17 Nov 2015 Paperwork, who really needs it?

There’s no time to lose. Get started and we’ll sort out the paperwork after…

Quite often, the day gets busy. You’ve barely gotten off the phone when the emails in your Inbox has grown by 6 more. Sometimes you have no choice but to compromise and take shortcuts. Some things will just have to take priority over others.

Does this sound familiar? It happens to the best of us. So what things should take priority?
Most certainly the items that have the biggest consequences if done incorrectly, or not done at all – should take the lead. Let’s look at this example …

At the regional edge of a metropolitan suburb popular for house-and-land packages, a well-known brand of builder was in the midst of constructing a home. The client was not particularly easy to deal with – this was common. It is expected that people are precious about their homes … even more so, with their first home. In this case, many variations to the original package were undertaken, features removed and details added. Each change required a signature of consent from one party, and acknowledgement of variation by the other. The project eventually went into overtime and one such variation missed this small routine – no signature was sought and in haste, works were carried out.

Guess what happened. Yes, the customer changed his mind. Either that, or it was never made up to begin with. The change was irreversible. It wasn’t a quick-fix paint job, the façade had changed entirely. You can imagine what happened next and the tedious arbitration that ensued. Needless to say, after an almost year-long battle of who was right and who was wrong, a settlement was finally reached. No one walked away the winner.

For every business, there is paperwork that is most crucial. Whether it is a checklist, a contract, customs clearance, proof of delivery, insurance – without it, you may as well turn up at the airport without your passport. Not all paperwork is critical, but when the day starts to get the better of you at least make sure you’re on top of the big-ticket items. It can help prevent a bad day turning into a bad year.