FEATURED ON THIS EPISODE

INTERIOR DESIGNER’S GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THE EPISODE:

WHY YOU NEED TO SEE THE CONTRACT AS SOON AS YOU ARE BROUGHT ONTO A TEAM THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN FORMED

HOW EARLY CONTRACT INVOVLEMENT LEADS TO PROJECT SUCCESS

EXERCISES YOU CAN DO NOW TO UNDERSTAND BUDGETING FOR CONTRCTS BETTER

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The contract is a critical part of any construction project. The unfortunate thing is we aren’t always brought onto the project in time to affect the contracts.

Today I want to talk about two different scenarios that you will likely find yourself in.

Firstly is the most common – you are brought on after the team has formed.

Meaning the architect, if needed, has already done their work, the contractor has been awarded the job, and that is all complete. Then they hire you. Now you know I’m going to say that that is NOT the right order. A designer should be brought on in the very beginning alongside an architect so that you can affect not only the design but so you can have a voice in the bidding process and help guide your client through this particularly complicated task. 

So if you are brought into this scenario, and the contract has been awarded, and the job is about to start, the very, very first thing I want you to do is to ask your client to review their contract. 

Now you run up against a hesitation. And that’s understandable, we’re all brought up to not talk about money, especially if this is a new client where you don’t have that trust factor well established yet. But it is your responsibility to assure your client that this is your role, and frankly, you have a good sense of what they’re probably paying for their project because you’ve done this before.

Truly “No.” is not an acceptable answer because you can’t know what your scope of work will be unless you know what’s in this contract. 

Your scope of work could be selecting tiles or vanities and mirrors, slabs, and decorative lighting. 

All of those pieces will be included in a contract. 

Now it may be that they are marked N.I.C., which means Not In Contract. But they are still a line item that your client has looked at and approved. It doesn’t mean they’ve understood what they’ve approved.

There is a term used in the construction industry called ‘allowance,’ and it is the worst term I’ve ever come across.

First of all, homeowners do not understand the true meaning of the word ‘allowance.’ The dictionary has allowance as “The amount of something that is permitted.” That is also what your client is thinking, but that is not what that term means. What it means is the contractor has come up with a figure to slot into that spot on items that the homeowner will specify. 

Meaning they don’t know what it’s going to be when they’re doing the bidding process. 

I can tell you in the last 30 years, I have probably seen less than 10 allowance numbers ever work out the right way. 

Our superpower as interior designers is having vast knowledge of product costs. You can review a contract, and you can spot something and go, “Huh, that one feels low.” And you can immediately turn to your client and tell them you want to have a quick conversation about that number and make sure it’s on track. 

I would much rather a client know before the demo that they’re going to need an extra $1,500 to make the bathroom what they want than after the demo when the guy is waiting for the tile and the homeowner feels like they are over a barrel. 

Our superpower as interior designers is having vast knowledge of product costs. You can review a contract, and you can spot something and go, “Huh, that one feels low.” And you can immediately turn to your client and tell them you want to have a quick conversation about that number and make sure it’s on track. 

I would much rather a client know before the demo that they’re going to need an extra $1,500 to make the bathroom what they want than after the demo when the guy is waiting for the tile and the homeowner feels like they are over a barrel. 

Our superpower as interior designers is having vast knowledge of product costs. You can review a contract, and you can spot something and go, “Huh, that one feels low.” And you can immediately turn to your client and tell them you want to have a quick conversation about that number and make sure it’s on track. I would much rather a client know before the demo that they’re going to need an extra $1,500 to make the bathroom what they want than after the demo when the guy is waiting for the tile and the homeowner feels like they are over a barrel. 

Our superpower as interior designers is having vast knowledge of product costs. You can review a contract, and you can spot something and go, “Huh, that one feels low.” And you can immediately turn to your client and tell them you want to have a quick conversation about that number and make sure it’s on track. 

I would much rather a client know before the demo that they’re going to need an extra $1,500 to make the bathroom what they want than after the demo when the guy is waiting for the tile and the homeowner feels like they are over a barrel. 

Our superpower as interior designers is having vast knowledge of product costs. You can review a contract, and you can spot something and go, “Huh, that one feels low.” And you can immediately turn to your client and tell them you want to have a quick conversation about that number and make sure it’s on track. 

I would much rather a client know before the demo that they’re going to need an extra $1,500 to make the bathroom what they want than after the demo when the guy is waiting for the tile and the homeowner feels like they are over a barrel. 

The second scenario is when you have an existing client, and you know they’re going to do a project, and when the project finally comes around, not only do you already have the know, like, and trust factor, but you know their tastes. You know their styles. You know their pain points in pricing. That becomes the most amazing and clear-cut contract you will ever create.

If you are still new to this kind of work, do a fake project. Run numbers, run an entire budget for a project using the vendors that you would normally reach out to, and start getting some estimates.

Even if you’ve been doing it for a while, this is still a great exercise, especially if you are evolving to higher price point projects. Start researching that now. Get those figures in your head so that you are ready and prepared to be successful in guiding a client through a contract review.