The Profit Builder Unscripted

The Power of Saying No | Contractor Time Management Tips

• Vicki Suiter • Episode 58

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Ever had a small schedule slip snowball into awkward calls and late nights?

A simple roofing contractor’s delay at a friend’s home sparked this episode and a hard look at why so many of us overcommit.

In this episode, I unpack that story and the simple shift that turned “sure, I can do it” moments into clear, doable commitments. You’ll hear…

  • The quick questions I run through before agreeing to anything
  • How to reset expectations mid-stream without drama
  • The three-line message that keeps clients calm while you protect your calendar.

Why listen? If your days feel crowded, bids stack up, and crews wait on you for answers, this will help steady schedules, reduce rework, and keep your word intact - without burning yourself out.

Ready to make big promises doable? Hit play and grab the small shift that changes everything.

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As a contractor, do you have a hard time ever saying no to people? If so, make sure to listen to this episode because we're going to talk about what might be behind that and what's something that you can do to make it a little easier on yourself. Hi, I'm Vicki Suiter and welcome back to the Profit Builder Unscripted.

A friend of mine is going through a remodel on her house and when I was over there last week we were waiting for the roofing contractor to show up and they were supposed to be there at nine o'clock. Nine o'clock came, they weren't there. Nine thirty came, they weren't there. Ten o'clock came, they weren't there. And I began to complained to her about you know the thing with contractors is if they could just understand That if they showed up on time and did what they said they were gonna do when they said they were gonna do it They would have so much business because they would stand out from everybody else like that whole simple thing about just keep your word do what you say you're gonna do when you say you're gonna do it and What she said to me at that moment surprised me she said, you know what? I don't think it's that he doesn't care. And I don't think that he's lazy. And I don't think that he's irresponsible. What I do think is he has a hard time saying no. She said, I think that really his problem is that he's overcommitted. He doesn't want to say no. 

So when she says, when I said, hey, can you be here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock? I got something else I need to be doing by 10 o'clock. He said, yeah, sure, no problem. But he didn't really, like, it wasn't like a commitment that he could actually keep because he had other commitments or he had other things going on. He was going to try to cram it in. He didn't want to disappoint me. And it was just such a light bulb moment when she said this to me because It got us on, it really started this whole great conversation that she and I had about the whole thing of how often do we say yes because we don't want to disappoint somebody or we don't want to be perceived as somebody who can't like, you know, can't do what somebody else is asking them to do or that we're afraid that if we say no, that that person will reject us. We'll not want to, we'll not want to hire us, won't want to do work with us, won't want to whatever with us. How often does our own insecurity keep us from saying, I'm sorry, I can't do that? Now, if you're listening to this, like maybe this is not an issue for you and maybe you always show up on time and maybe you're great at keeping your agreements. And that's awesome. 

But what I know is that sometimes there are people out there, including me, I'll say that there's times when I say yes to something and I really should be saying no to it. Because, and it really got me thinking, when do I do that? When are the moments when I say I'll do something that I don't really wanna do or I can't do, but I don't wanna disappoint the person or I don't wanna let them down or I don't wanna appear to be, you know, unavailable and I think in construction, I mean I see this with contractors is I think that sometimes you go, well if I don't say yes, they'll go find somebody else to do it, if I can't do it right now. And it so works against us when we do that because then it ends up that people go, ⁓ they can't be counted on, they're not doing what they said they were gonna do.

I can't rely on that person and then they will go find somebody else. And I just really, it was such a great conversation and I bring it up because I think it's good for all of us to think about how often do we say yes when we really should say no or not now or can we do it a different time or renegotiated agreement before it's a broken agreement. Like I'm sure that roofer was going through such anxiety about the fact that he should have been there at nine and he didn't show up until quite a bit later. And that his, like how much stress did that put on the system for him? And that then he felt bad when he showed up. And then there's a whole conversation, you know, he was lucky because my friend, like, you know, she had a very forgiving, caring dialogue about.

