Featured on this episode:

• Join The Designers Edge waitlist here
• Grab Your Free Script Guide here
• Access the full video interview with Elana Steele of Steele Appliance here
• Find out more about Missy Werbrich by visiting her design website here and her landscape website here.
• Find out more about Cynthia Lacy by visiting her website and following her on IG @lacyflips/

What you will learn from this episode:

• Why so many interior designers undercharge, overextend themselves, and struggle with boundaries on construction projects
• How stronger systems, clearer scope of work documents, and better processes create real confidence with clients and contractors
• What actually changes when designers start treating construction management like a professional service instead of “extra help”

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There was a moment in this week’s episode that perfectly captured why I created The Designer’s Edge in the first place.

One designer told me she had been completely undercharging for her services. In fact, she said she was undercharging by thousands of dollars. At one point, she admitted, “I honestly thought the client would just laugh at me.”

Another designer, after 25 years in the industry, described where she had found herself as “routine without purpose.” She knew what she was doing. She was good at it. But she also knew she wanted something different and didn’t quite know how to get there.

Two very different designers. Two very different stages of their careers. And yet, there was something connecting both of their stories.

They didn’t necessarily need to become better designers.

They needed more structure around the work they were already capable of doing.

That’s what I wanted to explore in this episode, so instead of another strategy-focused conversation, I invited two members of The Designer’s Edge, Missy Werbrich and Cynthia Lacy, to talk honestly about what changed for them after learning to approach construction management differently.

What I loved about these conversations is that neither story was about suddenly having everything figured out. It was about becoming more confident in the decisions they were already making, understanding the work happening behind the scenes, and finally having the language and systems to support it.

Missy: “I Was Undercharging By Thousands”

Missy came into interior design with a corporate background in marketing, visual merchandising, buying, space planning, and retail environments. She had spent years learning how businesses operate, so she wasn’t starting from scratch when she moved into residential design and construction.

But she still found herself undercharging.

A lot.

The turning point was surprisingly simple: she started tracking her hours.

Once she could actually see how much time was going into design, contractor coordination, procurement, project management, and everything else happening behind the scenes, she realized just how far off her pricing had been. She told me she looked at the numbers and thought, “Oh, for the love, Missy, you are so undercharging here.”

That realization changed the way she approached her fees.

It also changed something else: her confidence.

She had assumed clients would push back. She had already imagined the objections before they ever happened. But once she had a real scope of work, real hours, and a pricing structure she could stand behind, she no longer had to guess.

That is a very different kind of confidence than simply convincing yourself to charge more.

It’s confidence based on knowing your numbers.

Sometimes “Trust Your Gut” Is Actually Experience

Missy told me about a large basement remodel she ultimately turned down because she knew, for a number of reasons, that it was going to become a difficult project. Later, another contractor turned it down as well.

That kind of instinct is easy to dismiss when you’re trying to build a business.

You want the project. You want the revenue. You don’t want to be the difficult designer who says no.

But there is a difference between being overly cautious and recognizing a pattern you’ve seen before.

Construction management puts designers in situations where they have to make those calls. You have to recognize when something feels wrong, speak up when it does, and be willing to make a professional decision even when it isn’t the easiest one.

That isn’t being difficult.

That’s part of leading a project.

The System Isn’t the Point

We also talked a lot about systems, and I think this is an area where designers can sometimes misunderstand what systems are actually supposed to do.

A system isn’t there to make your business rigid.

It’s there so you don’t have to reinvent everything every time something happens.

Missy talked about creating processes for project workflows, communication, procurement, tracking, and even doing project “autopsies” after something goes wrong. The goal isn’t to create a perfect checklist that will magically prevent every problem.

In fact, we talked about how there is no single “magic bullet” or perfect list that works for every project. Instead, you build a base and continue refining it as you learn.

That is what good systems actually do.

They give you something to work from.

And when something goes wrong, you have a process for learning from it rather than simply carrying the experience around in your head.

Your Scope of Work Changes Everything

One of the biggest themes in Missy’s conversation was the importance of having a true scope of work.

