How To Hire An Interior Designer - 10 Steps To A Productive and Happy Business Relationship

Are you considering hiring a professional interior designer in 2020?

Are you feeling a little confused about exactly how to hire a professional interior designer, though, so you have a productive, respectful, and happy business relationship throughout the time you are working together?

If your answers were yes, yes….then this post is for you.

BUT FIRST, WHY TRUST ME TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION?

Prior to starting my two businesses, one 18 years ago now, The Kaleidoscope Partnership, and one 2.5 years ago now, Savour Partnership, I was a full time luxury interior designer myself for 16 years in Houston, Texas.

I completed dozens of full home projects, inside and outside of the USA, participated in showhouses, had my design work published in the Houston Chronicle, etc. I understand the profession of interior design from the inside out.

Then, after I left the profession of interior design myself, I developed a sales training program for furniture retailers, where I trained the sales and interior design teams at over 36 retailers around the country how to use design based thinking and processes in their interactions with their customers.

Now, besides the work I do as co-editor of Seasonal Living Magazine and the work I do with other mfg. side brands - I have also worked for the past 12 years with dozens of independent professional interior designers on various aspects of their own business strategies - including branding, pricing to expand their services, website reorganization and national social media outreach for influencer, publication and speaking opportunities.

I also admin a Facebook Group for professional interior designers called #DesignWealth, and have held many conversations there with interior designers from all over North America about the business of interior design.

Because of this background, I have an extremely intimate understanding of all aspects of the profession of interior design, and what you, as the buyer of interior design services, will want to consider and do before you hire a professional interior designer.

READY TO GET STARTED IN KNOWING HOW TO HIRE A PROFESSIONAL INTERIOR DESIGNER?

STEP ONE:

In the world today, as you are probably aware, there are many levels of professional design assistance available to you. You can hire a professional interior designer to help you with answering a single question all the way to hiring a professional interior designer to help you with the complete full service design (and marketing) of a luxury hospitality resort, restaurant, hair salon, yacht, jet, etc.

So your first step is to think through carefully what level of design assistance you actually need.

Are you remodeling and acting as your own GC, (general contractor) but getting stuck on a specific detail? You can hire a professional interior designer to help you answer that one question that’s critical to getting everything to look just right.

Are you remodeling a kitchen or bath and afraid of getting the dimensions wrong, since it’s so expensive to redo, given the cost of labor and materials? You can hire a designer who specializes in just kitchens and baths.

Are you busy with work + travel and/or children and need someone who can handle every detail and turnkey it for you - down to choosing the toothbrushes and towels so all you have to do is walk in and live? Then you are a candidate for full service luxury design, where your interior designer will handle every aspect for you, leaving you free to focus on what is most important to you.

Are you fine with everything you already have, but would like someone to give you ideas on how to re-arrange and re-style it for you to give you a fresh new look? This service is also available to you.

No matter what level of service you need, there is a professional interior designer who would be happy to provide it for you, saving you time, money and stress.

STEP TWO

This is a critical aspect of the hiring process, and it’s very possible you don’t know what kind of buyer personality you are.

But below are the 4 general types of buyer personalities. It’s so important to be honest with yourself about what type of buying personality you are, so you end up selecting the interior designer who is the ideal match for your personality.

Buyer Type 1: You are completely hands off as long as the work is getting done on time and on budget and you are updated as per the letter of agreement. You don’t want to hear from your interior designer, as you’re too busy.

Buyer Type 2: You want to be consulted on the major design decisions above a certain dollar amount, as per the letter of agreement, but don’t want to have your inbox or text messages cluttered with lots of requests for input on the small decisions. You trust your interior designer to know better than you do on every aspect of the design.

Buyer Type 3: You are very hands on and want to co-create the design with your interior designer. You want to be involved in every decision, no matter how small or large, but you still trust your designer and give him/her the final say so.

Buyer Type 4: You are very hands on and frequently question every design decision your interior designer makes. You don’t really trust your interior designer to know better than you do, but do appreciate and want their oversight + input so you don’t make a mistake and so you see all options as professional interior designers still have access to many custom, one of a kind resources that you can’t find online.

Every professional interior designer I know would love for you to be upfront with them about this, so they can appropriately tailor their offerings to insure they can deliver exactly what you expect.

STEP THREE

Discussing your budget with your spouse or significant other before you begin the hiring process is an important step, for obvious reasons. But, why is it that you will, quite often, be low? Here are 6 common reasons:

1. You haven’t remodeled in quite a while, and aren’t aware of the shortage in skilled, reliable, honest labor in many parts of the country. Labor costs have risen quite a bit in many parts of the country because of this and can often take more of your budget than you realized they would.

