Define Initial Project Scope and Vision

0:34

11:18

49.9K views

At 0:34 in

Construction Management and Estimating

Watch on YouTube

What happens here

Before committing to a large DIY project, take the time to deeply understand the full scope of what you want to achieve. Be aware that initial ideas can often grow into much larger endeavors than first anticipated. The video highlights how customers may continually add to the scope of work without understanding the cost implications. As a DIYer, this means clearly defining your project goals and anticipating potential additions.

Goal: Understand the full desired outcome and potential complexities of the DIY project.

Tools and materials

Internet Access N/A — Researching similar projects, materials, and techniques
Notebook and Pen Any — Jotting down ideas, requirements, and potential tasks for the project

What they say

(2,201 characters)

Hide

Eminem. Take that, Marshall Mathers. I'm g take you with me out onto a job site where we do an on the spot bid. Now, I don't normally like to do that, but there's times when it's appropriate, when you don't want to waste any more time with the customer where you don't know where the customer's intentions lie. Sometimes you need to start, you need to quickly set a price and then adjust it up and down from there. Today I'm going to walk you through that process and take you out. We do a $65,000 on the spot bid with a customer and uh his jaw just about hits the floor. But what I needed to do with this is I needed to bring him back to reality. This guy was flipping clueless about his job. and he just kept adding on and adding on. And as we carried on the conversation further and further, he kept increasing the scope of work. And then he throws this out there where he says, "Oh, I just I just give me a ballpark figure." Well, you know, when you got a gigantic job, you give a ballpark figure, you're not going to get it. But you know what else? You're not going to want to keep wasting your time with some guy that's probably not going to be able to af Sorry, I need a better holder in my car. You're not going to want to waste your time with somebody that's probably not going to be able to afford the job in the first place. That's where on the spot bidding sets the price. Then you can read the customer's face. That's the thing. When you set that initial price, you need to look the customer in the eye. And if he's squirming and squeaming around, well, guess what? You're probably not going to get the job. You know he's not serious about it. And you don't have to go back to your office. you don't have to calculate all the other components in there because why? But sometimes you'll be surprised. Sometimes you'll give them an on the spot bid and they'll go, "Okay, let's proceed." Well, there you go. Now you got your starting point and then you can figure out the details from there. So on the spot bidding, it's not always I don't like to do it, but sometimes it's the right thing to do to save yourself some time. So let's take you through a job. Never seen the site we're about to

Auto-generated from the video audio.