As luck would have it, Jefferson came up with a parquet design too intricate to be milled and installed by the local tradesmen. The floor design was comprised of a central solid tile of cherry about 16 inches square surrounded by a four-sided picture frame of oak made of 4-by-18-inch pieces with diamond miter patterns at each corner. In addition to the complex pattern, Jefferson insisted that the floor not contain any exposed nails or wood plugs. The floor was to be blind-nailed—quite a request for 300 square feet of flooring. He soon realized that he needed experienced European tradesmen to perform the work.
After spending considerable time searching for qualified individuals, Jefferson found two offshore tradesmen capable of executing his design. He arranged for these workmen to be transported to the New World and shuttled to rural Virginia to begin their work. The two parties (owner and subcontractor) thoroughly discussed the floor’s design, materials, and finish. Samples were made, revised, and agreed upon. Jefferson wanted no miscommunications, no assumptions. He was going to be away from Monticello on government business during the time the work was being conducted. Every detail was defined and drawn out. It was all spelled out on parchment. Everything, that is, except the price.
When the floor was finally completed, it was presented to Jefferson upon his return home. He was ecstatic. The floor was exactly what he wanted and what the room needed. It was a floor that would inspire and influence future work in Colonial Virginia and beyond. Everything was great until the tradesmen presented their invoice for the work. It was $200. (In today’s dollars, that would be approximately $50,000, but it is difficult to quantify because currency in Colonial America was hard to come by. The colonies were, for the most part, a bartering economy.)
Thomas Jefferson was beside himself with anger and frustration, some of which must have been directed at himself. I assume his comments would have been similar to those directed at any modern custom builder whose clients were unprepared for the cost of a change order: “How could any floor cost that much?” “Parquet flooring is all over Europe and it doesn’t cost that much to produce it there!” “My brother-in-law could’ve done the work for half that!” “You guys never quoted me a price!”
After owner and contractor talked it out, they arrived at a mutually agreeable payment solution. Jefferson compensated them with some money, farm produce, and cured meat.
Not only was Jefferson a founding father of our country, but he also contributed a basic business lesson to construction professionals from one of the first documented and problematic change orders to occur in the United States. Now I have a rhetorical question with regard to misunderstandings and change orders: How many times has history repeated itself?
Dennis A. Dixon is an author, contractor, and speaker with 21 years experience in the building industry. You can e-mail him at dixven@aol.com.
