Clients can have plenty of information and still be looking for something more useful: a recommendation.
We’ve all been on that side of a decision. After hearing the options, we want to know where someone’s experience leads them.
“What do you recommend?”
We offer recommendations to our clients because our experience gives us a perspective worth considering. That doesn’t mean our recommendation will always be the right fit. But it is worth understanding why we’re making it and what we’re trying to help the project team accomplish or avoid.
In construction, a project team might be weighing different materials or panel systems. Appearance matters. So do budget, schedule, and how the work will come together.
The best recommendation considers those priorities together. An option that looks attractive in one respect may create a tradeoff somewhere else.
That’s where experience can be useful. It helps us look beyond the immediate choice and consider what may follow it.
Of course, a recommendation should come with an explanation. Here’s why we believe this fits the project. Here’s the tradeoff. Here’s what we still need to verify.
The client may have information or priorities that lead to a different decision. That’s part of the conversation, too.
But before moving past a recommendation, it’s worth asking one more question: “What are you seeing that I might be missing?”
We don’t have to agree with every recommendation to benefit from the experience behind it.
October 30, 2026