What I think actually happens is this: the trade gets the call, says yeah, I can do it, and just… goes around and does the work. No terms discussed. No expectations set. It’s strange when you think about it, but it happens constantly. It’s not an isolated thing — it’s almost a meme in the trade world at this point.

You can’t operate like that. Because customers can be slippery when it comes to payment. Not all of them — I’m not saying people are bad. Most of the time it’s one bad apple that ruins it for everyone. One in a hundred, whatever the number is, and then you get the classic case that makes you shake your head.

In over four years running Adelaide Glaziers, only two people have ever said to me, after I told them payment’s due on completion, “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

How do you not know that? You don’t walk into a car dealership and drive off saying you’ll pay later. You don’t do that at the bottle shop. You don’t do it at Bunnings buying paint. Nowhere else in life do you assume payment isn’t required on the spot. So why would a trade job be any different?

That’s what I’ve learned. Being upfront at the start eliminates almost all of this. It sets the frame properly with the customer from the first conversation.

I think the frame is everything. A lot of tradies start a job on the wrong frame and don’t realise how much it costs them — not just in one bad job, but long-term, to the brand, and to their own stress levels. I try not to let that happen.