Work for stroke survivors

[Michael4]

Good day,

Have done some construction work for an individual who recovered from a stroke few years ago, we had some difficulty with communication and working together.

Hadn’t talked to him for awhile till couple weeks ago he mentioned hopes to finish minor project we had started about a year ago that hasn’t been finished. He had recent arm surgery and isn’t able to do the work he was able to earlier.

Would be good to finish this project and help with work for other stroke survivors when possible. This is in the United States not the U.K.

I don’t have too specific of a question for this other than if anyone has advice about best professional practices when working with anyone who has recovered from a stroke, I know that can vary a lot.

For me one challenge was that he didn’t want to pay my standard minimum daily fee of $200 for construction service which is just to cover overhead expenses for equipment etc., but instead offered $25 an hour which I accepted but that turned out to not be the best decision when there is only couple hours of work to do at a time end up just taking a loss.

We completed installing new rafters for a boathouse roof extension and he was sourcing materials for roofing when we stopped, he was the one who decided he didn’t want to continue work with me at that time and am surprised to hear now that project never got completed.

That can be finished in half a day don’t need to charge for just that but I don’t run a charity myself have to be able to cover expenses.

[Mrs5K]

I’m not 100% sure what you are asking but my observation would be if you are able to do the work that is required then the going rate should be paid. My hubby is self employed & he charges a rate & people either pay it or find someone else. He does negotiate sometimes but he can’t work for a loss & neither should you.

[EmeraldEyes]

Maybe you could drop this person a note, followed up by a phone call perhaps.

Speaking from my own personal experience of stroke. One of my issues early post stroke was mental overload and endurance. The brain could only deal with one simple task/issue/detail/project/whatever at a time.

When something became too much, I’d just down-tools and walk away. I might return to it within hours/days/months, depending on what it was. Even when I returned to driving, with my hubby beside me, I could just pull over and let him take over. And it took a couple of years to become more “multitask-able”.

@Michael4

we had some difficulty with communication and working together.

Did your client have difficulty with speech and understanding?
If he has aphasia, that can cause any number of problems in communication. Not only in speaking but also in interpreting and processing speech, even remembering to breath and where to break in a sentence in order to take a breath when speaking himself can be an issue.
For instance, are you the fast talking business man, or even in general? If so it would help to slow your speech down when talking to him. Short sentences wherever possible and give him plenty of time to respond.
Silence is golden. If you are the kind of person who likes to chat away while you work, maybe rein it in a bit as it can interrupt the brains ability to process.

So drop him a note, be up front with how much it would cost to complete the project, both in time and money, and give your phone number. Keep the note simple and well spaced out. Then the ball is firmly in his court, but you can give him a follow-up call in a couple of days to see if he’s interested.

Yes, we’ve all had strokes here, but we’re not stupid and neither is he.
So one of things he may be concerned with is how others perceive him to be, in their ignorance of stroke. If he fears people are going to see him as simple, not all there since his stroke, he’s may fear being taken advantage of.
But you don’t want to be taken advantage of either, you have a living to earn! So just be up front as you can be over the finance of the project and take it from there.

Good luck and I hope you get to finish the project

Lorraine
Stroke Improvement Group

[Michael4]

@EmeraldEyes

Did your client have difficulty with speech and understanding?

He mentioned difficulty hearing from one ear, but otherwise ok he has a wine store with music events.

[Michael4]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

The “going rate” for work can be kind of arbitrary at first, when I was a kid that was $8.07 u.s.d. an hour state minimum.

The U.S. monetary systems seems to have gone just about completely bananas, may be able to emigrate to the U.K. one day not sure if the quid is any better these days.

Ideally I like to know what specific tasks someone wants completed before arriving at a work site so I can be fully prepared and everything goes well.

When work is going well then am glad to do that and seems absurd to charge hourly price for time at site.

[Michael4]

In negotiating any kind of contract/deal there are a few steps to go through for that.

Say someone wants a house built in Northern Ireland, they might first say and ask:

“I’d like a new house built in Larne, what’s that going to cost me?”

To be able to answer that first I need to know the site, and what kind of house if they need a design or already have whole plan from an architect.

Say I put together a full estimate and client agrees and we start construction.

Framing a house isn’t that difficult, but challenges can be if client wants to be on site during construction and involved with work, at times that can be helpful if we are working together in a positive way, but it can also make things way more difficult if half way through construction they decide they don’t like the floorplan and want to make some changes that may not even be possible or would double the framing cost.

Anyway that is just hypothetical example for the Irish if anyone wants to go further with that for philosophical argument could be good.

Current other project almost finished is a little garden tool shed have built, this is a freestanding structure built on concrete patio before moving to position by house. This went well but became difficult at times while homeowner/client wanted to be involved in a lot of the process of moving the shed on skids with rollers, which worked out fine but for communication with that challenge first is just agreeing on how to communicate and if may be better for client to not always be on-site for safety concerns.

[Michael4]

Anyway back to original client was talking about told him would be able to help this month, probably will try next week because there is heavy rain this week.

The first project he asked for help with was landing for tables in front of store, sidewalk has a slight slope and for serving drinks outside there needs to be a railing defining the edge of service table area and public street.

His idea for that was to build a sort of wooden wedge platform which could work but am not sure if the city would be alright with something like that being placed on the sidewalk. He said he knows the setback restriction so if that is correct would work, but would make more sense to pour concrete patio for something like that.

That may still be on hold anyway would be for if he ups liquor license to be able to pour full glasses of wine, which he said he was going to do but don’t know if he has done that yet. It is mainly a buy wine by the bottle store but he could serve samples of those with the license he had/still has.

[Mrs5K]

Sounds like it’ll be a good job for you. Let is know how it goes. Do you get to taste the wine afterwards

[Michael4]

I did the wine tasting one time couple years ago think he accidentally charged me twice for that. They are mainly Washington and Oregon wines, not a lot of old world inventory.