Vendor Accountability in Construction

I hope I’m not the first to tell you this, but mistakes happen in every industry.

Construction + Millwork is no different, in fact it’s not known for handling issues on site with utmost poise. While we are not claiming to be perfect by any means, we’re proud to bring a refreshing dash of candor and accountability to the franchise construction industry. By taking responsibility for our goods and services, we pivot the energy others would spend scapegoating into productive problem solving. Recently we had an opportunity to put this plan into action, and thought we would share it!

Read on for a case study of how our team handled a damaged Millwork component – and got the franchisee open on time!

On site Problem: Damaged Millwork 

A few weeks back, our Project Coordinator, Tim Blommel went to assist with a franchisee's Millwork Installation at ~ week 5 of Construction. This is right on the ideal pace for Millwork installation, as the bulk of Construction is nearly complete - with a few cosmetic items wrapping up that typically require the millwork to be in place.

Here's what happened:

• • During installation process, a large glass panel was damaged.
  • Despite all precautions taken, the odds are never zero!
  • Tim saw this, and immediately called Spark HQ.
  • The team back home investigated the pool of vetted vendors and got a quote for the replacement part of the damaged panel, per the brand specifications.
  • This is a critical component of their design, so an on-spec match was imperative!
    
    
    
    

• Within 2 days, the quotes were in, and the part was ordered.

• Within 2 weeks, the panel was replaced.

• *Within 2 weeks and 1 minute, Tim finally took a deep breath.

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• Since the franchisee followed the recommended Construction Schedule, which has some flexibility built in, she did not need to delay her target open date.  We are excited for her location to open shortly! 

• We are grateful that our team was able to take productive steps immediately to benefit our client.  With other large vendors, even with a warranty, it can take weeks (or months) to resolve an issue like this one. Large companies have massive legal teams that often do not have any experience on site. They view you as the voice behind a claim, not a customer or partner. You have a limited number of days to file things a specific way, or you risk starting from square one and running out of time before the window to apply for the claim expires.

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  As a franchisee, especially on your first location, this can be incredibly frustrating and stressful. The expenses of replacing the damaged part, the potential delay of your opening, paying dark rent, all with no income from your business is a heavy thought!

• Here at Spark FS we view our brands, and their franchisees that choose to work with us (awe, thank you), as a partnership. We aspire to grow with your brand, learning from your corporate team and contributing our expertise to each project with as much vigor to learn as the first. We invest too much time into each brand partner to be able to make a ‘one-and-done, time to cash out’ mentality work for us!

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• Summary

• Mistakes are bound to happen time to time in Construction; but you can learn a lot about your vendors in times of trouble. While we don’t relish it when issues happen on site, we take pride in how our team approaches them and tenaciously seeks a solution. As you consider us for your next build we welcome you to reach out to our references!