Transparency Matters
Hi there, Shana Acquisto broker, Acquisto Real Estate, and I’ve got here can’t elsewhere, owner of Newport Homebuilders. And you know, kitten, I got to know each other through a transaction. So I had a client that built a home. And what an amazing process this is. You know, it can be daunting, especially in this crazy market, to embark on this in, you know. This journey, and like I said earlier, we have a client that’s extremely picky, right? So when we came in, you were from the very beginning, very upfront and honest and transparent about everything, even costs. Like we were like, wow, he’s showing us the costs. So why why do you do that?
You know, in today’s world, I don’t think there are any secrets out there. And I think the most the most honest you can be with with a client is just to be upfront, honest with them. It’s as I found, as far as I’m honest with them, they’re honest with me. And we can achieve the same goals, which is to build them a quality quality home.
Well, and I think that’s correct, because if if someone’s not fully comfortable and they don’t trust you, are they really going to tell you everything that they want? They don’t want you to feel like they’re annoying or a problem or anything like that. So you find being transparent, you know, just opens them up to also be transparent in the more, you know. The more the better the process is going to be, so you were very upfront about the costs.
So from my perspective, we’re hearing all the time in this market right now that builders can cancel your contract if the price goes up. You know, all these scary things like you sell your home and you’re waiting on your home to be completed and then all of a sudden it’s canceled. That wouldn’t be good. So when you’re sharing those costs, you feel like they know the costs. And that way, you know, you you set that precedent, right? Then here’s what the costs are, you guys. And, you know, I’ve maybe cushioned a little bit in there. I don’t want to do that to you.
So I think I think most homeowners expect us to make a profit there in a business or to make a profit. And I think the more honest you can be with what those costs are to, you know, to to build the home again, as you just said earlier, it opens the door to them than being honest with us.
One of the first things I tell a homeowner is building a home is an imperfect process. It’s not what happens along the way. It’s the end result that’s important. And if they’re not communicating with us, I walk through the house and I saw this this particular thing, we don’t we can’t address it at the proper time. Right. It ends up being much more difficult at the end. So I think being transparent, upfront on our end in the initial sales creates transparency throughout the process.
You know, when we talk a lot about the relationship, like it’s all about the relationship. Yes, you need somebody that that has the knowledge and experience to go through the process with. But it’s all about the relationship. Right. And if you’re butting heads from the beginning, it just doesn’t make any sense. Sure. But, you know, I thought that was pretty impressive that you did that, because if you go into just a random builder and you see in your contract that they can terminate, you don’t know what the costs are.
So they could just up and terminate it if somebody came in and offered more. And do we think that happens? Unfortunately, I do. I think it happens. So, you know, having the experience, the transparency and, you know, the owner of the company work with you, it’s super impressive. And I’ve done this 20 years now, and this is probably the single most impressive custom build process that I’ve ever I’ve ever been a part of. So I really appreciate that. And, you know, I’m going to throw this out there and it’s, you know, maybe we should talk about it, maybe we shouldn’t.
But we did have a little issue just recently with a brick color. OK, so our client picked a specific color and then, you know, they they go to Brick and, you know, they do a certain I don’t know, what is it, three feet. So you can get a good sampling of what it’s going to look like. And it was like that is not at all what I thought it would look like. So, you know, you were very transparent up front about, you know, some things they may cancel your tile and this is how we’re going to do it. So you were able to overcome that? Sure. Pretty easily with probably the most pick, the biggest client that I’ve had.
So I think that’s part of the process of transparency is I would much rather know that that brick is not meeting their expectations now because there are things we can do to address that brick and talked about it. We’re going to do that. But it’s hard to pick a brick off a small sample, and it really is an honor to go look at another home with that same brick. There’s a lot of factors that can can affect that brick. So but by understanding what their concern was, allows us to go in and make some corrections to meet their expectations.
And now we’re past that. It was over just like that. So transparency is super important. And I think that is a qualifying. You know, one of the qualifying things you need to know when you you were about to embark on anything is how transparent that other person is. And, you know, you’ve got to really get to know them and establish that relationship first. So thank you for that. So let’s move on to another topic.
Episode Links
Shana Acquisto broker, Acquisto Real Estate, Newport Homebuilders.
