WHAT WILL YOU LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

HOW YOU CAN START BUILDING YOUR CONFIDENCE AND STRATEGY AROUND NUMBERS WITHOUT EXPERIENCE

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING TRANSPARENT WITH YOUR CLIENTS

WHY YOU NEED TO RECAP, REINFORCE AND REITERATE NUMBERS ALL THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT 

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How much is this going to cost?

This is a common question every designer will hear. This makes sense, right? The client has probably come up with a budget that they want to spend and they want to know kf their wishlists fits inside that budget. 

Here’s the problem – that question more often than not comes long before you’ve developed a scope of work or have any plans, and especially before you’ve even been hired. Truly, this question comes when they’re essentially strangers to you and can feel like a trap. But it can’t feel that way, because you are expected to give an answer to that question, because not only is that expected from the client, but it is also how you will protect your time and your paycheck and it needs to be based on honesty about costs without potentially losing the job.

Start building your confidence and strategy around numbers

If a potential client comes to a newer designer and asks for a kitchen renovation, they may not know what a kitchen renovation costs. So, building your confidence and strategy around numbers is the place to start. That client will need to know if the project they want done is even remotely possible or if you are the person to see it through. 

For those of you with more experience, of course, you are going to look at your past projects. 

Maybe you have a GC you can get on the phone with and ask some ballpark figures. 

But if you don’t have those connections, you can also ask peers. If you’re a part of any design community, in person, ask what their typical kitchen costs based on the finished level and/or the size. 

You can also rely heavily on your showrooms and your vendors.

 Go to an appliance supplier, do some homework. What do most of their clients spend? What’s the difference between a Zub Zero set of appliances and a GE set of appliances? This can help you to quickly build price fluency. 

You are not, at this point, doing any budgeting to a dollars and cents. This is simply a range. You can start doing this with no experience, no past projects, and with no GC on speed dial. That is how you’re going to start building hypothetical budgets. 

Next: Define that scope and get the input from a contractor so that we can refine that together. 

I understand that when a client is asking for a $170,000 kitchen with a $100,000 budget, that’s hard to tell them. It’s understandable, you are fearful that if you tell them the truth too soon, you’ll lose the job. But here’s the hitch: by hiding the ball, that’s not helping anyone. Because what it does is it sets up unrealistic expectations. Because when a client hears you say something is possible, even if you didn’t mean it that way, like if you’re wishy washy, they anchor to that. And if you say nothing at all, they absolutely assume, Oh, ok, this is possible. So when the actual costs come in, you’re the one who has to explain the gap. 

Transparency

Transparency is not about scaring people away. It’s about respecting them, and frankly, yourself and your business, enough to tell them the truth early. Because if you do, even if they walk away, you leave that door open for them to come back once they, maybe, have the right budget, or are prepared to scale back the plan.

Some clients just aren’t won’t be able to afford to do what they want to do. You have to be ok with that. Your job is not to make the numbers magically work, because they never will. Your job is to guide. Your job is to lead. Sometimes that guidance looks like saying something like, “This may not be feasible right now.” 

Please hear me when I say that is NOT failure. That is true leadership.

Transparency does not lose that job. It earns you trust, and trust is really the only thing that keeps your project and your bottom line on track. 

The toll of compromising to make a budget work

When you find yourself trying to make a budget work and making compromises you aren’t proud of like suddenly you’re specifying a cheaper backsplash that you’d never put your name on, choosing cabinets that don’t align with the original concept, you’ve adjusted your entire vision to suit a budget when really, your role to help a client adjust a budget to suit the vision. 

What this means you do instead is walk them through tradeoffs, asking them what really matters most? Guide them to make empowered decisions, not watered-down compromises.

Working in a job where you make compromises and aren’t proud of your work just burns you out. It often takes just as much, if not more, mental and emotional energy as those big, beautiful well well-budgeted ones. But they don’t come with the same payoff. And I promise you, the resentment will creep in. 

And lastly, do not fool yourself into thinking, “Oh, it’s ok, this one will lead to referrals.” I have totally done that. And guess what? Spoiler alert – it rarely does. 

You don’t get more of the right work by doing the wrong work beautifully – you get more of the wrong work.

What if you already know enough about the numbers?

You have the range, they tell you the number, and you think, “Ohhhh, that’s almost the right budget.” 

This is fairly common. They’re not wildly off base, it’s just not quite realistic either. This is where your skills as a guide and a strategist truly come into play.

For a newer designer, this type of project can be intimidating. You may not have the back log of experience but that is ok.  What you need is a process – and the courage to speak honestly even when it’s uncomfortable. 

You can start by breaking down their wishlist. Go through their priorities item by item. Ask them, “What’s non-negotiable for you?” Or, “What would be nice to have?” Helping them clarify their must-haves will shape the scope around them. 

But you do want to make sure you don’t oversell your ability to make it work. You really want to make sure you are conveying that, yes, I want to be clear about what we can accomplish beautifully, with the budget you have, but also what might need to be phased or postponed. 

This is where the relationship between you and your client gets stronger. Because the client sees you as someone who isn’t just there to spend your money. You actually are there protecting it. You are shaping something that will meet their goals as well as respect their limits. 

None of this works without a fully designed scope of work

Designers trip themselves up by only doing a surface level scope of work in the beginning. When the details are vague, your estimates are vague. When your scope of work is clear and defined, your estimates become a tool you can trust, and your leadership shows up in every budget conversation. 

You don’t need a decade of experience to guide this conversation. You need clarity. You need curiosity. You need to ask pointed questions, as well as the confidence to lead your clients through smart decisions. 

Because an initial budget at this stage, is not a once and call it done moment. You are going to revisit this budget at every phase. From the initial ideas we’ve talked about to drawings, specifications, throughout the construction, and even through to the punch list.

When you start treating the budget as a living part of the project, your client stays informed, empowered, and solidly on your team. 

Budgets are not a checklist;  they are a thread that runs through every stage of the project. Not just in this first consultation, but all the way through to install. Because, guess what? Numbers will shift and evolve. That’s why ranges are important. 

When you normalize budget check-ins throughout the project, your clients are never caught off guard, and the fear of talking about money becomes a thing of the past. 

When talking about the budget becomes a normal part of your rhythm, it becomes another tool in your leadership tool box. And clients will start seeing you not just as a designer but as a strategic partner. On our projects, surprises blow up trust. Ongoing communication builds it. 

But here’s the thing: thinking that because you said it, the client heard it and understood it. Nope. Not the case. 

Your job is to reinforce, reiterate, and recap those numbers. That does not mean you apologize for the costs, you normalize it.

We, as designers we often think that somehow it’s our fault or we can control what something costs. We didn’t price the items. We need to disassociate taking responsibility for the costs of selections. We are simply conveying facts. 

And maybe you’ve already told your client the range. Yeah, I get it. It may feel repetitive to you, but it is not for their client; it is their lifeline. Because you’re not just a creative partner. You’re the translator between the vision they have and the investment they’re going to make. So when a client feels like they understand what’s happening financially, they feel empowered to keep going. And when they trust that you are keeping them informed they trust you with the entirety of the project. 

That trust is very hard to break if you keep to this pattern. And that’s how long-term relationships are built and that’s how the referrals you are looking for happen. That’s how you become the one they call for the next house, the next renovation or their best friends kitchen project.