What Happens in a Design Consultation?

September 19, 2020 Janet Lorusso

Design Consultation is a service you will see offered by most designers, but what happens at a consultation varies widely and depends entirely on the particular designer and the processes they use. Today we want to offer you a peek into how WE approach a design consultation and what it might look like to work with our team..

For most of our clients, the first words I hear in the very first phone call or email are: “I’ve never worked with a designer before…”. They want to know how it works and how much we charge, but both of those questions have complex answers. Our services are tailored to the individual, so we need to know what you want to accomplish before we can fully answer those questions.

There are several stages in the typical design process, but not every project or client needs all of these steps – it depends on the project…and the client – you see the problem with giving a quick answer?

An hourly rate seems like a good way to compare designers, right? But it isn’t a very reliable way to see what will give you the best value. In our case, it means very little as many of our services are fixed price fees rather than billed hourly. We have found most of our clients prefer this model, and it saves administrative time so we can offer much more value. And for the instances where we do use time billing, an hourly rate doesn’t tell you anything about the level of efficiency that 25+ years of experience has given us. We are often much faster than someone with less experience, ultimately saving you money AND time.

Every client finds us somehow…internet search, referral, social media, blog post…

And then we have “first contact” via phone or email where we hear about your project and your goals and you can ask the “how do you work” questions! We want to get to know you a little to see if we will be able to work well together. We have a flexible menu of options, and if we think our design studio may be a good match to help you, we move on to the next step which is most often an in-home or virtual consultation. Our consultations are working appointments and as such we charge a fee.

In preparation for our consultation, we ask you to fill out our brief questionnaire so we will have all the basic information we need and a general idea of your goals. You are also welcome to email us photos of the spaces ahead of time so that we can be better prepared and make the most of our time together.

There are two kinds of consultations - a stand-alone consultation OR the initial consultation visit for a larger scope of work that will involve some other phases of the design process.

Stand-alone Consultations

Stand alone appointments are an “ask us anything” (design-related, of course!) block of one-on-one time. We can do these in-person or virtually via Facetime or Zoom. Generally, these are for things like

selecting paint colors or designing a color scheme for your home,
asking for our professional advice on furniture placement or window treatments,
lighting, surface finishes, or flooring questions,
or ideas for a design direction for a remodeling or decorating project you plan on implementing on your own.

I just had a virtual consultation with someone on the other side of the country via Zoom. She was struggling to figure out how to finish off a room where she had made a bold, colorful wallpaper decision and was wondering if she had made a mistake (the answer was NO, it was a wonderful choice and perfect for the personality of the homeowner). I was able to help her with ideas for the rest of the space that gave the wallpaper a perfect context and gave her the exact spirit she wanted for her home.

Stand alone appointments are also available for

staging consultations for homeowners who want the best price when selling their home,
or re-nesting consultations where we help you refresh a space or make a new {to you} house your own by arranging the things you already own, hanging artwork, or styling shelves.

We always give a lot of value at our consultations. We can often offer suggestions for easy-to-implement ideas that will totally transform the space for the better. While our basic consultation is a flat fee for up to two hours of our time, you can always add time if you have a re-nesting project that will take longer. We did a re-nesting project recently where we hung over 50 pieces of artwork for clients that had just moved from a house into a new condo and wanted to have their cherished pieces arranged and displayed!

Letting us know your priorities for our consultation will ensure we have the tools we need for you to get the most from our time together.

Initial Consultation for a Project

A stand alone appointment is NOT an appointment to design a whole room in two hours. It takes a lot of creativity and refining to design all the elements of a room so they are working together and enhancing one another, creating an environment that is at once beautiful, comfortable, and supremely functional. And that takes a lot of time. If you are embarking on a redecorating or remodeling project and you would like the magic that comes with the art and science of a design tailored especially for you and your house, the initial consultation is part of the first design phase of the project (typically termed the “programming phase”, which is all about gathering input) In this case we will use the time to understand you. This is when we channel our inner design detective to help uncover what you REALLY want.

You don’t have to know the solutions, that is our job, you only need to be clear about the goals.

Example: “I want a kitchen that makes it easy for 3 or 4 people to cook together” is a GOAL, “I want a kitchen with an island” is NOT — it may or may not ultimately be part of the solution, but it is not a goal!

If appropriate, we may set up private shared Pinterest boards for you and assign some ‘homework’ to find images of rooms that DO appeal to you as well as rooms that DON’T. Pictures are really useful to communicate. They are much more accurate than terms about style like “modern” or “transitional” or “coastal” or “traditional” that may mean different things to different people. We’ll look at these images together to talk about why things do or do not resonate with you and begin to establish a profile of your unique style preferences.

We’ll want to take a tour of the house and we’ll ask a LOT of questions. We aren’t just being nosy, we are gathering the information we need in order to put together the most amazing design solution for you! We’ll ask about everything from

how long do you plan to live in this house?,

who will use the space?,

how do you use the space now?,

how you dream of using the space?, to

what does a typical day in this house look like?,

what do you like best about the existing space?,

what isn’t working or drives you crazy about the room right now?

We want to be sure we have the information we need to create the magic that is exactly right for you! We’ll discuss the project goals more in depth and offer some possible directions to explore that you may not have considered. We’ll ask about preferences for the mood of the room, and color and pattern likes and dislikes.

We’ll also discuss the timeline and the investment you want to make in the project This is something that many people are initially reluctant to share - either because they have no idea what sort of number makes sense, or they have a number in mind but are secretly hoping if they don’t say it out loud they won’t need to spend it all! The thing is, we can only do our best work for you if you tell us what parameters we are working in. Are we designing a Honda, a BMW, or a Lamborghini? It would be a waste of our time and your money for us to show you things outside of your parameters, so this is a critical piece of information. We can help you understand how far your investment will go and if it is realistic for what you want to accomplish. Sometimes a phased approach is needed and we can help you establish an order that makes sense so the design is built in a logical way and you don’t end up wasting money.

HGTV is fun, but the numbers thrown around on home improvement shows have given people a skewed and very unrealistic idea of what things really cost since they rarely include much if any of the labor or even all of the product! With an investment amount established, we can help you invest wisely, advising on the best places to save money and the most worthwhile and impactful places to spend.

During this initial phase we will also take detailed pictures and measurements of all the areas that are part of the project as well as any existing furnishings that will be re-used.

A consultation is almost always the entry point for our design services, but we do have several smaller service options available like our email mini-consult if a regular design consultation is more than you need in order to answer your design dilemma, or get a project back on track.