough. That base already includes the linen-closet and heated-floor work added during the scope discussion. The figures illustrate coordination costs, not a market rate.

Two prior contractors, both blamed, nothing documented (2). Husband absent at both visits, and "he decides the tile" (2). A linen closet and a heated floor added between the call and the walkthrough (2). Her brother's opinion on waterproofing quoted twice (1). Seven points, and none of it is a reason to walk.

After clarifying the decision process, the customer asks for additional coordination and selections-pricing services. The estimate goes out at $24,900. The difference is 16 hours of project management and selections coordination at this shop's $95 rate, plus $980 for an additional selections-pricing service the customer requested. That adds $2,500 to the $22,400 base. Both appear as named line items. A "difficult customer" surcharge you cannot say out loud is not a line item, and a customer who reads it that way is right.

Agree payment milestones and change procedures

For this fictional $24,900 job, the proposed payments are tied to documented milestones. Check that each installment reflects the permitted value of work and materials under local rules before using the schedule.

The first row is an advance deposit. California generally caps it at $1,000 or 10%, whichever is less, with a filed blanket performance and payment bond exception. Massachusetts allows the greater of one-third or the actual cost of qualifying special-order materials or equipment. These are different rules, not a universal deposit formula. See deposits for contractors and confirm the rule for your work.

Four more things belong in the paperwork. Every extra goes through a signed change order with its price and its schedule effect on the same page, before the work happens. Selections carry a written deadline and a stated consequence when it slips. Exclusions name the specific thing you saw — the neighbor's fence line, the unpermitted subfloor, the tile the customer is supplying. And photograph the site at the end of each day for the first week, dated: that is the week the "it was already like that" conversation gets decided.

Confirm any right to suspend work and the required notice before acting on a missed payment. Determine applicable preliminary lien notices, their trigger dates and delivery requirements before starting the job. The mechanic’s lien guide explains the questions to take to your licensing board or a local attorney; do not use a generic deadline or assume quote approval starts the clock.

Put the terms in the quote for approval

In DoneQuote you can write the payment milestones, exclusions and change-approval process into the quote. Review the document and any required attachments before sending. Keep the customer’s approval and any later approved changes as part of the job records.

Assess the work rather than judging the customer

A first-time homeowner may need more explanation. A customer who arrives with photos, invoices and a state board complaint about the last contractor is documenting — a good sign about how they will treat your paperwork. A commercial GC with retainage, lien waivers and a submittal process is not being unreasonable. That is the job.

Score behavior, not people. Turning work down for business reasons — capacity, scope, terms, price — is yours to do. Turning it down because of who the customer is, is a different question: federal law protects equal contracting rights regardless of race (42 U.S.C. § 1981), and state and local civil-rights laws add classes that vary from place to place. If a pattern in who you turn away would be uncomfortable to explain, talk to a local attorney before it becomes one.