Featured on the Show:

Only Girl On The Jobsite Course

Only Girl On The Jobsite Designer Edition

Construction Management Workbook

FREE Pre-renovation Checklist

What you will learn from this episode: 

• Why it is critical to build and maintain relationships throughout a construction project

• Interior designers relationships on a job site

• Homeowners relationships on a job site

Let’s talk relationships!

No, I don’t mean romantic relationships…..I mean relationships on a construction project.

I know I have lots of homeowners listening as well as designers listening so I want to talk about ALL the different types of relationships because they really are critical to build and maintain throughout a project. 

This can apply to you if your project is 3 weeks, 3 months, or a year.  Whatever the length of time your project is a relationship and can be critical to the success of your project. 

And when I say success I don’t mean a completed project. I mean more of a secondarily level – how you feel about the project. I want you to feel that you have been successful not only in accomplishing your dreams and hopes, not only in the design but also in how you felt about running the project. 

I’m going to go back to the basics and remind you that building the right team at the right time for YOU is the first step in building these relationships.

Once you decide you like a person, you want to hire them, then you start building the relationship. 

Why? Well for one, these people come into your home weekly, daily, bi-weekly, and you want to be comfortable having them come into your house. 

And if you are a designer, make sure you ONLY take jobs that are a good fit for YOU!! 

Taking jobs that are not a good fit for you, is quite frankly, hurting the industry…..because that project will not end successfully! 

That is the best advice I can offer for you to be successful with your clients. 

But, let’s assume it’s a good fit. Then you build and maintain that relationship with the client. What does that mean? In my experience, communication and transparency are the keys to my success. And that means constantly communicating with your client about every little detail that you are doing. The things that you are going through, what you need from the client in advance, and anything you see coming down the pike that may or may not need collaboration with the client. 

I find that if my clients know what’s going on now, what’s going on next, what’s going on in the future, they are more collaborative, and they are thinking down the road as well.

In this episode I share other benefits of establishing good relationships with contractors as well.

If you are a homeowner and looking to hire a designer to help you manage a construction project or you are going to manage it yourself directly with the contractors please focus on building and maintaining a relationship. Even if you are halfway through a project and things are feeling a little hinky, go back and try to untangle the knot and establish a trusting relationship with either your interior designer and/or your contractor. 

And for interior designers, you do have a lot of relationships to build and maintain, not only with all of the contractors on your project but with your client. These are critical to get right and to keep right. It’s not just about designing a project and maintaining a schedule, it’s about building and maintaining the relationships of the contracting team that you are a part of as well as with the client. 

I hope this episode helps you understand WHY these relationships are so important and how to go about them in a successful manner!

Like this Episode?

• Be sure to check out Episode #50: How To Guide for Women on Construction Sites

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