2. You want a home that incorporates wellness aspects, like steam rooms, custom solariums or greenhouses, custom outdoor kitchens, etc. These can be a bit more expensive at first, but can greatly increase your family’s enjoyment of your home and, long term, will increase your home’s resale value.

3. You want a home that incorporates smart home systems, for your own enjoyment now and for increased resale value, long term.

4. You start remodeling, only to find out that there are issues behind the walls, or in the foundation, etc. that you didn’t anticipate. These must be taken care of now and that often impacts your budget.

5. You have the desire to have a home that is completely accessorized, down to the last detail.

6. You haven’t purchased furniture, lighting, flooring, tile, etc. in quite a while, and you want the best quality available, made of sustainable materials, and aren’t aware of what the options are and what they cost.

Designers have many to the trade resources available to them that are still not available to you online - including custom options so you have a personalized home unique to you - and, importantly, they know how to compare and educate you on those options, so you invest in what’s best for your needs. They will help you avoid many expensive mistakes.

( NOTE: It’s too easy these days to think that the item you see online is the thing you want to buy (because the picture is so pretty… when in fact the quality is poor. It’s also not generally known that, often, it is your interior designer who can offer you the best pricing on any particular item. )

Every professional interior designer will be able to discuss your desires vs. your needs vs. the investment you are comfortable making now, to insure your priorities are carefully balanced and taken into consideration.

In addition, if you decide you need to stage in your investment to get everything you desire, they can help you design an investment plan to insure that every aspect of your residential or commercial design is completed to your satisfaction.

STEP FOUR

So, how DO you find an interior designer?

The number one way? Ask for referrals from your trusted circle of friends. But….. take things a step further and ask your friend, “What is it that you really liked about working with this interior designer?” That one question alone will often give you the answer about whether this interior designer is actually right for YOU.

After asking your trusted friends for referrals, other ways to find an interior designer are:

1. Search a hashtag on Instagram for your city like this: #interiordesignerhouston or #houstondesign or #designhouston or #luxuryinteriordesignerhouston or #houstonluxurydesigner. Smart interior designers are using city hashtags like this, on Instagram, to be found by smart potential clients like you.

2. Search the websites of professional organizations like ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) or IDS (the Interior Design Society) or coming soon, the professional interior designer membership site of Ethos Design Collective - of which I am an advisory board member and an investor.

If you are seeking a kitchen and bath designer, search the membership directory of the National Kitchen and Bath Association, (the NKBA).

3. If you are on a bit of tighter budget and are looking to hire someone for e.lectronic design vs. full service, in person luxury design, realize that many professional interior designers now also offer remote design aka e.lectronic or e.design as one of their service offerings.

Many excellent e.designers can be found on www.eDesignTribe.com, a site dedicated to helping consumers find professional designers who work remotely.

And, of course, there are 3rd party, non membership sites that enable you to see the portfolios of various designers, but often these sites are run by algorithms.

What does this mean for you as the buyer of design services? It means that part of the business model of these sites is that they are requiring designers to pay them to be seen higher up in your searches, so you are not necessarily finding the best designers for your needs that way.

STEP FIVE

There are many questions you will want to ask your potential interior designer during the interview process, based on what you have now already assessed about your own buying personality, the type of project you have, and the investment you are prepared to make now and in the future.

Before you begin the interview process, however, and especially if you are hiring for full service luxury design, know: professional interior designers, at the luxury level, will not discuss their full artistic vision with you at the initial meeting because this is something they charge for, just as an artist charges for their canvas. Interior designers working at this level are artists working in three dimensions vs. two dimensions.

So, what questions should you ask?

1. Ask your interior designer for a comprehensive list of every service you will be receiving. For instance, within the service offering of color consultation, what exactly will that encompass?

Will they make a site visit? Will they make site visits at different times of the day to determine how the paint choices look in different lighting conditions? How many paint choices will you be given before an additional charge kicks in if you can’t make up your mind? How many concept boards will you receive? Will you be given a 3D rendering or a 2D rendering? All of these will impact your decision and the interior designer’s pricing structure.

Some interior designers break this down for you right on their website, and others have not done that. That’s a personal business choice on the part of the interior designer as to whether to do this or not, so make sure you ask about all services being provided so there are no surprises.

2. Ask your interior designer if they have completed similar projects to yours, both in scope and overall design aesthetic. You might already know this from your initial review of their website, but ask them to share more in detail with you. Ask them what problems they encountered on that project and how they came up with solutions.

3. Ask about the time frame for completion. Be sure to let the interior designer know if you have any hard deadlines. If you need a lot of furniture, too, realize that interior designers cannot guarantee furniture delivery, but they can often supply you with furniture from their showroom or high quality rental furniture if something is delayed.

It’s good to ask, up front, about how they handle delays, and the pricing of rental furniture, because delays will happen.

