If you are a contract builder, assignments can be beneficial or detrimental to you and all assignments must be declared in writing. It is very important that you have allocations for all those items whose price you will not know until the product is purchased or the work is done. It is also very important that you be very clear on all assignments.
Give your client a rough idea of what a $ 4,000 rating will entail. Show them what a $ 350 brick looks like. Show them what $ 1,000 in lighting and $ 3,000 in plumbing fixtures look like. And show them what a $ 20 per square foot rug looks and feels like, just to name a few.
It is very, very important that you, verbally and visually, be very clear on all these concessions. What you don’t want is for a customer to expect $ 3,000 worth of lighting when you’ve only contracted $ 500 for lighting. They will not be happy and they will think that you are trying to deceive them. Then you have problems.
I know a very good contracted builder and he spends a lot of time with clients from the beginning going to the lighting stores, carpet stores, all these places so that the client is very clear about what the assignment will cover.
This can be time consuming and aggravating, but in the end it will be another important step in ensuring a happy and satisfied customer.