Honesty is the policy
It was interesting that we had a service call today from a customer that we renovated a roof for and applied roof insulation with polyurethane spray foam about 6 months ago.
At the time we explained to the customer that unless he was prepared to drop ceilings then we would be unable to guarantee that his slates would be bonded in skilling areas - areas where the ceiling board is up against the roof rafters and there is no way to satisfactorily spray the slates in these areas. What we did was our best to shoot controlled amounts of foam down into these areas to insulate and catch slates as best we could. Inevitably, the longer the skilling area the more difficult it becomes to ensure foam gets to all the right places and fully bonds to all the slates.
Now it was important to the customer not just to have roof insulation but to also have the roof bonded with polyurethane spray foam since the roof was 100 years plus suffering with nail fatigue. Basically, the nails were all practically rusted through and slates were beginning to slip in ever greater numbers each year. The customer needed a permanent fix and less cost than a re-roof. Polyurethane spray foam offered a low cost way to achieve this.
We quoted and won the work but also told the customer in writing that we could not guarantee that no slates would slip in the skilling areas unless he was prepared for the ceilings to come down. Understandably the customer did not want the mess and hassle of taking down and then reinstating ceilings. So, 6 months after we completed the work we are back this week to re-fix a slate that has slipped. The customer was very happy however since we had not pulled the wool over his eyes in the first place and he half expected that a few slates might indeed slip. Not only was he happy but he also gave us his sister as a recommendation who also called the same day. So a slipping slate resulted in a recommendation as well!
The moral of the story? Honesty keeps everyone happy and not labouring under false expectations and customers are happy to recommend you.