Lessons Learned- The $15,000 Mistake
This is a picture of me and my team at a property that I tried to shortcut which resulted in a $15,000 mistake. The project was a full gut renovation on a single family house which also required an excavation in the basement.
I didn’t take the time to interview several architects. Instead I hired the first architect I met with- who I was referred to. Although he had years of experience the drawings were not complete and I didn’t take the time to review them in detail before submitting them to the city for permits.
In the end a new architect had to be hired to redo the drawings. The individual was exploding with ideas and completely reconfigured all three floors leaving us with a new amazing floor plan!
At the end of the day I held myself accountable for the mistake. I should have clearly articulated what I wanted to the original architect then followed up with my general contractor to ensure the drawings included everything we had discussed.
However, I believe that every mistake is a lesson learned and I believe that if you’re not making mistakes then you’re not growing your business.
Fortunately, I was able to improvise with the tools and resources available at that time as we only had 10 weeks to complete this massive transformation.
In business, just like in life, you have to be comfortable with learning on the fly. Your success is determined by how quickly you bounce back from a mistake. The quicker you bounce back, learn from what just happened and move forward the more successful you will be.
Instead of focusing on how much money and time had been lost I focused on what needed to be done to fix the hiccup and get the job completed.
I encourage you to do the same. When you fall pick yourself right back up. Don’t let your mistakes detour you or slow you down. There is a lot to get done on your journey to the top, so get to it!
Are you wondering how the property turned out? Stay tuned for the finished product!