Hiring an interior designer is an exciting process. This is a luxury service and you’ve chosen to invest in your home or business, naturally you want to get the most out of it. Before you sign a contract there’s several things to keep in mind when working with an interior designer.
Weighing Investments and Priorities
Interior design is an investment in your home or business and it is important to have an understanding of what things cost and how much you are willing to spend. Your priority might be to stick with a certain budget or it might be to achieve a certain look. By thinking through and discussing investments and priorities with your spouse or business partners you will be ready to talk with designers.
That Number You Have in Your Head? Double it.
Construction and material costs have skyrocketed since the pandemic began and they are not going down. Investing in your home is expensive, there is no way around it. You will need to have frank and honest conversations about what you want to invest and how you are willing to spend your money with your design team. Some people want to spend on certain rooms and save on others. Some people want to purchase only high quality pieces and will reduce their scope of work in order to achieve their goals.
Many people when faced with the decision between a more affordable product and a more expensive one will choose the latter, because it is higher quality or more suited to the style of the project. It’s important to know if your investment is able to stretch to achieve certain priorities you have or if your budget is fixed.
Quality Matters
No one wants to spend on design services, construction, and furniture only for the end result to be sub-par quality. Determine what is important to you. You might not be able to articulate exactly what it means, but I bet you know how it feels. You might tell your designer the specific door knob at your favorite restaurant feels like high quality to you and you want your hardware to feel like that. Or you might tell them your grandma’s sofa feels luxurious to you when you sink into it. The designer should prompt you with other questions to gain information and help you understand the associated cost.
You are working with an interior designer for their expertise. They should be educating you about the materials, finishes, and furniture they are recommending for your home. Designers should be answering any questions that arise about those products too.
Reining in Scope
Worst comes to worst, certain aspects of the project wait. When faced with numbers over what you are willing or able to invest, do not feel embarrassed or stressed. Everyone has a number they need to work within. It is the designer’s job to educate you on associated costs and work with you to fit the scope of work to your budget. Working with an interior designer means you will have expert advice on how to utilize your funds to best achieve your goals.
Important Questions to Ask Before Signing the Contract
When you are interviewing designers about their services, you want to ask the right questions to understand if they will be able to achieve your goals, work with you the way you want to work, and communicate with you promptly and clearly.
It’s All About the Vibes
Just like a first date, you’ll know in the introduction meeting or at the on-site consultation if a designer is a good fit for you. You will be working very closely together so it’s important that you align with them on communication styles, comfort, and vibes. You’ll be discussing all sorts of intimate details with this person: whether you want a bidet, how many drawers you need at your nightstand, whether you sleep beside your spouse, what you set down in the entry when you come home from a long day. It’s important that you feel comfortable conversing with your designer!
How You’ll Work Together: Collaboration or Hand Off
Everyone had a different way the work. When working with an interior designer you want to be sure their process will align with your needs. Some people want to collaborate closely with their design team and be involved in the little details of their project. These people want to visit showrooms and go shopping for antiques and accessories with the design team. They want to go into the design library and look at all the options. If you are one of these people you need a designer who is willing and able to collaborate with you on the design.
Not all designers are interested in collaborating with their clients at such a level. Some designers only work with clients who are willing to take a more hands off approach. They present fully baked designs and already thought through details for approval. This might mean they give you 2-3 choices on items. Or they might present their best foot forward with a full design and only provide alternates for things you do not like.
There are pros and cons to both ways of working with a designer, but mostly it comes down to personal preferences and how you want to work. You want to hire a designer who aligns with you on this.
Policies and Fine Print
During your interviewing process you should get an idea of a designers various processes, policies, and ways of working. It is vital to understand how they work and how things will go when issues arise.
Designers can work hourly and provide you with an estimate of hours for the project. Or they might have a flat fee. Both ways of charging should have a clear scope of what is included in that pricing and what is not. Add-ons should be outlined. Custom built-ins or furniture is going to take more time and thus cost more.
