FEATURED ON THIS EPISODE:

INTERIOR DESIGNER’S GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THE EPISODE:

HOW TO HANDLE CONCERNS OVER SKILL SET OR FEELING INADEQUATE 

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FEEL ISOLATED IN THE FIELD

WHY UNDERSTANDING THE CONSTRUCTION PHASES OF A PROJECT AND KNOWING WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW TO ADD VALUE IS SO CRITICAL

PRICING YOUR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

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As you may know, I am in contact with many designers, seasoned and new. These conversations have spanned the last three years, and I’m starting to see trends in both concerns, issues and challenges that interior designers are facing on construction projects. 

Today I want to break down the issues, concerns, fears, and challenges I have been hearing into three basic categories.

Feeling isolated in the field

What I am finding is that this isolation, this feeling of being the odd man out, the only girl on the job site, is making designers question their skills. It doesn’t mean you don’t have skills, but you don’t have someone back at the office asking how it went today. Instead, you start talking in your head and second-guessing every word that came out. All that self-doubt is just your insecurities from not having that backup or support system.

I was blessed to have a support system, yet I’m not sure if that made it harder to go from having one to going to be completely alone, as I experienced. 

I talk to designers who have been decorating for years and are breaking into construction, and maybe they’re experiencing the same feelings I did to go from a firm to alone. To go from a decorating project where you have all the skills, to go to a construction project where you aren’t sure of your skills can be just as isolating. I get that. I hear that from other designers, and I hope if you’re feeling that right now, knowing that other designers are feeling this way, I’m praying that that makes it feel less overwhelming. 

Concerns over skillset/feeling inadequate

When you feel isolated you can feel very sensitive to everything because you’re not getting that validation, commodore, or feedback that you get when you’re in a bigger firm or part of a community. 

What you can also be missing is not knowing the skills that you need. We all have a first day. I feel that designers get hung up on feeling that every day is their first day. When that isn’t the case. You have more skills today than you did last week. If you don’t feel the same way, I’m going to ask you to write down one skill you learned this week. I think we are way too hard on ourselves. (Myself completely included in this by the way.)

But it is critical for you to have the skills to be adding the value that your clients are hiring you for on their construction projects. So if you have gaps in your skills, if you know areas you are weak, then that’s the direction you need to go in and find more information on. 

Misunderstanding or not understanding the construction phases of a project and knowing when, where, and how to add value.

Many of the designers I speak with are calling about issues they’ve run into or mistakes that they made. The common thread I’m seeing in all of these issues is a lack of understanding of the phases of construction.  

Part of this can come from the contractor not including you and just pinging you when they need you. Not being a part of a project for possibly weeks at a time negatively impacts the value you can offer. Because if you don’t understand what has been going on since your last visit there’s a disconnect and it limits the contributions you can be making at that moment. 

Not understanding the phases of a construction project also greatly impacts your ability to price your fees.

How do you price services and purchase them to maximize profits on a project? 

If you don’t understand how a project progresses from day 1, to the last day, you won’t understand when you will need to be on site, the role you will play when you’re on site, and then secondarily, what you can bring, the projections you can make, understanding what’s coming up next and what’s coming up beyond that.

So, a lot of designers reach out to me asking for a universal, one-size-fits-all pricing for construction projects, and that does not exist. 

Every project can be different, even with the same square footage. This does not mean I don’t run square footage numbers. It just means I use it as a checks and balances system. I also want to see if there are any trends that I am finding. It’s an internal number, not a number I am putting out to my client. That process takes into account the entire scope of work and the complexity of the scope of work. 

I am bringing up these issues and worries I hear from designers because I want to address the limitations that this podcast has. I know how many listeners take notes and that is what I want you to be doing. But I also want to be very clear that I consider this podcast a patchwork of information. There is only so much I can share verbally through a podcast. 

This is why I built my course, THE INTERIOR DESIGNER’S GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, which you can find out more about here. 

As always, please feel free to reach out to me on social media or email me at renee@devignierdesign.com.