In a custom home company, the buyer talks to one person during sales, a different person produces the estimate, and another runs production. Each handoff is a chance for something the buyer said or was promised to disappear. The buyer experiences this as the company not listening, even when everyone worked hard.
The fix is rarely a bigger tool. It is deciding what must be passed along at each handoff, who owns passing it, and where it is written down.
Handoff 1: Sales to estimating
- The buyer's priorities and constraints are written down in the buyer's own terms, not just a list of features.
- Anything the buyer was told about budget, timing or scope is recorded, including what was left open.
- Plans, lot information and inspiration material are stored where estimating can find them without asking.
- Estimating knows who to contact with questions, and the buyer is told who that is.
Handoff 2: Estimating to contract and production
- Assumptions behind the estimate are written next to the numbers, not only in the estimator's head.
- Allowances and selections that are still undecided are listed with an owner and a due date.
- The production lead reviews the estimate and scope before the buyer signs, not after.
- What changed between the first conversation and the signed scope is stated plainly to the buyer.
Handoff 3: Production to the buyer, day to day
- The buyer knows who their single point of contact is during construction.
- Updates follow a rhythm the buyer was told about, so silence does not read as a problem.
- Questions and decisions from the buyer are logged with the date, the answer and who gave it.
- Change requests are written down, priced and approved before work proceeds.
- Photos and progress notes live somewhere the buyer and the team can both reach.
How to find your weak handoff
Pick one recent project and ask each person involved to write down, separately, what the buyer was promised and what changed along the way. Differences between the lists show you where information was lost. Start by fixing the handoff with the biggest gap, using whatever you already use: a shared folder, a standard form, a short meeting.
Where software fits
Once the handoffs are defined, software can keep project information and communication in one place so it does not depend on one person's phone. Relay is AXEN's construction software offering for project information and communication, and we can walk through whether it fits your company. It is optional, and existing tools and process changes usually come first.
If you want help mapping your own handoffs, apply and describe where projects tend to slip.