Client says contractors are working “too fast” demand they work slower, making project cost four times more: ‘$200,000 for a job that should have realistically only been worth about $45,000’

Efficiency is usually a prized quality, especially when someone’s time is costing you a lot of money. In fact, when you work on a contract basis your clients are usually accusing you of wasting time or for charging time that wasn’t worked or worked “appropriately” enough for the project. It’s unusual to have the client accusing you of working too quickly and demanding that you take your time on something—unless the job is being charged at a flat rate and they’re concerned about the quality of the work, at which point this inverse might prove true. 

When this project manager foolishly accused this concrete-cutting company of being “too fast and unsafe” in their work, the construction manager frustratedly declared that all members of his staff should adhere strictly to the safety protocol. This snail-like pace of work caused the time estimate of the project to spiral out of control, escalating from a $45,000 project to a $200,000 one, which saw the project manager losing his bonus from his own company while the construction manager walked away with a sizeable bonus himself and a windfall for the company.