This sounds simple, but it is an area where many designers get themselves into trouble.

Your scope of work isn’t just the language you use in a proposal. It should give you a clear understanding of what you’re actually doing, what the client is expecting, what is included, and how much time the work is likely to require.

Without that clarity, you’re guessing.

And when you’re guessing, you’re very likely to underestimate.

We also talked about something designers sometimes resist: building a buffer into their pricing. Construction projects don’t go perfectly. Things happen. Decisions change. Problems come up. That additional time isn’t padding your bill; it is part of accounting for the reality of managing construction.

Once you understand the actual scope and the actual work involved, the conversation about fees becomes much easier.

You’re no longer pulling a number out of thin air.

You know where it came from.

Cynthia: When Routine Loses Its Purpose

Cynthia’s story was very different from Missy’s, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted her on the episode.

She’s been in the industry for decades. She has experience. She knows construction. She knows how to do the work.

But she had reached a point where she was asking, essentially, “Now what?”

She described it as “routine without purpose.”

That phrase really stayed with me.

Because I don’t think she was saying she hated her business or had lost interest in design. In fact, she said she wasn’t bored. She knew what she wanted to do; she just didn’t know how to get there.

What she found in The Designer’s Edge wasn’t necessarily a bunch of information she had never heard before.

It was a framework.

It gave her language and structure for things she was already doing. It helped her see construction management differently within her business and recognize that this work needed to be reflected in how she described and positioned her services.

And perhaps most importantly, it gave her a reason to feel excited about the next chapter.

By the end of our conversation, Cynthia told me the program made her want to stay in the business another three to five years minimum. She said it gave her a “little new nudge” and brought some of that fire back.

I loved hearing that.

You Don’t Have to Figure It All Out Alone

The other thing that came through in both conversations was the value of community.

Interior design can be an incredibly independent profession. You may have a team, contractors, vendors, and clients around you all day, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have people you can call when you’re dealing with a difficult project-management question or wondering whether the way you’re handling something is actually the best approach.

That’s one of the things that surprised members of The Designer’s Edge.

They weren’t just getting information from me. They were learning from each other, comparing experiences, talking through situations, and realizing that someone else had probably already encountered the problem they were facing.

Sometimes that perspective is enough to change how you approach a situation.

You stop thinking, “Am I doing this wrong?”

And start thinking, “Okay, how do I handle this?”

Construction Management Is More Than Another Service

This is probably the biggest takeaway I want designers to hear.

Construction management isn’t simply another item you add to your services page.

It changes how you operate.

You’re dealing with communication, documentation, contractors, clients, timelines, budgets, scope, risk, and decisions that have real consequences. My conversation with both designers reinforced that the work happening behind the scenes is substantial, even when the client may only see the finished design.

And that means you need more than design talent to do it well.

You need a business structure that can support the level of responsibility you’re taking on.

You need contracts that reflect the work you’re actually doing. You need appropriate insurance. You need processes. And you need the confidence to speak up when something doesn’t feel right.

The Real Transformation Is Confidence

When I look at Missy and Cynthia’s stories side by side, what stands out to me isn’t that they learned completely different things.

It’s that they both became more confident in what they already knew they were capable of doing.

For Missy, that meant being able to walk into a proposal conversation knowing her fee was based on the actual work involved—and being able to stand behind it.

For Cynthia, it meant finding a framework for the next stage of a career she wasn’t ready to walk away from.

Those are very different problems.

But both point to the same thing I’ve seen again and again: sometimes the next level isn’t about learning how to become a completely different designer.

It’s about finally having the structure, language, and support to operate like the professional you already are.

And that is exactly why I created The Designer’s Edge.

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Like this Episode?

Be sure to check out Episode #276: What Interior Designers Don’t Know About Contracts (But Should) with Wendy Estela

Be sure to check out Episode #294: The One Hour a Week That Keeps a Construction Project From Falling Apart

Be sure to check out Episode #252: What Contractors Know That Designers Don’t