Had a customer today say my brick pattern was "too busy"

She wanted me to tear out a herringbone walkway I just finished near the front steps because the angles hurt her eyes. Do you ever get folks who just don't get the craft part of this job?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.felix1mo ago

Dude yes I feel this so hard. Had a guy last summer watch me lay a full basketweave patio for like three days and then tell me it looked like “a mess of squares” and wanted me to redo it in straight lines. Like bro the whole point is the pattern, you picked it out of the book yourself. Some people just see the end result and have zero appreciation for the hours of dry fitting and leveling that goes into making it look tight. It’s maddening when they act like you made a mistake when actually you nailed exactly what they asked for.

parkerbrown1mo ago

Did they think the pattern was an accident?

murphy.aaron1mo ago

Man, that reminds me of this lady I did a garden path for. She brought me a picture of a curly, meandering path from some magazine and said "I want this exactly." I spent two days digging out the curve, laying the stones just right so it looked natural and flowing. She comes out when I'm done, stares at it for a minute, and goes "It's too crooked. Can you make it straighter?" I just stood there with my shovel in my hand wondering if I was in some kind of prank show. People see a picture and think they want the thing, but they don't actually understand what the thing looks like in real life. It's like ordering chocolate cake and then complaining it's brown.