My brother Jim was running Pelger Electric, a small electrical contracting firm started by our Dad and Grandfather in 1946. Jim and I were discussing Owners and he said, “You know, you should just let chislers work with chiselers.” I remember thinking about the various rotten Owners I’ve done projects for and how the ones I knew would be chiselers certainly ended up acting the part. The projects we did for them were torture and rarely made enough money to be worth doing.

At the time Jim and I spoke, I was running a 75 person general contracting firm and felt I needed to take whatever work we could snag to keep all the bodies busy. When I went on my own, I was able to more carefully choose my Owners. Life improves dramatically when not working for chislers (Owners who aren’t happy unless you’ve been financially beaten up). I’ve often turned down offers for projects when I determined the Owner didn’t seem likely to have integrity. I have never regretted making one of those calls.

On the other hand, I’ve almost always regretted working for chiseler Owners. I generally had a gut feeling going into the project that this guy was going to screw me. By the end of the project, sure enough, I had been screwed. As my old boss Ed Abel said, “Never get in a pissing contest with a skunk.” In this instance, that meant that the chiseler Owner would be willing to act worse than I would and would accomplish his shenanigans.

We are starting to build 84 apartment units today and the Owner on the project got me thinking about this concept. He’s the opposite of a chiseler, he’s an honorable man who has succeeded in business by integrity and amazing competence. Dereck Hench, the Construction Supervisor I work with, told me an interesting observation about this Owner. After meeting to review lots of details, the Owner asked Dereck a question about hunting in Montana. That led to a discussion that went on for about an hour. The Owner learned about Dereck’s family, his background and many of the people they both knew. He didn’t do it to be nosy or to check him out, but he genuinely cared about who he was to be working with.

Dereck told me later, “I never had an Owner take that much of an interest in me.” By his tone I knew he appreciated the time and the attitude. This Owner not only learned more about his Construction Supervisor, he also created in Dereck an ally to protect his interests above and beyond.

Remember, just because the construction industry is struggling through some hard times now, this truth about Owners doesn’t change. Working with a chiseler Owner will generally be worse than having no work.

As you strive to understand the Owner on your project (or perhaps your boss) you can gain some useful insights with my phone app Strategy of Personality Profiles for Better Communication. This recently posted review was encouraging.

“Very Nice! Good, Quick, and knowledgeable – I used to describe my personality. And plugged wife’s, friends, and work colleagues. Right on target for all four. Can’t wait to use it more. Would be nice to print/email results (without copy and paste).” – User review from BlackBerry App World

By the way, our newly updated Version 2.0 will allow the sending and printing of results per the request.