First redo of the year!

[gene]

Yep, I almost made it throught the entire year without a redo.

I finished a beautiful fully upholstered arm chair, loose back cushion, loose seat T cushion, tailored skirt. It has a matching ottoman with an attached cushion and matching tailored skirt.

I put the chair skirt on this morning and had plans to deliver later today. As I was cleaning up the shop I saw a plastic shipping bag. It had the same customer's name on it and 1 yard of fabric.

The fabric on the furniture is light brown, micro fibre - top of the line. The 1 yard in the bag was a darker brown fabric with a small pattern.

I thought "Oh, they must want a pillow or two." NOPE!!! The darker brown fabric was for the contrast welt cord that was to go on the chair and the ottoman.

If I were a beer drinker I would be crying in my beer.

When I have a problem, I ask 3 questions:
1. What happened?
2. What needs to be done to fix the problem?
3. What needs to be done so it won't happen again?


For #3 I thought of firing the person who did not read their own work order, but that would be me.

It doesn't help to take copious notes if you do not read them later.

gene

[Mojo]

Sh** happens Gene. :)

Last week I sewed a box cushion and got the wrong side up and the right side down. :)

I then started doing seams on some of the cushion panels and damned if I started sewing with the wrong colored thread. How I forgot that I really do not know.

I also grabbed a piece of gray vinyl and after cutting it ( thankfully before sewing it ) I realized I grabbed the wrong dang gray vinyl. This one was a touch darker and had a different grain. Last week was a rain wreck of sorts for me. :)

This week is going much better, despite being on pain killers. :) Maybe I should take those more often. :)
Next week is a whole new ball game gene.

Chris

[kodydog]

About 17 or 18 years ago I learned an important lesson. I upholstered a 3 cushion sofa with skirt for a lady. 2 way match. Took my time and did a real nice job. When I delivered it she said, "nice job but the fabric's inside out".

Now I know some fabrics are hard to tell which side is facing. But this fabric was obvious. I took the sofa back to my shop and made some phone calls. I called the fabric store where she bought it. The owners of the store were friends of mine. They said they couldn't tell. I think they didn't want to make a commitment or get involved. I got the name of the mill who wove it and called them. They gave me the same BS that ether side could be used, even though the pattern was completely different from one side to the other.

I was stuck. I had to redo it and eat the cost. I'm still sure I was right, but what can you do? From then on I always ask which side is facing, even when it's obvious. 

[bobbin]

Ouch!

My sympathies, Gene.  But Chris is right, sometimes we "stup. out" and miss the important stuff.  May the re-do be relatively painless. 

[gene]

kodydog,

The "right" side of the fabric, the "face" side of the fabric, the "correct" side of the fabric, is the side that the customer tells me is the "right", or "face", or "correct", side of the fabric.

NO EXCEPTIONS! (for me).

gene

[crammage]

I recovered a copy of recliners for a customer a few weeks ago.  The fabric was a brown tweed type, one side lighter than the other due to the weave, which the customer supplied.  When I delivered them she said, "Oh, it's a lighter color than I thought, which is good because I was concerned it would be too dark".  It worked out for me that she liked the "lighter" side of the fabric better.  I too learned that I need to ask which side of the material the customer wants showing!

Clay

[kodydog]

kodydog,

The "right" side of the fabric, the "face" side of the fabric, the "correct" side of the fabric, is the side that the customer tells me is the "right", or "face", or "correct", side of the fabric.

NO EXCEPTIONS! (for me).

gene

I agree with you 100% Gene. I made that mistake only once. Theirs been plenty of times a costumer or even an interior decorator has shown me fabric and said, "I want the wrong side to face out". I was inexperienced at the time and felt the mill wasn't any help. Lets say Loria Ashley brings a design to Shufford Mills, and they weave some fabric for her, theirs going to be a right side and a wrong side dictated by her designers. This was the info I wanted. They wouldn't give it.

