A homeowner in Austin asked me to build a fence that 'looked like it grew there'

He meant he wanted it to follow the exact slope of his yard, not a single stepped section. We spent an extra day setting posts to match the grade perfectly. How do you guys handle a client's really specific visual request when it adds a lot of time?

3 comments

3 Comments

seanh9125d ago

Read a piece once about a carpenter who had a client ask for a kitchen where every single drawer pull felt "warm to the touch." The guy ended up hand-sanding and oiling hundreds of brass pulls for a week to get that exact patina. Sometimes the request is the job. For that fence, you just have to decide if the extra day's labor is worth a happy client and a portfolio piece you're actually proud of. It usually is, even if you grumble while you're doing it.

barnes.brian25d ago

Hand-sanding hundreds of pulls? That's wild.

sam_rivera5d ago

Yeah that "portfolio piece you're actually proud of" line hits hard lol. I spent a whole weekend once hand-rubbing about fifty feet of walnut trim with steel wool and oil because the client wanted it to feel like an old library shelf. My arms were dead but damn it looked good in the photos later.