At Roya Design & Build, it is important that our Clients understand the value that we bring to our design work and our primary responsibility is the safety, wellness, and health of the occupants in the spaces we design. Yet, home and business owners are constantly challenged to complete design work because of many factors like the process, budgets, making decisions, and finding the right professionals to work with.
WHAT DO WE BRING TO THE DRAFTING DESK?
Design professional bring education, experience and excellence to a project and because our own industry can not sustain public service announcements, we feel it’s our responsibility to share real boots-on-the-ground experiences with home and business owners who want to consider hiring us for their next design work project.
Here are six reasons why anyone should hire a professional designer.
Not all professionals are equal
The interior design industry is widely unregulated through most of the world with different terminology, education requirements, and associations. In other words, no one needs to be a qualified or experienced designer to use the title.
Qualified interior design professionals are organized, knowledgeable, technical, and experienced in safety requirements and human functional needs, but most importantly they save home and business owners with their tireless commitment to their role.
The challenges owners face are real
Home and business owners are increasingly challenged in a few key areas when it comes to their design and build projects. Time is money, budgets are tighter, property values are always rising, and global markets move quickly. In addition, there is conflicting opinion, decorating magazines that do not manage real design, misinformation from social media and “influencers”, bombardment of reality TV on home and garden television stations, and newscast decorating segments.
Our education and experience is valuable to owners. Drawing upon complex design or build situations in the past is how we can best anticipate owners unique needs.
Free design is expensive
Many home and business owners have had unpleasant experiences with some “designers” in the interior environment industry. Many owners find themselves taking advantages of retailers free in-store design advice for their project because they believe that hiring a qualified professional. It’s not uncommon that new design graduates to start in the retail sector before they start earning industry experience. Unfortunately, retailers are focused on selling only their product and increasing their revenue.
Decisions, mistakes & loosing money
On average, there are hundreds of decisions to make per room and each room takes about 400 hours to complete. With each home and business owner having 4 hours per week of space time to work on a project, it’ll take at least 2 years to complete the work.
Yes, there are home and business owners who are savvy and can make the time to think critically and make decisions but this is not normal; however are they the right ones? Will there be mistakes make? How much will it cost to remedy the mistakes?
Hiring a qualified design professionals helps owners through the process, selections, code and regulations, prepare technical drawings, and collaborate with a qualified contractor for a successful project.
Navigating budget over-runs
Clients often want more than they can afford.
There are many mitigating issues that affect project budgets but the five common factors are actually not design professional related. They are directly related to making changes after the design work is completed.
To help make these issues a distant memory, we have one strategic recommendation to make to all home and business owners:
In addition to a 10-20% contingency, reserve 10% of your project budget for those spontaneous items that every client adds during the construction process. If it goes un-used, then shift the funds to furnishings and accessories once the project is complete.
Focus on the project goals
Every single design and build project is different from the other because no two humans or businesses are alike, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t key challenges that a design professional can help the owner resolve. Similarity, it is important that the owner knows what their challenges are because it helps the design and build professionals develop a strategy for a successful project.
At the core of every project is a Homeowner without an unlimited budget and a professional that wants to help. Each professional will have a different process that works for them and their business so no two professionals will operate the same. This is where finding the right values that the client, contractor and creative can align to is so important.