Let me give an example from another trade. 5 years ago I had my house built. We put Hardy Board on the exterior siding. Hardy board is smooth on one side and has simulated wood grain on the other. Now say after my builder installs it I say, "it looks great but I wanted the smooth side out". Who's at fault, the builder for not asking which side I wanted out or me for not telling him I wanted the smooth side. When the builder calls the Hardy Board Co. I'm sure they would tell him the grain side faces out. This may be another good reason for charging more for COM's.

[Darren Henry]

From then on I always ask which side is facing, even when it's obvious.

Especially with COM .Yeah , there's Ozonal on my bank records too. :'(

Who's at fault, the builder for not asking which side I wanted out or me for not telling him I wanted the smooth side.

My Grandfather owned/operated a garage. I hung around there all the time ( he spoiled us kids rotten) but it blew me away as a young man when I went to have tires installed that asked if I wanted white walls in or out . [no they were not the wide white walls, you young punks. I only look that old.] . Everyone knows that the white stripe goes out ,right?

[gene]

I delivered the chair and ottoman today, that started this thread, with the correct contrast welt cord on it. She loved it!!!

I told the customer that I would have fired the person who screwed up but that was me, so what can I do???

I do redos asap. I think I can do this because I don't make too many mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Most people will fix the problem. Very few will make fixing the problem PRORITY #1. She has no problem giving me 8 more pieces of furniture to do this coming year.

I never want to screw up on purpose, but when I do, when I'm done p!@#$ing and moaning, I see it as a major sales opportunity by how hard I try to make things right.

Thank you all for your comments and support.

gene

[bobbin]

Gene, it stinks to have to "eat it" on a job.  But I really admire the way you faced it, dealt with it, and did the right thing.  Too many people make too  many excuses and waste too much time on whining. 

Clearly, your honesty, willingness to "own up" to your oversight inspired confidence in your customer... and how many other people  do you think she's going to tell about this?  Word of mouth is the best advertising in the world, and knowing how to turn a real bummer into a real winner is the mark a shrewd, honest tradesman. 

Home run, my friend! too many would have whined about their misfortune. 

[Darren Henry]

Way to "man up" Gene. I'm very impressed.

Too many people make too  many excuses

The straw that broke the camel's back and lead me to going to work for friends in the sign business was the last lie my former employer told me to sell the customer. We had had the people's skirted hide a bed in the shop for most of the winter and wouldn't do anything on it until the eleventh hour when they wanted to open camp and entertain company. It was a plaid and the owner's better half had cut the yardage down yet again so we had no material for skirts. Rather than face up to them he sent me and his daughter to deliver it and convince them that the frame (that used to have a skirt on it) couldn't have a skirt put on it. That was a Friday afternoon and I was still ranting about it when Deb and Murray came over that night. The following Friday I turned in my notice, worked out my two weeks and went to work for Murray and Deb.

[ragtacker]

You know, it's really rotten when the only person you can yell at is yourself! >:(  Been there wa-a-y too many times! :'(

[Geech]

If I made it to mid December without a re-do I'd be pouring champagne so first I'd like to say congrats on a very accurate year, even if you feel you came up short of your goal.

Secondly, I want to say your method of handling it is very inspiring.  While not rocket science, I have to be honest and say I've never taken the time to do a root cause analysis when I've come across as mistake of my own - only when its an employee and not quite to the intelligent level you use for your own problem.  I usually spend
half the re-do distracted and upset that it happened, but I can really see how taking 5-10 minutes to think it through and "put it behind me" with a lesson learned will help me "move on."

While it hals  never my goal to make mistakes, never once have I ever set a goal to have 100% accuracy which shocks me considering in my previous industry, accuracy was absolutely a measure of one's performance.  I guess its one of the things I slacked off on when becoming self employed, but absolutely will be a New Year Resolution I plan on starting early - make it through today, then next week, next month, etc! 

I guess the key is to "celebrate" the successes and not spend too much time focusing on the failures, just enough to learn from them.  That right there has been my greatest weakness to date.

Thanks for sharing
Greg