The Perfect Fit: Interviewing Interior Designers to Work on Your Custom Built Home (Part 2)

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Finding an interior designer to showcase your custom built home can be  a time-consuming process, but in the long run, it is worth every moment spent. You are, after all, hiring someone to work with you on a long-term creative  project. You will need someone you enjoy spending a lot of time with, someone  you believe you can count on and someone whose distinctive style you  appreciate.

After you have collected recommendations for Houston area designers and whittled down your list to those you are interested in working with, you will begin interviewing. The interview and first meeting with a potential designer  are key to the process because this is where you will form your first  impressions. In Part 1 of this series there is a list of questions you can use to gather basic information on a designer’s scope of experience and whether they are a good  overall fit for you. You will also want to see if they are excited about your  project. Do they know how to accent the luxury and fine carpentry of a custom built home? Is their experience broad enough to match its masterfully-crafted features?

The next set of questions to ask a potential designer gets into the nitty gritty of a business relationship. You will want to know ahead of time how hands-on a designer is going to be. Will you primarily deal directly with them or with assistants at the design house? How is payment going to be arranged? Are they going to respect your budget? How many other projects will they be working on while working with you? Is the designer going to manage other contractors if needed or does that responsibility fall to you?

The Process

• Do you have a design studio? What samples and materials (tile, trim, lighting, flooring) do you have available for us to look at there?
• What vendors and suppliers do you have good relationships with that we can leverage for discounts?
• Will you walk me through the entire process step-by-step? (FYI: the process should begin well before breaking ground.)
• Do you provide a client binder to organize the project?  May I see an example of one?
• Do you have checklists we can follow to make sure nothing is missed?  May I see them?
• How many meetings will we have? When will they need to take place? Who will need to attend each one? What is the goal of each meeting?
• What output do you generate? (A good designer will provide you with a complete board full of samples of each material, paint color and object that you both have selected so you can see how well it matches and coordinates.)
• What services do we need to make sure we get covered elsewhere?

References

• May we tour a few of your completed projects? May we speak with a few of your past clients?

Interviewing the References

• What were your designer’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Did they keep the project on schedule?
• Did they do a good job of estimating costs?
• Did they stay within your budget?
• Were they flexible?
• Were they good listeners?
• Did they provide good samples/layouts?
• Did they miss any important details?
• How creative were they?

Do you have other questions you would ask? If so, post it below. Or contact
Whitestone Builders, winner of a 2011 Star Award from the Texas Association of Builders, if you’re ready to begin building your very own luxury custom home in the Houston area.