2.Client Care Flashcards
What are the risks of going beyond your contracted scope?
You are not covered by your PI Insurance
If a client called you up at 5pm on a Friday asking for a feasibility estimate what would you do?
You would not complete the work until you have a contract in place for the works as you will not be covered under PI Insurance.
What are the dangers of an unclear scope of works?
Cost overruns, delays, an inaccurate estimates or price for the works and inadequate resource scheduling
What should be included in the appointment documents?
Scope of service, terms and conditions, fees schedule of rates or breakdown, signatures of approval, fee draw down or expenditure cashflow, complaint handling procedure and name of complaint handler.
How do you calculate fees when pricing work?
By assessing the amount and level of resources required over suitable time to carry out the service requested. They should be clear and detailed enough to show the Client what resources and rates have been allowed for so they can make a valued judgement when comparing competitive fee bids.
What do you need for a fee agreement?
Scope of service, terms and conditions, fees schedule of rates or breakdown, signatures of approval, fee draw down or expenditure cashflow.
Would you lower your fees to get a job?
No the fee shouldn’t be lowered as this is the cost or providing the resources required to carry out the requested service. Also tell client it was a fair fee for works. Could reduce the services offered to lower fee. Fee cutting is unethical and damaging to the industry.
How could this be overcome in a competitive market?
I could make and adjustment to profit margin percentage in competitive times, however this would be a commercial decision by senior management and would not have any effect on the fees and resources required to do the job.
What would you do if a client offered to pay you in advance for work yet to be done?
I could accept if there was a permissible reason to do so, however this money would be held in a client’s account, and any interest accrued would be payable to the Client.
What is RICS complaints procedure?
Complaints handling procedure must be included within Terms of Business or appointment letter. Firm must have a designated senior manager or complaint handler to respond to claims. Notify PI insurers if complaint may give rise to a claim. If a complaint cannot be resolved, it should be referred to an independent third party with the authority to award redress.
What are key performance indicators?
A key performance indicator is a business metric used to evaluate factors that are crucial to the success of an organization.
Can you give me some examples of Key Performance Indicators?
Key performance indicators can be used to:
Monitor costs.
Track progress.
Assess client satisfaction.
Identify strengths & weaknesses.
Compare performance across and between projects.
Assess specific areas of a project such as sustainability, safety, waste management etc.
How do you ensure your client is kept informed?
A process would be agreed from construction outset to agree the communication strategy. This could include;
- Monthly progress reports.
- Cost reports.
- Meetings.
- Correspondence.
- New initiative methods - online dashboard etc
How could you manage stakeholders in a construction project?
A first step in considering how to interact with stakeholders can be the preparation of a stakeholder map.
A stakeholder map might assess:
-The likely impact of the development on the stakeholder.
-The issues that they will have an interest in.
-Their likely position.
-Their ability to influence the development.
-Their potential impact on the project.
-Potential mitigating actions.
-A stakeholder map allows a plan to be developed for how to manage the involvement of different stakeholder groups.
-Where the intention is to involve stakeholders in the development of the project, they should be involved early on to allow them to influence key stages such as brief development.
Why is it important to manage stakeholders?
- They can give an indication of how planning may react to the proposals.
- They have an interest or investment in the project.
