As two people with two decisions to make — because they are. Never assume they want the same thing: the talkative homeowner is not automatically the important one, the one who experiences the problem daily carries a motive the other may barely feel, and the same key question asked of both is how you find out.
The short answer
Separate the shared problem from the individual motives. The leak is shared; what it means — the worry, the embarrassment, the money, the cold bedroom their kid sleeps in — is personal, and each homeowner's version drives a different part of the decision. On the questions that matter (the problem, the why-now, the desired outcome, the criteria), ask both, and receive both answers as real.
Watch the dynamics while you do. When one answers for the other, note it — you've learned who speaks, not what the silent one thinks. Never let one homeowner hijack the entire appointment: a decision you only sold to half the table is a decision the other half can undo in the driveway conversation after you leave.
How it runs
Listen for agreement between them — it's the sound of a decision forming — and for disagreement, which is discovery gold: two different hot buttons can support each other inside one project, and the presentation that honors both is stronger than a compromise that serves neither. Pay attention to who experiences the problem — the one home all day with the cold rooms lives a different project than the one who hears about it at dinner — and remember that one homeowner can help sell the other, in their own words, with a credibility you'll never have.
None of this works if one of them isn't there. Probing both presumes both — which is why the system fights for the full table before it fights for the sale.
Go deeper
Every guide on this page is a round you can run in Fight Camp — $29/month for the full camp, Round 1 free. Spar before you knock.