Your customer just spent the last 25 years perfecting their landscaping, spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours working on every square inch of their yard. They are in a state of bliss because now they can just lay back and enjoy the yard which now brings them so much happiness. They were never in their life made aware that someday the onsite system would fail and large equipment and trucks would need to get in and out of the yard for a day or two. 

Of course their system is tucked in the farthest reaches of the back of their lot. Between the road and where their new system will have to go is all of their landscaping. And this isn’t small stuff anymore; people are designing their entire yards (homes and all) to fit ever more exorbitant landscaping. 

As their onsite system begins to fail they make the call but nothing has prepared them. Their yard still looked exactly the same after they had their furnace replaced. Their yard looked exactly the same after their roof was replaced. We all know that part of our job as an onsite installer is being a therapist. How you prepare your customer is directly proportional to the outcome of the job. 

Communication

Not only do you have to stress what they should expect in terms of their landscaping, communicating clearly about when you are going to be there seems more crucial than ever. When a person orders an item online, they can now track it online from the warehouse to their door. They assume that is the same with onsite system installation: I ordered it, now where is it? If a long wet, warm winter with no frost taught me anything, it’s that there is no such thing as too much communication with the customer. This was one of our worst winters in our area ever as far as weather (not) cooperating. It rained all winter, it never froze, we didn’t have frost, and it never dried so trucks could not get into yards at all.

During this time customers are wondering where we are and no matter how many times I told them, “It needs to either freeze or dry,” after the next rain I would get a call asking where we are. It shouldn’t have been tough to comprehend. What I realized was that no matter how many times it kept raining, they wanted regular contact saying we did not forget about them and they are indeed on our schedule. Cranky customers were happy with the simplest of follow-ups letting them know we would get there when we could. 

You need to keep fairly regular contact with the customer because as soon as you don’t, they feel off the schedule. Come up with a good “tracking system” where you keep them “in the loop” whether phone, text, email, or another method that allows them to know the timeline. When I do this I always use the terms “tentatively” scheduled for such and such a date “weather permitting.”

Managing customer expectations 

There is so much more than just keeping a line of communication open with the customer. Customers rarely know what to expect when you are replacing their system. They have never had this experience before. They all expect their yard will look the same as it does now after the system goes in. You really need to stress to the customer the magnitude of what is going to happen to their yard. Make it sound worse than it will be so that it looks better in the end. My contracts say no site restoration, but that we can bid it separately. This way, when the customer wants to discuss restoration, we warn them not to rush into site restoration; depending on climate and soil conditions, they could have settling for months. I always recommend waiting on full site restoration through one rain season (fall or spring) to minimize potential for settling after the restoration has been completed. But also let your customer know there is always potential for settling. It’s a natural part of excavation and backfill.

A contractor posted pictures prominently on his website of what the site looks like during (at its worst) and after the job is completed. You cannot manage a customer expectation better than that — show them what to expect.

Other considerations

Access: Using their driveway? You better let them know in writing what the weight of your trucks and equipment could potentially do to their driveway. Managing driveway expectations up front, in writing, is the best way to save headaches and money. Our company always tries to put a pipe in the ditch, then fill the ditch with topsoil and use the ditch for access, but there are jobs where the driveway is the only option. I had one job recently where tires did sink a little bit. And although we were covered contractually, that did not stop real estate brokers, buyers and sellers from asking and insisting on a new driveway (to replace the really old cracked one they have).

Overhead utility lines: Will overhead utilities have to be dropped temporarily? There are many reasons this is critical to let them know. With many people working from home now there might be detrimental consequences to losing power or fiber optic without advance notice. 

Do a site walkthrough where you lay out the system and the truck and equipment access. This is a win-win. As an installer, it allows you to see what you are getting yourself into: Do you need smaller equipment for this job? It also allows you to mark and discuss with customers what landscaping or other yard impediments they have to move prior to the work or possibly lose.

Ongoing, thorough communication with a customer is one of the most important things you can do to assure the best possible outcome. Don’t paint a rosy picture, let them know you are doing everything you can to minimize the impact to their yard, and then explain what has to be done and how. 

An onsite installer who does a great job of preparing the customer in advance and keeping them informed before and during the project creates a much more satisfied customer.

---

About the author
Todd Stair is vice president of Herr Construction, Inc., with 34 years’ experience designing, installing, repairing, replacing and evaluating septic and mound systems in southeast Wisconsin. He is the author of The Book on Septics and Mounds and a former president of the Wisconsin Onsite Water Recycling Association.