Sometimes issues arise that cannot be resolved. Check your letter of agreement for information on what happens on a project when you and/or the designer want to part ways. Will you owe additional money?
Know How the Design Process Works
Every designer will have their own process and no project is identical. However, there is a general industry standard that includes some specific terminology and processes. It’s a good idea to have some general knowledge of this process going into your interviews with designers. That way you can ask informed questions and get the clarity you need.
Pre-Contract
Before you sign on with a particular designer, you’ll probably reach out or interview a few of them. Don’t worry about hurting their feelings – we understand the importance of the connection between you and the designer, after all, you’re about to get very close.
When you reach out to a designer, you’ll likely start by filling out a new project inquiry form. This will then lead to scheduling an introductory call. At Laurel Design Collective, we like to have that introductory call as a video chat so we can see each other’s faces and review a slide deck covering the basic information and process of design.
From there, you’ll move to an in-person consultation in your space. This is where you and your designer gain clarity about the scope of work, priorities, and range of investment possibilities. After this consultation you should be left with some design ideas and a clear understanding of that designer’s process. The designer will follow up with a proposal shortly after. At Laurel Design Collective, we like to review the proposal with our clients in person, so we can confirm the scope of work, and review the various clauses in our contract.
Schematic Design – SD
Your contract is signed! The design is starting, yay! This first phase of the project will be focused on broad strokes and information gathering. You may have a meeting to review design examples and narrow your preferences. We call this a Style Analysis meeting. Once the design direction is established, you’ll begin by reviewing floor plans and the big moments of the design. This phase usually takes 1 or 2 meetings.
Design Development – DD
Here’s where the design really starts cooking. In this phase you’ll get to see and touch all the different materials and finishes in your project. The designer will present elevations (2D drawings of a wall) and renderings (3D views of a space). You’ll cover every minute detail of the design and meetings can stretch as long as 3 or 4 hours.
Construction Documentation – CD
During Construction Documentation, you’ll be mostly hands off while the design team creates the drawing set needed for construction. At Laurel Design Collective, we like to schedule 1-2 brief meetings to check in on design details and review the set with the contractor.
Construction Administration – CA
Once construction commences, you get to relax a little bit. The design team oversees the construction to make sure the project is built as designed. The contractor and designer work in conjunction to troubleshoot any site conditions or problems and mock ups or shop drawings of design details. Construction can take a long time and depending on your scope of work, you should plan on 3 months (large bathroom remodel) to 2+ years of construction (new home build).
Install Day
Once the construction dust settles, your design team will schedule an install day (or week!). This is when all the furniture you ordered will be delivered to the site and placed according to the design plan. Your design team will have their vendors on site installing window treatments, hanging art, and finishing out the details. They will style your space with accessories and then hold the big reveal moment for you! This is one of the best parts of the project.
Project Closeout
Admittedly, there are usually a few minor follow ups after the install day – a certain piece of furniture arrives later than the rest, the contractor has to troubleshoot an appliance, etc. When the project is complete and you have the space to yourself, this is when the fun really starts!
The designer will likely present you with a closeout package, complete with the details of the project and investment information for insurance purposes. You will be asked to provide feedback on working with the designer. If the project scope allows and you permit it, the designer will want to schedule a photoshoot in the home. These photos are part of the designer’s portfolio and may be pitched to magazines or other media, generating a whole host of admirers. At Laurel Design Collective, we love to end things out with a party to celebrate the completed project, we cohost with our clients and invite the team of consultants who worked on the project, the client’s friends or family, and sometimes past clients. It’s a grand event of merrymaking, celebrating the work that goes into creating a space, and kicking off the future of the space on a good note.
Design is Complicated, But Working with a Designer Shouldn’t Be!
Now that you know what to expect, what questions to ask, and what information you need to have ready to disclose, you’re ready to talk to designers! Don’t be afraid to pepper them with questions, if they aren’t willing to answer or educate you, you probably don’t want to work with them anyways! The relationship between you and your design team will be an intimate one and comfort and compatibility are key. You should feel free to get all the information you need from your design team throughout the process of creating your dream space.
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