Working with an interior designer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he know the budget? If he did, just sever the relationship and move on.

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

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.

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.

In this case, I would just explain that you need to reduce the scope and you want to keep the furniture selections and forgo the construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he know the budget? If he did, just sever the relationship and move on.

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

That's very strange, unless there was some reason for him to think that. It is his responsibility to make it clear.

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.

I think I worked with her too. Her work is beautiful but I paid a lot of plus plus that I had wanted to be included in my out-the-door budget number and wasn’t.

[Anonymous]

We used two designers.

One totally disregarded are budget and we ended up not moving forward with anything. Really it was a total waste of money except maybe she taught me a few things that you could probably learn by taking a single design class.

A second one was very conscious of our budget and apologized when construction costs were much higher than anticipated. She also went with the single contractor, no bids. That seemed a bit unusual, but she kept insisting that she needed control of the quality and she knew she would get it from this guy. She had hours for overseeing the contractor. I wasn't thrilled because I am pretty hands-on but once I was able to let go, I realized it was a huge time saver for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he know the budget? If he did, just sever the relationship and move on.

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

That's very strange, unless there was some reason for him to think that. It is his responsibility to make it clear.

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.

I think I worked with her too. Her work is beautiful but I paid a lot of plus plus that I had wanted to be included in my out-the-door budget number and wasn’t.

I’m the PP— Coincidentally, one of the pics in the other thread about people’s style is by the designer I worked with who didn’t include any install costs/etc in her budget for me. Her rooms are great but she expects a blank check.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if we have the same designers. I am firing mine. They charge by the hour so if I send them back to the drawing board I pay. I am cutting ties and we go our separate ways.

[Anonymous]

Rich people problems.

[Anonymous]

He’s pissed bc he thinks you’re going to take his plans to a cheaper designer to execute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Did he charge you for fabric samples?!? One, they’re free, and free to mail. Two, that is so odd. Usually he would pick samples and put a vision together for you. At the first meeting he should have brought fabric samples for you to look at for him to get a sense of your style. Third, he should have stuck to your budget, or refused the job based on your budget. Highly unprofessional.

—Former interior designer

[Anonymous]

pp back to add…him not getting estimates is normal. Usually you have contractors you like and work well with. I don’t understand why there is an extra fee? Usually he’d hire a low level employee to bill time to meet contractor at the house and check in, etc. it should be straight billed time, and the contractor should be a line item on your invoice.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never done this, but it’s sounds really disappointing.

So the designer hires a GC, who subs everything out, and the GC gets 20% markup on the subs, then the designer gets a 20% markup on the GC, so that’s a 44% markup on labor. Do the GC and designer also charge an hourly rate for their time / their staff’s time to manage the GC and subs?

Did the designer give you that information before you hired him? Just curious as l have no experience. I work full time as well so don’t have a ton of time to be a project manager on the side. I am going to hire a designer for smaller projects on my house - to help choosing some lighting and paint colors, then l will do the shopping and getting quotes from contractors. I’ve heard it called a la carte design services. I expect it will take longer than hiring a full service designer / PM, but I don’t want to pay all the levels of management you’ve outlined.

Sorry no advice but thanks for posing this as an FYI to others.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why people need to pay a 20% markup for a designer to source things that are readily identifiable by browsing shelter magazines and available for purchase online. The designer gets a trade discount and you pay a markup. What’s the point? Is it just for the pleasure of spending a lot of money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people need to pay a 20% markup for a designer to source things that are readily identifiable by browsing shelter magazines and available for purchase online. The designer gets a trade discount and you pay a markup. What’s the point? Is it just for the pleasure of spending a lot of money?

It takes some work to do it on your own. During the pandemic I did my own design work because of long waits for the designers. I spent hours on instagram, ordered fabric samples and learned about sizing/scale from various designer blogs. Then I used furniture land south to order “trade only” furniture brands. The “designer” at FLS helped me also with scale, swatches etc. But it was all A LOT of work. I did save thousands of dollars doing it on my own. I learned a lot during the process and even if I have the money, will likely do it on my own going forward. I prefer to take my time, use antiques and continue to see new things I like. I don’t want to do an entire room all at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pp back to add…him not getting estimates is normal. Usually you have contractors you like and work well with. I don’t understand why there is an extra fee? Usually he’d hire a low level employee to bill time to meet contractor at the house and check in, etc. it should be straight billed time, and the contractor should be a line item on your invoice.

I’ve no idea what we’d be paying the designer 20% for on top of the 20% to the contractor. When we asked he said it’s in the agreement we signed so we take it or leave it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never done this, but it’s sounds really disappointing.

So the designer hires a GC, who subs everything out, and the GC gets 20% markup on the subs, then the designer gets a 20% markup on the GC, so that’s a 44% markup on labor. Do the GC and designer also charge an hourly rate for their time / their staff’s time to manage the GC and subs?

Did the designer give you that information before you hired him? Just curious as l have no experience. I work full time as well so don’t have a ton of time to be a project manager on the side. I am going to hire a designer for smaller projects on my house - to help choosing some lighting and paint colors, then l will do the shopping and getting quotes from contractors. I’ve heard it called a la carte design services. I expect it will take longer than hiring a full service designer / PM, but I don’t want to pay all the levels of management you’ve outlined.

Sorry no advice but thanks for posing this as an FYI to others.

Within the contractor budget is a salary for a dedicated employee who would supposedly be at our house every day. But then we’d pay 20% on top of that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Did he charge you for fabric samples?!? One, they’re free, and free to mail. Two, that is so odd. Usually he would pick samples and put a vision together for you. At the first meeting he should have brought fabric samples for you to look at for him to get a sense of your style. Third, he should have stuck to your budget, or refused the job based on your budget. Highly unprofessional.

—Former interior designer

Yes we’d pay each week for print outs of the plans and samples etc to be Fedex Ed to us