Almost without exception, one of the easiest ways to waste your money during an Interior design project is to keep the team waiting, on the clock, for the information they need.
At the beginning, when your Interior design project is still just a vision – perhaps a long imagined dream project – a primary consideration, of course, is cost. The client wants firm, fixed numbers; the Interior design professional wants parameters, choices and decisions! Before the contract details and mutual signatures, time is not yet a financial issue for the Client. Before the contract details and mutual signatures time is a critical issue for your Interior design team!
To begin with, as soon as all is in order and you, a client, are ready to roll, you probably expect the ball to start rolling immediately! Theoretically, so does your selected Interior design team. But, there is always a “but…”
You have chosen your professional Interior design team carefully, so it is reasonable to understand that they probably have a busy schedule, with a healthy client load.
When you first connect and start to plan your association and project, estimations are made concerning start, duration and turnkey dates. These are discussed because your prospective team has schedules that will involve all the factors that will come into play to accomplish your Interior design vision. And, your schedule must take its place in balance with all other work already in progress, as well as other new projects (like yours) that will be fit into the flow.
Here is where trouble, disappointment and unnecessary expense can rear their heads – before your project has even begun! In the beginning, your prospective Interior designer will “pencil in” a likely begin spot on their schedules for your project. Usually it will work or be darn close! The problems arise when there are unusual delays with decisions, difficulty making choices or problems with financing – all quite understandable.
But. If clear and relevant communication is not happening, secondary problems can develop, too. Your penciled-in start date may have to be moved forward to accommodate both a more ready project, and balanced, productive business for the Interior design shop. The specific elements relevant to your project may be shifting in availability and pricing. Other advantages concerning labor, supply and demand and even weather conditions can begin to compromise efficient delivery of your proposed project.
At the preparatory juncture, close, clear and regular communication between prospective client and Interior designer is the best medicine.
Now let’s take a look at an Interior design project that is underway! All the preps and planning and negotiating and signing are history! Here is one of the best ways to waste your money… The client must remember that when your project team is on-the-clock, it is your responsibility to use them wisely, efficiently — and prudently! When your Interior designer (or any other contractor on your job) needs answers, decisions, authorizations and information, get on it as reasonably and quickly as possible. The team’s own delays are their problem and their loss of chargeable hours! Yes, time is your money; but time is also your Interior designer’s team money. They don’t want to spend yours or earn theirs waiting for your call, visit, text, or email – with the job paused.
You don’t like unnecessary, unexpected or unwanted timeline costs on those invoices! And your contractors don’t like having to explain them; for instance, if they had a crew, onsite, stopped in their tracks waiting for some communication from you.
It’s a dedicated team effort in all aspects, and this is an important one. There are practically no issues or problems that cannot be resolved if we communicate with consideration and the project integrity always in mind!
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.
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