What his issue was, she gave him a lot of grace. But how often do people just kind of write us off? you know, so, you know, I just, thought it was an interesting thing for us to talk about. And then I really wanted to share because I see this a lot. I think that there's a lot of times when we say no, you know, say yes when we should say no. And I think that there's this other thing of, how do we maintain our identity as somebody who can be counted on and trusted? Because that whole thing of not being able to say no or not keeping our agreements or going, it was 15 minutes more, it starts to deteriorate our identity and reputation. And actually, it does the exact opposite of what we had hoped that it would do in the first place. And...

So, you know, I wonder for you, you know, is there something in this that you can kind of maybe take away that you can look at and go, hey, is there, or is there someone on your team who's like this, right? Or a contractor, another contractor that you work with who maybe does this a lot where they just don't keep their agreements, but maybe they're just saying yes when they really need to say no, or they need to say not now, but later. And...

Maybe that's true for you too. And just a few tips, know, there's a few things that I've learned over the years. One is it's okay to say, I can't now, but can we do it? You know, will it work for you if we do it this time instead? As opposed to being a straight up no, because you know, we don't like that, right? But could you just say, I can't do that tomorrow, but could we do it the next day at this time?

Or would it work for you if we did it a little bit later in the day? So that's first of all, like maybe just letting ourselves have that. And then also when we know that we're gonna have a broken agreement, when I know I'm gonna have a broken agreement, one of the things I have found that's super helpful is if I know I'm gonna not be able to make that agreement, is I renegotiate it before it's a broken agreement. In other words, If I said I was going to be there at 9 and I know I'm going to be at 9.05, I'll call that person or text them and go, I really apologize. I'm running five minutes late. I'll be there at 9.05. Now, one thing that I think is super important, because I noticed this in other people, how other people when they're renegotiating an agreement or telling me why they're going to be late or not going to be able to make it, don't tell a story about it.

It drives me crazy when people want to tell me the story about why they're not able to keep their agreement. Just tell me, take responsibility, right? Like tell me you're going to be late and you'll be there at 9.05. Like, and I struggle with this sometimes, say. Like I want to tell the story about how come I'm not able to keep the agreement. But then I think, ⁓ it drives me crazy when people do that. So I'm not going to do it.

So just, you know, maybe a few tips. My thing that I'm going to leave you with about this is A, before you make agreements, know if you can keep that agreement. Don't say yes when you really need to say no or maybe later or can we do it a different time because you're afraid somebody is going to reject you, not want you, that you're, you know, they'll, whatever your internal dialogue is, just understand and recognize it's ours. It's not, it's really not the other person's.

Two, if you have an agreement and you're not gonna be able to keep the agreement, renegotiate it or let them know before it's a broken agreement. I was gonna be there at a certain time, I can't make it there by that time. Call before that time is gonna be a broken agreement to be there and renegotiate, let them know you're gonna be there later. Third thing is don't tell stories about it. People don't wanna hear your stories because it was so great, I used to work for this woman, Betty, and Betty used to say,

A good story in no result does not equal a result. She used to say, like, so if you started to tell her a story, she go, stop. I don't want to hear your story. You said you were going to do this. You didn't do it. Just take responsibility for it. And she wasn't being, ⁓ you know, she wasn't being a B about it. She was just basically saying, just take responsibility. Like in responsibility, I love this.

So the responsibility is not shame, blame, fault. Like so many times we think that it is, right? But all responsibility is, is the ability to respond. So when I call and renegotiate before I have an agreement, I'm taking responsibility for, hey, I'm not going to be there on time. My apologies, period. I didn't do what I said I was going to do. All the stories in the world won't make any difference to the fact that that didn't happen.

A good story doesn't make it happen. All right. So I hope you find this valuable. Love to hear your thoughts if you want to drop a note down below. If you like the content on my channel, please subscribe. I talk about all kinds of things from, you know, just being a human being to leadership to financial management in your construction business and how to make a consistent profit. And

⁓ If you know somebody else who would get value for this, ⁓ by all means, please share it. And thank you. Thanks for being part of this community. And I look forward to seeing you next time on the Profit Builder Unscripted.


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Vicki Suiter

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