Quote:
Originally Posted by nostatic
So what exactly were you pissed off about? That he didn't pay you enough money? From a dispassionate 3rd party, it sounds like that ($$$) is the root of the problem. That rubbed you the wrong way and from that point he "owed" you. Doomed from there.
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Great question. Thanks Todd.
It was a growing anger; pent up over a year of doing business together. I thought that this guy would supcede to my experience and expertise; since I had alot more experience than him; However, he has been doing accounting for one of the largest development companies in BC, so he had his ways. I didn't agree with his ways.
As a construction engineer I stongly believe that people hire me to be the expert in the project; which means in planning, budgeting and scheduling. If I fail at any of those things, then I don't feel I've earned my fees.
I got pissed off the first time when the job cost reports were all screwed up. The bottom line "out of pocket" expenses were OK and we were on budget. My business partners didn't want me spending too much time on the house building end of things, so they incouraged me to be happy and stay out of it. But I wasn't happy.
Things got progressively worse. I got more and more angry. The bottom line is that it's turning out to be my nickel because I'm the guy with the nickels; that pisses me off. Cost to complete reports are screwed up and schedules are delayed because of my buddies management styles. He is very reactive and not proactive.
Last January, his screw ups cost me six figures. It was the first time the screw ups showed up in the reports. I said, OK, lets regroup and here's how we do it. This involved me slashing my profits by six figures and the builders by half of what I had done. Negotiations pretty much took up all of January, so February reports were pretty much on the new track.
Now comes the end of March and we're looking at more errors in the reporting systems. Cost over runs to mid five figures. It's due to the poor control on the spending, labor and material purchases. He continually fails to ignore the budget when he does his purchasing and often hasn't got a clue what is spent until the invoice shows up? I guess he's worked for too many rich guys before, I dunno.
Keep in mind, there are 3 of us in this venture. My other partner just trusts me to do the right thing and backs whatever I say or do; but he's pissed about the entire situation too; especially since we put so much effort into the planning of the cash flows, budgets, sales, etc and then to see them go to pot.
I'm pissed because Dueller is right in his devils advocate post, my friggin bad.
thanks Todd
