Starting Your Career as an Interior Designer: The Business of Interior Design

She’d Rather Be With Me

While working on my second book for Allworth Press I decided to take a look at what clients want from their designers as part of the first chapter which is all about finding the optimum client.  I asked a couple of our clients if they wouldn’t tell me a little bit about what they look for in an interior designer.  I found it very enlightening and thought I would share with you an excerpt from one of the responses.

“As a client, I could tell you some stories about designers behaving badly right inside my home.  Initially, looking for an interior design professional to redo my modest 1950’s ranch home, I interviewed several local women designers whose names I found in the phone book.  The first designer showed up at my home with a picture book filled with hotel room interiors that featured those big, boxy neutral-toned stuffed chairs, facing an equally neutral (bland) table, surrounded by pastel doodads and forgettable floor lamps.  She was very proud of her hotel work and felt it honestly revealed her acumen as a residential interior designer.  When I showed her my kitchen, whose wallpaper, flooring and tiles I had selected some years before, she burst out, “Oh my God!  Who did THIS?”, as if she had encountered old goat heads nailed to the walls.  I felt it somewhat important to rise to the occasion, so I answered, bravely, “I did.”  However, she was unstoppable; she was on a mission.  She bulldozed her way through the rest of house, telling me how everything in sight would “have to go,” presumably to be replaced with pastel hotel units.  She clearly felt sorry for me for living in such conditions of aesthetic squalor.  I never called her back.

The next woman showed up at my house with an almost identical book of project pictures.  She was just as adamant that I let her take over for me. I started to wonder if all the designers south of  San Francisco had the same hotel room pictures in their portfolios and if they all felt they should be allowed to dictate the interiors of my home.  There are many designers who are only too willing to impose their vision of “good taste” on the client; with the result being a happy designer but an unhappy client.  It’s very important that the client recognize his or her home is a personal temple; and, when it comes to interior designers, there are some who will be trespassers.  Show them to the door.

Then, I met Thomas and Robert.  The first meeting went well, not because of any elaborate presentations or sales pitches or attempts to impose a style on me, but because I sensed Robert and Thomas could and would create a set of home interiors that would make my dreams of my perfect house come true.  As our working relationship progressed, they never questioned my “taste” and they always offered many thoughtful choices of colors, fabrics and furnishings.  They never minded when I said “no”; they simply created what I wanted.  Robert and Thomas scanned many, many pages of the magazine pictures I had spent months tearing out and grouping.  I used the pictures to help explain my vision and help them achieve it.  Their work blended so seamlessly with my idea of the perfect home that it never occurred to me their own personal tastes were any different from my own.

In addition to creating the interior of my home, Robert and Thomas introduced me to a necessary element in a structural remodel: the design/build team.  I had decided to expand my home and simply didn’t know how to proceed.  It probably would have taken me months of searching and interviewing to find someone to build anything I might have designed.  Robert and Thomas’ recommendation of a local design/build firm with whom they had worked before turned out to be a perfect match.  Not only did the designers, as project managers, work beautifully with the builders, the entire team went out of their way to make the experience as painless as possible for me. There were no construction horror stories, no cost overruns (other than the ones that I requested), no delays and no hassles.  Everything was taken care of for me.  That was something that couldn’t be priced.

Robert and Thomas, along with the builders, created what I consider to be the perfect home.  Even though the house is finished, everyone involved in its creation is still available to answer questions.  The whole team is on call to help me with things like the dishwashers or the fireplace or how to use the appliances.  Of course, there will always be dreams of alterations; new ideas and new uses for rooms.  Life in families is filled with those kinds of changes.  But the fundamentals remain; I love my home and I love the shapes, the colors and the furnishings.   I love the look and feel of it.” 

You Don't Own Me

As all of us continue to search for ways to increase our profitability as well as our profile in the community we are also confronted with certain clients who try to take advantage of the current economic climate by asking for more and more from their designers that isn’t usually part of the contract.  In the past six months I have had clients or prospective clients ask me to do things I wouldn’t even consider.  One asked me to help recover a Leather Craft recliner.  The chair was in a base grade green leather with a flip pillow top.  It seems the pillow top was annoying to her and she wanted me to remove it.  That would have been the easy part.  A little new leather, recover the back panel and it would probably look just fine.  But, no, she didn’t want to pay for the ½ hide of leather.  Could I recover the back in another fabric?  We’ll I guess I could but I wouldn’t suggest it.  Then, she said, just use the leather from the pillow and seam it about 2/3 of the way up the back panel and that would take care of it.  I don’t think so.  I flat out told her no.  She decided she could certainly find someone who would and sent me on my way.  Another client asked us to start again a project that had been delayed since December 2007.  We were pleased to begin again and even allowed her to use a little of the time left from the previous retainer.  Once we got to the point that a new retainer for design time was required she balked.  Oh, she said, I didn’t realize you would have to charge for more time.  We asked why she thought we shouldn’t charge for more time and she said it wasn’t her fault the construction had been delayed and why should she have to pay for more of our time to restart the project.  We explained new fabric selections were needed as some of the others were discontinued, she needed different window treatments than originally specified because the windows were different sizes from the original prints and there were challenges with views and obstructions.  She still didn’t want to pay for more design time.  She expected us to continue at no charge until the project was once again at the point we had brought it more than fifteen months ago.  What?!?  She also said we should be thankful for the work.  If I’m not going to be paid why should I be thankful?  We have had such strange requests recently we simply have to laugh and move forward.  I’m also finding it interesting working with contractors, builders and architects.  They, too, seem to want everything for nothing.  Certainly the most fascinating requests involve clients working with us with whom we believe the builder or contractor might be a good fit.  One builder actually wants us to pay him a fee to simply look at the project.  Do I sound like the clients I just spoke of when I say, No Way?  I don’t think so.  As many of you know, Robert and I have always gone out to the first interview at no charge.  We strongly believe that is the time for us to size up the prospect and decide whether or not we can work with them.  Yes, they are sizing us up but it is still important for us to be comfortable working with the clients we select.  And, yes, we select our clients.  So, continue to do the very best work you can and don’t feel fettered by the clients who might ask for far more than you feel you or your firm should give.  Once again, repeat after me.  It’s my business.  I will dictate the rules of engagement.  Happy hunting.

