I had a refreshing meeting with a client the other day and it was the last thing I expected. The client was a Russian businessman and his family; the location was a very exclusive private estate in Surrey. We have been involved in the project for a little while now, but this was the first meeting that we were presenting serious proposals. The first surprise was that top of their list on the brief was a decent sized vegetable garden. We had anticipated this and incorporated a quaint potager and fruit garden.
When we were going through the plans there was a lot of discussion (in Russian) before he turned back to me and said ‘This is fine for a few vegetables, but it is much too small – at the moment my mother in law looks after a kitchen garden of about 600m2 – where is she going to grow her potatoes?’Although I have quite a large vegetable garden at home, I was not used to this from most of my clients, and it was an interesting change. From there the discussion moved on to the play equipment for their three young children. ‘This looks a bit tame’ he remarked, ‘Can we have something a bit more adventurous? Also, will this trampoline take adults?’
I must confess that I never thought I would hear one of my clients say ‘Will this trampoline take adults?’ It just goes to show that you should never make too many suppositions or pre-conceptions about people. This was a client who despite all his wealth, clearly had his priorities straight! Nothing like a quick bounce on the trampoline after a hard day in the veg garden, I always find…
January 20, 2011