4. And, of course, you will want to ask them how they charge for their design, rendering, project management, product procurement, installation and delivery services. There are dozens of ways designers charge for their services, and one is not better than the other, but one might be better for you, depending on your buyer personality, so please take the time to figure that out first.

Different ways design firms charge include, but are not limited to: flat fee + product procurement, hourly, by the square foot, minimum expenditure with hourly for project management, and many combinations of these, depending on the project and its complexity.

Every professional interior design firm prices their services based on the acknowledged excellence of their artistry, their industry and product knowledge, their years of experience, the number of personnel required to complete your job within your timeframe, the amount of their one on one personal attention your project will require, and, of course, their need to run a profitable business which can sustain itself over the long term.

STEP SIX:

Why is every professional interior designer also interviewing you, at the same time you’re interviewing them, even though you are the one doing the hiring? They want to work on projects where they know their personality and their processes are a fit for your personality and your expectations and where they will be paid in a timely fashion, in accordance with the terms of their contract.

This is why it’s so important to be up front with your interior designer in the interview process about your buyer personality type — just as much as it’s equally as important for you to insure, during the interview, that the processes your designer has in place for staying on budget and on time with your project meet with YOUR approval. It’s also important to insure communication expectations are discussed on both sides, and that when there are delays or disputes, both of you understand the processes in place for dealing with them.

This matching of personality + process expectations will be the two single most important determinants of whether you will have a mutually productive, enjoyable and respectful business relationship while you are working together.

As a side note: many times, because interior design is such a highly personal endeavor, you will feel as if you are good friends with your interior designer - and you may be - but it’s important for you, as the buyer of design services, to realize that first and foremost for your interior designer: this is their business. Always respect their right to act in a business like manner.

STEP SEVEN:

This is the fun part! Now that you’ve interviewed your designer, it’s time to select your designer and notify them that they are THE ONE for you.

A note: sometimes timeframes change in between the interview process and the notification process, so be sure to let your designer know if something material has changed in your timeframe, budget or expectations.

Expect them to do the same.

Sometimes, in as little as a day or two, they will have had something come up ( a personnel change or a change in another client’s time frame is a common occurrence ) that renders them unable to take on your project.

If this happens, they will often refer you to another designer, or you can notify your second choice.

STEP EIGHT

Now that you’ve notified your chosen designer, and they’ve accepted, it’s time for you to carefully read their letter of agreement and any additional contracts they may require.

Because this is a contractual working relationship, the responsibility is yours, as the buyer of services, to make sure you have read everything carefully and taken the time to get your questions answered.

Professional interior designers will be more than happy to discuss all of their contract points with you, as it’s in their best interests to find out if there are any issues ahead of time.

Never be shy about asking if you don’t understand the meaning of a particular term.

STEP NINE

Now comes the fun part! Sign your contract with confidence that you are at the start of a wonderful, productive and exciting business relationship…because you are!

You can rest assured now that your investment and trust have been well placed, because you have done your best to identify and discuss all aspects of your working agreement beforehand and have been clear in your expectations, as your designers have been clear with you about theirs.

STEP TEN

Now is the time for you to commemorate the moment and to congratulate yourself on making one of the best investments you will ever make! You have hired a professional interior designer.

Whether your project is of the “I need one question answered* variety, or it is of the “Please just do it all for me and hand me the keys afterwards” variety, or anything in between, your decision to hire a professional to help you is one of the smartest decisions you will have ever made.

Professional interior designers will not only save you time, they will save you..and make you…money, and they will save you untold amounts of stress as it is their job to deal with the headaches that inevitably arise when a larger project is underway.

If you have hired an interior designer for full service luxury residential design, and you have never experienced living in a home that has been custom designed just for you, down to the last detail, you are about to experience your life in a way that is impossible to understand right now.

Your home and every aspect of it will not only serve your functional needs, it will also elevate your aesthetic pleasure, and provide for your every comfort.

The beauty of your home will give you what is genuinely priceless: a sense of well being and peace of mind.

Now is the time to uncork the champagne, to bring out the vintage wine, and commemorate the moment!

IN CLOSING

Thank you for reading this LONG post, but I know if you’ve gotten this far, you are serious about how to hire hire an interior designer - LOL!

And if you’re an interior designer reading this post, please PIN any image to help even more consumers know HOW TO HIRE AN INTERIOR DESIGNER.

Here’s to a more beautiful and prosperous decade ahead for all of you seeking to hire an interior designer as well as for all of you who are interior designers, seeking to work with clients who appreciate and respect the visual artistry inherent in your chosen profession of interior design.

Leslie Carothers | @tkpleslie
www.savourpartnership.com

Instagram: tkpleslie + savourpartnership