Big Girls Don't Cry

At a recent National Association of the Remodeling Industry mixer/program I was interested in hearing one of the newer designers in the area complain about the lack of work, no contacts and why she, and only she, was not as busy as she would like to be.  What?!  It seemed to me a complete disconnect between the real world and the world she wanted to create for herself.  Interior designers that have been in this area ten years and more are not as busy as they would like.  What made this newbie think it would be any different for her?  So, I asked.  Her reply was astounding.  “I am newer to the area than any of you and have studied the demographics and most of you are simply out of touch with the current client model in the area”.  Oh, I said, and what, pray tell, is the new client model.  She was quick to tell me about all the new people moving into the area.  They are retirees and will be spending their money on remodeling homes they bought long before this current situation.  Not purchasing new homes.  She felt they would not be spending large sums and would be looking for the most cost effective builders/contractor/interior designers they could.  It was interesting to me since the current reports on sales in the area actually show home sales are up.  That would mean there are also new residents buying homes as well as those who purchased in the past and are now moving to the area.  I asked where she got here information and she diverted the conversation to another topic.  I wasn’t impressed.

Remodeling, for us, has always been our bread and butter.  That said, the houses we remodel are often new purchases for our clients.  It is true we also work with clients who have owned their homes in this area for a long time but more often than not it’s a new purchase.  No, there aren’t nearly enough new home purchases to keep everyone super busy, but there is enough business to keep us afloat.  I kept thinking about this designer and her assertion I/we in the area didn’t know our clientele.  I just couldn’t leave it alone and approached the designer again.  I asked why she had joined NARI if she thought the budgets would not be up to what she felt was a good standard.  I also asked why she came to the area if she felt that way.  “I had to come here, my husband plays golf and this is where he wanted to retire”.  I asked where she had lived before. In a town on the East Bay across from San Francisco.  

What kind of design clients had she had there, I asked.  Oh, I didn’t work as a designer; I worked in IT for one of the big companies.  How, I asked, did you decide to move here and become a designer?  She said she just didn’t have anything else to do and thought designing would be fun and easy.  As you can imagine, I ended the conversation as quickly as I could and walked away.  For a non-professional to whine about no business and try to tell us what the real challenges were was unacceptable to me.  I found out later this very same woman had decided not to join NARI.  She felt she could make better contacts without this particular organization.  Fine.  I certainly hope I don’t run into her again.     

Night and Day

With the recent contract to write a second book for Allworth Press and the upcoming release of our first I seem to spend all my time thinking about the business and not creating designs.  We aren’t as busy as we would like and I certainly have the time but it just feels as if all I do is think about one or the other of the two books.  I wake up in the middle of the night with ideas for the new book.  Then, as my brain goes into overdrive, I have ideas about what might be good for marketing the upcoming book.  All night, all day.  All I think about is books.  I’ve been in contact with Allworth about what the cover of the new book should look like.  As we get close to a decision for that I get an email from the marketing coordinator asking for an update of our bios.  I am getting submissions from those professional contacts who have agreed to contribute for the new book and the final quotes from reviewers are coming in to look at.  The upcoming book is now listed on Amazon and on the Allworth Press, Inc. web sites.  We are gearing up for a couple of book signings and I still need time to sit quietly and write the second book.  I’m not complaining, I enjoy all of this and I am very happy writing and organizing the new book. 

For years I spent all my time researching, studying and living interior design.  It is still my passion and I find the books have helped me get a new perspective on what, exactly, interior design and the business of interior design is.  So, night and day, I am still living and breathing interior design.  My perspective has changed, though.  I’m looking at all this from another angle.  It’s great.  I’ve enjoyed the research of both books and it has helped me increase my knowledge and that of so many contributors.  Without the help of my Designing Profits, Inc. friends and colleagues I never would have gotten the books written and they certainly wouldn’t be as interesting as many reviewers seem to think they are. 

My understanding of the business continues to grow and I learn so much from the comments so many of you send along when you see something you find interesting or challenging.  With the coming of Spring I actually feel invigorated and am beginning to hear the phone ring a little more often.  I hope it’s the same with all of you.