Have you or someone on your team made a mistake in construction? Your answer should be yes, and so is mine! As a matter of fact, I just spent the last week correcting a mistake that my team made, and I took full responsibility as the lead.

You want to see the difference between an experienced rehabber/builder, and an inexperienced one... watch how they react to a mistake in their construction process.

Let me break some bad news to you... no matter your experience level, MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN ON EVERY PROJECT!

Sorry for the shouting, but this is important to accept! Many new rehabbers believe that the construction process is meant to be perfected. Experienced rehabbers understand that construction is an imperfect process. Acting as if mistakes are not going to happen is a trait of a novice, and it ends up negatively affecting your relationships, schedules and quality of work. 

Instead I want to encourage you to embrace the fact that mistakes are going to happen, and be prepared for them. When something goes wrong simply;

1. Get the full story. Find out exactly went wrong, and why. You're not looking for specifically who is at fault as much as you are looking for how you can avoid it in the future.

2. No finger pointing. This is maybe the most important part. Do not point fingers. Of course bring the situation to everyone's attention. However if you start pointing fingers, one day the finger will be pointed right back at you when you inevitably make a mistake. 

3. Make a plan. Get with your full team to solve the problem. Consult everyone possible to get a good plan, so you can move through the mistake quickly. The point is to solve the problem asap and not have it come back up again.

4. Move forward. Don't look back or harp on the situation. Just keep moving. 

The point of this process is to not play the "blame game", and act quickly and efficiently. Do not drop your head or feel bad about yourself, just accept it as part of the process. Have the mindset that your performance as a rehabber is not just avoiding mistakes, but correcting them efficiently. Again, this all revolved around the acceptance that mistakes will happen.

One final note, this is why it is crucial to recognize the important things to focus on, and avoid spending too much time on the small things. I've said it before, small mistakes are easy to fix and big mistakes can ruin your project. If you spend too much time worrying about the small, insignificant things, then big mistakes are bound to happen. 

Hope this helps with some encouragement on your Friday! Do not get down when mistakes happen. Just keep moving, it happens to the best of us.