The smoker

Every now and then you will come across someone who smokes a lot.  You can’t even breath when you enter the house.  I had a customer with an insurance claim for water damage.  Part of the repair process in included drywall work and paint.  However, the walls were so yellow from years of cigarette smoke.  During the walk through I noticed ash trays everywhere and lots of bottles of pills too.  I had to excuse myself to step outside to get some fresh air. 

You have to find a way to be polite and non-offensive in these situations.  What you really want to say is forget this, I can’t help you.  So do yourself a favor and write that estimate sky high.  It’s not like you can just make that repair and call it a day. It’s like a cascading effect.  So, you repair and paint the wall that had the water damage.  Now it’s nice.  It’s beautiful.  But now you have three yellow cigarette-stained walls and a yellow ceiling that don’t match.  Unless you have an employee that smokes there is no way you can consciously ask your employee to work in a house like that. 

Which brings up another good point.  If you have a customer smoking or doing drugs while your employee is working in their home the best thing you can do is pull your employee out of that house.  This can only lead to trouble.  It is best to abandon these jobs even if you have to eat a few days labor.  This has only happened a few times but the consequences of this behavior can be costly and problematic.