CHEMISTRY MATTERS

- How to vet your design team and save yourself from future heartache. -

We know that anticipating, planning, and eventually hiring a design team for your home or business reno/build is a big deal.

It’s a commitment of many months of your life dedicated to working together to make a vision you’ve had for your home or workplace come to life.

The success or failure of your relationship with your interior designer can truly make or break a project. Building a trust bond with the team you’re working with is essential for seeing your project come to life in a meaningful way. It’s also essential if you want your project to stay on budget, on time, and with minimal aggravation. After all, renovations are one of life’s top stressors. They can be tough.

That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you in the journey of vetting the design team you choose to work with on your project.

Here’s what you should keep in mind when hiring an Interior Designer (from an Interior Designer’s perspective):

1. Check out their portfolio.

Does their folio feature only one style of design or a range? Just because you like a designer or studio’s aesthetic doesn’t always mean they’re the perfect fit for the vision of your project. A range of design styles, various project sizes and complexity in detail means that the design team you’re thinking about has a wide range of experience and can work within different parameters. Food for thought.

2. Reach out to some of their past clients

Is there a project you LOVE that they’ve shared on Instagram or their website? Ask for a reference from the client, or reach out directly to the client on social media! This is a great way to get to know the client-designer dynamic and to find out if the project looked as good on the inside as it does in the photographs. 

This also gives you an opportunity to find out how the months-long relationship unfolded. Does the end product reflect the client and their lifestyle or is it a showcase piece for the designer’s portfolio? Did the design fees stay on track as agreed upon or did they build due to designer inexperience and lack of due diligence? Did the client feel heard and supported throughout the process? Would you refer this designer to a friend? Would you work with them again? Don’t be shy – ask these and other hard hitting questions.

3. Check out their credentials.

PIDIM, IDC a sample of regulating bodies (who we belong to!) and NCIDQ all require that Interior Designers keep up with CEUs (Continuing Education Units) to ensure that we are always expanding our knowledge base, keeping up with new technologies, best business practices, challenges in design (think response to COVID) and ethics. Working with a designer/team that has these credentials and affiliations is hugely important to the longevity, safety, and success of your home or business design.

4. Assess chemistry during your initial meetings. Do you and the designer “click?”

If you’ve gotten to the point of booking a meeting with a potential designer or firm, make sure to bring a list of questions about your project. A gut feeling is worth paying attention to – see if you get along and enjoy your time during initial meetings. Try not to be too formal or standoffish. A design project is an intimate process where A LOT of personal or professional information is shared in order to inform a successful outcome. Feel out the flow of discussion, ask yourself:”is this a team or individual you can share some of your deepest and darkest?

Any design team you work with comes with their own set of experiences, expectations, and ways of getting things done. Ultimately, pre-vetting your design team is worth the time and effort it takes. We know from experience that design projects are the most successful when both client and designer both “get it” – that difficult-to-describe but hugely important part of the creative process where parties trust one another and are focused on the same end goal.