How detailed are the notes you take on the first meeting with a potential client.
Other than dimensions of course.
I’d almost like to use a recorder to listen to the conversation over again to pick up any little nuggets of info I may have missed.
Wouldnt writing down every little thing they mention seem weird? But then again you need to remeber the important stuff about the project as well as personal details they may drop in there.
Me personally, I can t write that fast and when I do its illegible when I get home anyway.
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Name addy and phone numbers
Where to send the bills.
I let one of them fill that in ( and check to be sure I can read their writing) so I can focus on the conversation.
I can recall pretty good when I am focused, so I write down the important points later while it is fresh in my head.
That keeps my eyes able to watch the body language and other things, instead of looking down at my paper.
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I take a camera and take pictures of everything.
While I am doing this I think I am taking too many.
But at home I know I didn't take enough.
I write down as much as I can. Even guesses on time to d0 certain tasks.
I intend to do as Piffin does, but it's pretty easy to let it slip until tomorrow.
Most people who call me already know who I am and they want to do the project. Most 1st meetings are not get to know each other sessions.
Rich
I scribble note on the yellow legal pad.
notes and quick sketches.
since HS, I've developed a chicken scratch shorthand that only I can understand, but I can scribble quick w/o really looking at the paper and sometimes can even remember what the hell I meant. I write ... circle and underline ... throw in a coupla big stars and check marks ... all very unorganized but I know what I mean.
then when I get home ... I try to write it out should someone else actually need some info, or that I actually need to know what it said a week later.
with all the scribbling ... I do get fairly detailed. I do remodeling, so there's lotsa details to get right, right from the start ... that'll make or break the job. Both in a design that the customers will be happy with and details about the construction that'll make or break my back and bank account.
I often wonder what others think is important, and how they decide what's important ... and what to ask.
My Dad starting bring me on meetings with him when I was a kid, so I had lotsa time to listen and learn.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
I take lots of notes and still find when I get home I missed something. But I also take a lot of photos which help. I also bought a Bosch DLR165 laser measurer, most helpful tool.
Like Cal I always took a digital camera. Worth a thousand words, each shot that is. I always took "reminder notes". I have a pretty good memory and I just need measurements and notes to remind me of special stuff the client asked about. Just abreviated stuff and then go back to the office and write it out long hand was my practice. DanT
I always want the client to define the project scope, and finished product they expect. You do have to help them get there though. A picture catalog, or "idea book", of past work helps a lot here.
If they have pictures from magazines, get pictures of them.
Discuss the level of quality they want, regarding windows, trim, etc.
You are trying to come to a mutual understanding of what they want.
Taking a lot of notes shouldn't put the potential clients off, particularly if you explain at the start that you need to be sure you all have the same vision of the finished work, so you can give them an honest estimate of work, and the cost. The last thing you want is for you, the wife, and the husband, to all have different mental images of what you are trying to design/bid/build.
The final thing to do, is write up a couple of summary paragraphs with them before you leave.
I take photos, make rough drawings, and make a bulleted list of what the client wants me to do. Sometimes I will make several rough floor-plans of different ideas for the client to look at right then so one can be chosen.
When I get back to my office, I render the sketches into ACAD drawings, and type up an e-mail confirming what I think the client said at the meeting and send it all back for her to re-confirm.
Once that's a go, I start doing the real design and the estimates.
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Thanks to all for the great replies.