I sometimes joke that I should change my job description from “Architect” to “Professional Helper of Decision-Making,” because I spend so much time doing it!
My first jobs out of college were all in construction - first in the field and as a laborer, and then in the office as an assistant, estimator, and project manager - and these are all great places to learn how to make decisions. There seem like 1000s of decisions to make every day, and they can all feel important, weighty, and full of risk.
When I became an architect, I saw another side of decision making - helping my clients make 1000s of decisions that come up during design - from “should I sell my house or renovate it” to “should I spend more on systems up front to minimize operational costs, or will that shrink my budget for cool finishes too much” to “what kind of faucet color do I like?”
Sometimes clients will, in a state of pure overload, look at me and say “just tell me what to do, I’m tired of making decisions!”
I get it. As a business owner, as someone who’s done her own gut home renovation, as someone navigating modern life with no instruction book…sometimes I just want someone to tell me what to do too!
I write a lot about nuts and bolts construction in these newsletters, but I honestly think this may be one of the most important ones I’ve ever written. It’s something I’ve been working on and thinking about a lot over the years!
As I’ve worked with clients on all aspects of design and construction projects, I’ve noticed the dread, fatigue, and annoyance of having to make so many decisions, and folks feeling stuck. There’s a reason architects joke that we should have degrees in marriage counseling - and we’re not just talking about residential projects!
This stuff is hard. But I promise, at the very end, I summarize it in two bullet points, and five words.
Ok, so…let’s dive in
Here are some of the biggest mistakes I see clients making, and here are some of the best way I know of to make decisions - hopefully these can help you keep things moving in whatever way you need it!
Mistakes:
Feeling overwhelmed by the present, and not being able to see the big picture.
“Penny wise and pound foolish” decisions. If the house or the building is a long-term hold, you should be buying the best quality you can. That may mean reducing the scope of the project
Phasing things in weird or unproductive ways. One of the most universal things I hear from potential clients is that they want to phase a renovation to save money. First of all, buying “in bulk” often applies to construction projects - having the plumber come out once to do 3 bathrooms at once is cheaper per bathroom than having him come out to do them one at a time. Second of all, do you really want to live in a constant construction site, year after year? Third, construction prices don’t go down. Sure, lumber is currently lower than it has been in a while, but everything else is up, including labor. And it just doesn’t go down. Do as much as you can at one time - even if that means holding off on the project for a year or two to get your finances in order to support a larger project.
Doubting decisions you made outside “the heat of battle” [aka construction]. As part of our process, our clients make 99% of the design, material, fixture, and finish selections *before construction starts.* Things are calm, hammers haven’t started swinging, and we’ve got time and clarity to make decisions. But sometimes, clients second guess themselves. Resist this urge! As architect, my role is “project historian,” saying things like, “here is why you made this decision a few months ago, and here is how it fits into every other decision you’ve made. It’s ok to change your mind, but let’s proceed with caution.” Make sure you’ve got a “project historian” who can remind you, when you’re in the heat of battle, why you chose what you chose…and help you stay the course.
Confusing “urgent” and “important.” Cue the “Eisenhower Matrix,” which you might already be familiar with:
Allowing the priorities of others to cloud your judgement. During construction, the contractor may be pushing you toward things that make *his* life easier…resist! This isn’t about his temporary convenience, this is about *your* project. During design, your friend might be pushing you to include certain design elements, because they did it in their house and they love it. It’s not their house, it’s yours! During feasibility studies, your real estate buddies from other markets might be pushing you to do certain things in your project, but that’s based on *their* market, not yours. Bottom line - these folks are offering advice and thoughts in good faith, but…that doesn’t mean it’s what’s best for you and your project.
Not explicitly stating your goals for the project. If you don’t know what your priorities are for a project, it’ll be pretty dang hard to know how to make tough decisions. For example, if you need to make sure the project is done so you can lease the building by a certain date, then “timeline” becomes your driving motivation - you will make decisions that prioritize speed. If, on the other hand, it’s your forever home, and you find out the tile you fell in love with is delayed 6 weeks, you may decide to stick with it, because that 6 weeks means nothing in the grand scheme of a home you’ll cherish for 30 years.
Bonus: Write these priorities down in a “guiding light” document, that you can return to over the course of the project. The real estate investor/operator version of this is their collection of spreadsheets and business plan that describes the numbers they need to hit, description of their target market and what that market wants to see in a similar project, etc. The homeowner version of this still considers the numbers, but may have additional intangible goals - creating a generational home for family, etc.
Ok let’s talk good decision making techniques…but just a reminder that even though I’m using examples primarily from home renovations, because they’re concrete and easy to understand quickly, these same techniques, questions, etc apply to any kind of decision making. I routinely ask these types of questions of clients with giant projects, developers, folks I consult with, etc…the principles are pretty applicable across scales/project types.
Breathe. Take a beat. Gather yourself.
Return to your “guiding light” document. What are your priorities, and how does this decision fit into it?
