Working with Clients

Introduction

Writers and thinkers have long said the same thing about home. It is our sanctuary, a place to feel safe and be entirely ourselves. Back when we lived in caves, home was mainly shelter. Since we started drawing on cave walls, it has become far more: the place of our most intimate relationships, where we meet friends and family, and a statement of who we are. Walk into anyone’s home and you can usually get a good sense of who lives there. It is not any one object but how they are put together, the exotic with the everyday and the personal with the generic, that is so telling.

You are not just dealing with bricks and mortar. You are dealing with people’s lives, and being invited into this private part of their world is a great privilege.

Reasons for using an interior designer

There are dozens of reasons, and it is up to you to understand why a particular client needs you.

• They want to organise their space better, and a side effect is a better-organised, more relaxed life.
• They want an outsider to help focus their ideas, or their priorities lie elsewhere and they would rather someone else do the work.
• They may be looking for prestige, praise from others or more self-confidence.
• They want help expressing their personality, being fashionable or building a collection of decorative objects.
• They believe an expert reduces risk and saves time and work, and takes pressure off them by reducing self-doubt and avoiding criticism from others.

Clients often do not know what they want. They know something is wrong with the way they live and try to explain it to you, but do not take things at face value. Keep your ears and eyes open to see how their lives could be improved, because you are the expert. You have to be part psychologist, part sociologist, with a little detective thrown in, and that makes it a rewarding field.

Your first meeting

Before the meeting, ask the prospective client about the condition of the site (you do not want to arrive in your best clothes at a construction site) and get clear directions to the address. Nothing puts a client off more than a designer who turns up late and flustered.

Easing the client’s worries

You may be nervous, but the client is probably on edge too. They may worry that contacting you locks them into something very expensive, that you will not get on, that you will turn your nose up at their well-worn home, or that you will turn a home they love into a sterile, impractical magazine photo. To inspire confidence and professionalism:

• Build a contact list of satisfied clients happy to talk about your work, and let prospects call them for a candid chat.
• Keep a file of written testimonials. Ask clients for them, and most will be pleased to oblige.
• Build a portfolio of your work. It shows prospects what you can do and lets you see your own progress.
• Offer a free first consultation, which is common practice. It lets both sides see how they get on, whether your tastes are in sync (minimal and modern against over-the-top Rococo, say), and lets the client learn how you work, what they can expect to pay and which services you provide.

At the meeting

The first meeting is about finding out about the client and should take an hour or more. Ask for a guided tour of the house, even if they only want the sitting room redesigned. It reveals far more than wall colours or dimensions. They may tell you they never use the den because it is dark and cold, or that friends always end up in the kitchen.

• Take lots of mental notes. Written notes can feel intimidating, as if the client is under scrutiny.
• Be a good listener. You may have your own ideas, but the project is for them, not for you.
• When setting up the meeting, ask the client for photos in magazines and books of designs they like and dislike. Many people struggle to describe design verbally, and looking at a photo together starts a meaningful conversation. If they have none, bring some and ask them to mark rooms they like and dislike with sticky notes.
• Ask about interests, colour preferences (bring paint company colour decks so you both see the same “light blue”), whether they entertain or host overnight guests, how they see the house working and not working, and which rooms to change. Explain that you are not snooping but laying the foundations of the scheme.
• List all existing furniture, paintings, accessories and finishes, and work out what the client wants to keep. Is it worth re-upholstering the couch? Can the carpet be dyed? Can the joinery be repainted or should it be replaced?
• Ask permission to take photographs. They jog your memory and give you “before and after” records. Measure approximately by stepping out the space and ask whether house plans are available.
• Ask whether you may switch lights on and off and open or close drapes and blinds to see the room at different times of day.

Questions to ask and observations to make

Your second meeting

Before the second meeting you may take the client window-shopping to understand their tastes. Visit good retailers, not trade-only outlets at this stage, to discover their loves and hates. Charge this outing at an agreed hourly rate, discussed beforehand. At the second meeting you present your ideas, in one or more of these ways:

• Give a ballpark cost at this meeting. There is no point in a client falling in love with a scheme that costs twice what they expect.
• If the client does not like it, that is not unusual or necessarily bad. Treat the first scheme as a starting point and go back to the drawing board. Many designers rework ideas free or for a nominal fee until the client is satisfied.
• Bring specialists such as painting or flooring contractors or a lighting specialist as the scheme progresses. You are not the expert on everything. Your skill is pulling the project together using the best people, and your contacts are an enormously valuable part of your business.

Talking about money

Budget is vital and should be set early, but clients are often hesitant. They may be embarrassed, fear you will be shocked by how little they have, not have worked out what they can afford, or think a low figure will make you find a cheaper way, or that a high one means you will spend it all. You will need your communication skills to find the real size of the budget.

• It is better to compromise on the work and have a happy client than to create a masterpiece that is a financial millstone.
• Encourage honesty. If the client is vague you may work hard on a scheme and sourcing, then find they can only afford a few accessories.
• Real design takes time and costs money. You are paid for your expertise, your trade contacts and your ability to source furniture, fabric and wallpaper at trade-only suppliers.
• Once the budget is set, check it is feasible. Break it down into lighting, furniture, floor coverings, window treatments, wall treatments, fabrics, accessories and your fee.
• Talk it through so the client can say how much to spend on each part. They may prefer cheaper lamps and a more expensive couch.
• Include a margin for surprises. It may be unnecessary for painting, new flooring and new furniture, but for plumbing, old wiring or structural work it is best to include one. You may find rising damp or termite damage that adds a lot to the job, so prepare the client for this.

