Working with an interior designer
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Anonymous
| We bought a furnished house in 2021 and moved in right away. Late last year we hired an interior design firm to help us to refurnish it, we like the floor plan a lot but all of the furnishings need to be replaced. The designer and his team did a really good job of presenting us with ideas and options by room, we went back and forth on each room or area and made our final selections. The designer has a lot of 'flair' and really wants to move some walls, remove and replace some built ins that we're fine, switch out a lot of the lighting etc because he thinks they could be better. A couple of weeks ago we got the budget for all of the furniture, lighting, carpets etc. It was higher than we expected but then we hadn't done this before and don't really know what anything is supposed to cost, especially once it's delivered, installed, 20% mark up to the designer etc. The designer has a contractor he likes to use so he didn't interview or get a bid from anyone else, he also said that he does not negotiate the bids any contractor provides. The contractor bid also came in much higher than we had expected, plus there's a 20% fee to the contractor for managing the project, and then a 20% fee to the designer for each of the subs the contractor oversees. So for example, if the painter is $10k, we pay $14k. Altogether, the total budget is already more than 2x what we had expected. The designer is very good with ideas, but not on the financials. Two weeks ago he insisted that we needed to move forward right away so we could stay on track timing wise, the goal was to get the project finished over the summer. We told the designer we can't move forward as the budget is way too high, plus we have zero room for any extras, and we needed to pare it back. He's now absolutely irate with us and has sent two really angry emails to say that we have taken advantage of him and wasted his time...I'm not even sure how to proceed. Should we try to reason with him, try to break up the project and do a few rooms, or just move on with someone else? Thank you, any guidance would be appreciated. I'm sure that I could have handled this better in some ways but i'm not sure how |
Anonymous
| You should have negotiated a price first. And you were incredibly dumb to ask the interior designer to deal with the contractor. You should have done that as a separate project. |
Anonymous
| Did he know the budget? If he did, just sever the relationship and move on. |
Anonymous
Yes he knew the budget but he claims he thought it wasn't for both the furnishings, and the contractor, so he thought our budget was 2x what it is |
Anonymous
Yeah I would just fire him within the terms of your contract if you don’t want to pay the money. Businesses that provide services to rich people are often really good, but rarely a good value. A lot of being a designer or similar stuff is about being good at making people feel good, or special or whatever. Your guy may be a grifter, or he may be a visionary who is just sloppy or bad with numbers and his desired client won’t care. Either way, he’s not a good fit for you. The one thing here is you really need to be careful when you explain the budget. That kind of misunderstanding (if it’s not just a straight lie) should be impossible. You should be able to point at clear language in your written communication that makes it clear. If you can’t, it’s possible that you bear SOME responsibility here although imo it’s still his fault. You could just adjust the scope and buy the furniture if you want, and not do any structural changes. For those PPs saying the designer shouldn’t choose the contractor, that’s not true. Sometimes having connections to good contractors is a lot of what the designer brings to the table. If they work together a lot, that can really, really help things go smoothly. For you as the client the incentives can be right also, because the contractor needs to keep the designer happy to protect future business. They can also conspire to overcharge you, but that can happen in any configuration. Not having to find and vet a contractor is worth a lot to busy clients. |
Anonymous
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Cut your losses and run. As a business owner who provides quotes to people all the time, I can't understand how he could assume that you were prepared to pay those prices. And really, if you had a budget in mind, you should have told it to him. If you didn't tell him your budget and then got a quote that is too high, that's on you. HOWEVER, he should be accustomed to that and should have known that his quote might be over your budget, so it is just incomprehensible that he would have done a lot of work without having a commitment from you or a deposit. So that's on him.
The fact that he became angry and was unprofessional suggests to me that he maybe isn't so experienced, or else is just very unprofessional in general - either way, just find someone else. Or use an online service like SpaceJoy and find your own contractors. |
Anonymous
That's very strange, unless there was some reason for him to think that. It is his responsibility to make it clear. |
Anonymous
He is trying to rip you off. Take the furnishings, hire your own contractor. |
Anonymous
| He’s being angry because he’s in the wrong and knows it. He’s trying to take advantage of you and angry you caught onto it and didn’t go along with it. |
Anonymous
FWIW the exact same thing happened to me with a designer who is frequently published. We had a clear budget, but she expected it to cover only things she ordered. I think it’s relatively common, but a terrible business practice. |
Anonymous
She expected, but didn’t communicate that? It’s not like having budget categories is a problem, but failing to communicate about it is malpractice. |
Anonymous
OP yes this guy is older and has been published in many magazines. I think he just didn’t want to adhere to a budget as several times I told him sure we can move that wall but I doubt we can afford to, his response was always that we were going to love the house so we should just relax |
Anonymous
OP yes we feel like we’re being bullied |
Anonymous
OP thanks for your perspective. We signed his contract and paid an upfront fee, then we paid expenses each month for fabric samples and different stuff he got delivered. He pays a lot of attention to detail which we appreciated, Except when it comes to the budget I guess!! DH and I both work full time so there’s no way we’d be able to screen contractors or have any idea if their bids were market. But with everything else in this house so landscaper, pool guy etc we met a few folks and got a few bids then made a choice. It was surprising to us that the designer didn’t want to interview any other contractors or negotiate with the one who provided the estimate. Also the contractor is subbing out everything and charging 20%, then the designer is charging another 20% but it’s not clear to me what the designer does for the 20%. We also agreed to pay a mark up to the designer for all of the furnishings he chose which is understandable. |
Anonymous
OP - what’s frustrating is that we’ve spent months on the plans for each room and we’ve made all the final choices which was massively time consuming. So to have to start again with someone else would be a big time commitment and a delay. We would have no idea how to find or pick a contractor, but then we also don’t care if we move a bunch of the walls the designer wanted to change. |