Use a classic decision making tool - list the pros and cons, with the help of your design/construction team! Another one I really like is a decision web, where you list your priorities, and then assign a value to each priority for a certain decision. In the example below, two decisions are being weighed. Let’s say “red” is “Should I upgrade the HVAC?” Here, the person has said that the most important factors in that decision are timeline, sustainability, and supporting their lifestyle - so those are the factors they should consider most highly when making the HVAC decision, rather than focusing on budget or aesthetics.
Understand what kind of “decision making personality” you have. I’ve observed a few different types over the years…you probably have a few of these traits, depending on what kind of decision you’re making, and on the level of expertise you have. You may feel super confident with decisions at your job, but totally lose footing [or interest] in certain decisions you have to make in a design and construction project. Understanding yourself here is paramount; it’s one of the major things I’m secretly doing when I meet a new client! I need to understand how they make decisions so I can help guide them.
“I’m going to make a decision no matter what because I’d rather have it off my plate, even if that decision is wrong, I’ll live with it.”
“I’m not able to make a decision til I have done piles of research, and even then, it’s safer to just stick with what I know because I can’t research all the options.”
“I don’t know what to do, but I’ll discuss with other folks whom I trust. Whomever I spoke to last is probably whose advice I’ll take, whether I agree with it deep down or not.”
“I care a lot about all this stuff, but I just don’t have brain space or time to make all these decisions. I feel like this process is passing me by and I might be missing things, but I just don’t have the time.”
“What is the return on investment of this decision? Will the blue tile or the green tile get me more rent/higher sales price/happier life?”
“Whatever my wife wants is fine. I just want to move on.”
“I’m so worried about the financial impact of this project, that every decision I have to make feels like I’m spending money in ways that I don’t quite understand or feel comfortable with. I need to see quotes on everything, down to the boxes of screws!”
“I LOVE talking through options and making decisions about technical aspects of the project, but I get really overwhelmed and lose interest when we start having to make aesthetic decisions.”
To get past some of these sticking points, which are different for different people and for different kinds of decisions, here are some of the questions I might ask my client:
“When you picture your life in this house in 5 years, what are you most looking forward to?” This can shake loose the fixation on the immediate moment, and put folks in a place where the mess of the project is a distant memory and they’re happy in their gorgeous new home. What rises to the top?
“What will this cost to skip now, vs try to do later?” Let’s use me as an example here. On my own renovation, I was looking for things to cut for budget reasons, and I eliminated a handshower in the primary shower - it saved me about $1200, which is not nothing! But now, 2 years later, I wish I had a handshower, and I’d gladly pay $1200…because the cost of putting one in [re-plumbing, ripping out and replacing tile, etc] is many times that. I was too focused on that moment, and missed how I was boxing myself in later. Small example…but this principle applies at all scales.
“How reversible is this decision?” Sometimes it can help to remind yourself that there’s a “spectrum of permanence” - some things are easy to switch out later if you change your mind, some things are really hard. For instance…hard = foundation. You don’t want to get that wrong, it’s literally the base of the whole building. Easy = paint. Yes, I know paint can be expensive, but repainting is a simple fix if you get it wrong. Some things you may think are hard are easy, and vice versa - this is where a good project team really helps!
“What does this decision lock me into, down the road?”
“Why am I hesitating about this decision - is it legit “spidey sense” I should listen to, or is this coming from something else?”
“What did I decide the last time I made a similar decision, and how did it go?”
“Am I just tired of making decisions, and should I take a break?” [Decision fatigue is real!]
“Am I over-prioritizing money or timeline? Will this price increase or time delay feel like a drop in the bucket later?”
“How does my gut feel?”
“Am I using the right metrics, or am I valuing something here that actually doesn’t matter to me?” [This one happens when folks are overly worried about what others will think.]
And of course, saving the classics for last…design and construction is basically a constant tradeoff between time, money, and scope [and quality] - you can’t win in all three. Gotta pick two!
“What are the cost implications of this decision - today, tomorrow, operationally, etc?”
“What are the timeline implications of this decision?”
So all that said….
My decision-making techniques boil down to two things:
Know yourself
Know your goals
If you know those two things, you’re good to go.
Of course, decisions are also not made in a vacuum - most projects have more than one person involved, and those people may have different priorities, which can grind decision making to a halt. Whether it’s the facilities department prioritizing different things than the marketing team, or whether it’s a husband and wife trying to find middle ground on a home project, it’s the same set of issues: how do we get consensus?
Many more people smarter/more educated than I am in these topics have written about this already, so I’m simply presenting what I’ve learned in the trenches of actively helping people make decisions, some of which can have big implications.
I’d love to hear some of the ways you use to make decisions around building projects!
As always, thank you for supporting my work with this newsletter! I’m 100% reader supported, so it means a lot, and helps make this work possible!
If you know someone who might be interested, please share with them!
Project historian is such a succinct way of putting it.
I can't count the number of times I've reminded (consoled?) a client in the midst of construction why a certain decision was made.