When you and the client decide you can work together, which is as important to them as to you, put it in writing.

Your fee structure

Most designers work on an hourly basis, though some charge a percentage of the budget. Discuss fees at the very first opportunity. To keep cash flow healthy, send an invoice at regular intervals through the project. Four payments along the way is reasonable.

Final design

It may take several meetings to finalise the design. Present the final design clearly and tangibly so there is no misunderstanding and you are certain you both envisage the same thing. Use a board at least 11 by 17 inches, carrying:

1. A floor plan with furniture layout
2. Fabric swatches
3. Paint samples and, if applicable, wall covering samples
4. A sample of floor coverings
5. Photos of furniture, cut from magazines and brochures

• Do not put brand names of furnishings on the board. That allows small changes along the way and lets you keep some information to yourself.
• Keep the proportion of each sample in mind. If burnt orange is only an accent on mouldings, use a very small paint sample.
• Factor the time and materials spent on the board into the cost of the job.
• Present a detailed, itemised budget broken into areas: painting, flooring, furniture, window treatments (which may differ for each window) and lighting.
• Build in a margin of up to 30% on trades as a handling fee, and up to 20% on furniture and artworks, which reflects your expertise in sourcing them. This course presents these as acceptable.
• Take a deposit from the client and distribute it among the contractors. A deposit of around 70% is reasonable.

Scheduling the trades

Once you have the go-ahead, schedule contractors in a logical order. You do not want the electrician chasing new wiring into walls on the same day as the painter, or drapes hung before the walls are painted.

1. Wiring and plumbingEarly on. They are messy, and wiring means chasing cables into walls, which you do not want after a beautiful paint job. Switch plates, outlets and lights can go in after walls and ceilings are painted, so the bulk of the work is done first and you avoid fiddly paintwork around fixtures.
2. PaintingBefore new flooring. You may need to touch up where walls meet the floor afterwards, especially with tile or other hard flooring, but that is far easier than removing paint from new carpet.
3. FlooringAfter painting, as above.
4. JoineryBuilt off site, so it can be installed fairly late, after walls are painted or wall coverings are up.
5. Blinds and drapesAmong the last things in. Building is dusty, so keep fragile fabrics out of the way as long as possible.
6. Furniture, art and accessoriesArrange for all furniture to be delivered on the same day, for convenience and so your client sees maximum impact with everything in place at once. Place it per the room layout, dusting and polishing as needed, because pieces may have sat in a warehouse. Hang artwork and arrange accessories. Consider having a few extra accessories delivered on consignment, since clients may decide to buy them once they see them.

Handle the finances as efficiently as the trades. You will have had about 70% up front. You need another 30% soon after the job starts, and enough on hand to pay each contractor’s final payment when they finish. When all furniture is in place, your final fee is due. Ask the client if you may photograph the finished result immediately for your records, while it all looks pristine.

Paperwork

Paperwork is a necessary evil in this business. Talking, listening and creating are more interesting, but to track a project and make sure everyone knows what is expected, you need as much as possible in writing.

Letter of acceptance

Your first letter to a client is the letter of acceptance, sent once they have agreed you are the right person, a budget is decided and your fee structure is approved. A sample letter from Jenniez Designs, addressed to a client for a house in Lekki, includes:

• The address of your firm, the date and a greeting.
• Thanks for choosing the firm for the project, with the property address.
• The services you will carry out: designs and plans for the room or rooms, specifications of all products used, selection of contractors (unless the client prefers their own) and project management of site works at a stated percentage of the overall project cost.
• Invoicing in four stages: at the start of design work, at the completion of design work, at the start of building works, and the balance on completion.
• An invitation to ask questions, and a signed close.

Design brief

A spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel is very useful for much of your paperwork, because everything stays tidy and easy for you, your clients and contractors to refer to. Once you have discussed the direction of the job with the client, fill in the design brief chart with all the relevant information. It will change as the project moves on, but it is an ideal way to track the job and makes writing the scope of work far easier.

Project cost

The next document is the project cost, by spreadsheet or by hand. Keep an accurate record of costings, for your benefit and your client’s. File all documents carefully and never destroy paperwork along the way, because you will probably need to refer back. Keep a running tally of all quotes received. You will usually ask several contractors to quote on each part of the job, and you then enter the successful quote on the project cost document, and so on through the house, down to door handles and the kitchen sink where applicable.

Scope of work

To get a quote from a tradesperson you must write a scope of work: a list of absolutely everything you want that contractor to do, however minor it seems. Spell out everything, because tradespeople quote only on what they are asked to do, and anything you remember later is an extra quote. Remembering something once the job has started makes you unpopular with both client and contractor, and you could be considered negligent and liable for the extra cost yourself.

• Give the scope of work to every trade that will quote on the job.
• Use a “contractor” column to show who does what.
• Specify who supplies what. You may supply the lights, since they are so specific, but be happy for the electrician to supply the switch plates.