Protracted parsimony

01-04-2009

I had an e-mail the other day from a journalistic friend: did I have any recent experiences that Iâd like to share about clients needing to reduce project budgets in these straitened times (Â© john bullock: 2009) and did I have any tips on how to achieve said things. I stared at the screen. There was something wrong here, but I couldnât quite put my finger on it. I didnât reply and decided to go away for a bit of mulling; the Dodger and I strolled over hill and dale in search of The Key to this Message, which â with every step - was taking on greater and greater significance for me. Then it came to me; I dashed back to the computer, sought out the message and pressed DELETE.

Because the message inside the message â the subtle subliminal subtext, if you will, lay in the suggestion implicit in the question; THAT THE CLIENT HAD ALWAYS HAD MORE MONEY TO SPEND THAN IâD EVER GIVEN THEM CREDIT FOR and that, as a consequence, Iâve been producing lower-priced schemes than I could have got away with. Damn, damn, damn.

Many a time and oft, Iâve looked at photographs in this very organ and thought; âBlimey, I wish I had clients with that kind of budgetâ. Of course, now I realise that they had that kind of money all along, and itâs only now in these straitened times (Â© john bullock: 2009) that they really need to look to their bottom line. And Iâm now in a greater bind because Iâve assumed that lighting designers have always been there to give value for money and all those little tricks and feints and sleight-of-hands that we know to keep specification costs down have been part of the day-to-day business of consultancy business. Oh, what a fool Iâve been!

But when I think back over some client decisions, it all starts to make sense.
The client who bubbled at the price of a special lantern, then took umbrage with me and went off and got it made himself â at three times the price I quoted him.
Querying the cost of a dimmer switch, then spending silly money to get a rocker switch painted in a special decorator finish, better to match the wall finish, apparently.
Not trusting the lighting designer to source a decorative fixture, preferring to entrust the interior designer with the job â with hilarious consequence.
And how about leaving the electrical design to the contractors rather than spend money on a consulting engineer â oh, what fun we had when the walls had to be chased out again after the decorating was all complete!

Yes â the money was always there. Itâs just been me being daft enough not to see the signs.