Customer told me my corners were sloppy, so I changed my whole post setup

Last month a guy looked at my work and said I was cutting corners on the gate posts. At first I got defensive, but then I looked closer and yeah, he was right. I started marking my post holes with a string line instead of just eyeballing it. Now I set each post with a level on two faces and wait 24 hours before even thinking about rails. It takes me about 30 minutes more per gate, but the corners come out square every time. Has anyone else had a customer point out something that actually made you better?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.alex12d ago

Buddy of mine had a homeowner tell him his deck rails were wobbly, and he was ready to fight about it until he went back and actually pushed on them. Turns out the guy was right, so now he uses those hidden fasteners instead of just smacking nails in from the top. He says it adds maybe 15 minutes to the rail install but nobody has complained since.

andrew_sanchez946d ago

That part about your buddy and the wobbly deck rails hits close to home. I had a similar thing happen with a customer who said my gate was dragging on the ground after a few months. I was pissed at first, thought it was the ground settling. But he was right, I was just screwing the hinges into the post without any sort of bracket or proper hardware. Now I use those heavy duty T-hinges with actual lag bolts into the post, and I also put a small concrete footer under the latch side so nothing shifts. The extra 20 minutes per gate sucks but like you said, nobody has complained since. Its funny how a little bit of honest feedback can fix a problem you didnt even know you had.