Establishing YOUR budget for your project is one of the first things to take care of! If we don’t have at least an approximate idea of what you want to spend, it is not possible to get you the home of your dreams! Homeowners are often hesitant to share exactly where the budget falls for a variety of reasons. Let’s explore a few:
“If I give my designer my ACTUAL budget, they’ll spend all of it”
This is true. Designers are just as enthusiastic about your home as you are and we want you to have all the things that will make you LOVE your home and be proud to enjoy it and show it off.
“I’m just going to share 50% of my budget up front to force my designer to come in at my budget”
This is an interesting perspective. Revisiting the above statement that designers want you to have it all, we are going to do our best to get you everything you want within your stated budget. Which translates into perhaps a lesser quality or less complete (if quality is the primary goal!) than you intended. This leads to an unhappy client and we HATE that!
“It’s not my designer’s business to know my budget”
A client’s finances are NOT the designer’s business. However, when we’re sourcing products, we need to know where to shop. We only want to show clients that fulfill their expected level of taste and style.
“If I love it, price is no object”
Okay – we can have some fun with that. The design world is chock full of some fabulous things. And it makes complete sense to splurge on some of these. But do you want to splurge on all? Happy to help if you do, but what we find more often is there are areas where money is truly no object and the objective is the perfect space but down the hall, the kids playroom?? For some folks it’s making more sense to not go so crazy!
Also? Define “no object”. Let’s take a look at area rugs as an example:
- $ We can get rugs super in-expensively but if your level of taste exceeds this, you won’t be happy.
- $$ We can get a moderately priced rug that is well made in a quality wool that will last a very long time. You’ll be happy but maybe but it might be “just okay” for your tastes.
- $$$ We can show you an AMAZING rug that is investment quality, will probably cost the price of your first house and will be a showpiece and focus of your room.
All options cover your floor, but how much is this worth TO YOU???
Determining Your Purchasing Budget
So how to know how much all this will cost? This is a “Good / Better / Best / Bespoke” breakdown of the cost of purchases for your home.
Design Fees
All our design fees are priced based on the scope of the job Design fees are broken into three parts:
- The Design Phase: Offers flat fees based on the amount of projected hours estimated to complete the job and (typically) priced per room. This number can vary when making selections that run throughout the home (flooring, fixtures, finishes)
- The Procurement Phase (getting the stuff for you!): Purchasing is a part of our fee structure and during the procurement phase of the project we work like any other retailer and handle the details of ordering your pretty new things as part of our fair retail pricing. It is good to remember that reselections and design changes will necessarily result in additional design fees at your contracted hourly rate.
- The Project Management Phase: If there is work to be done, trade vendors to be communicated with, directions to be given, these tasks are billed at your contracted hourly rate, unless other arrangements are negotiated.