Have you appointed a designer for your interior design project but have no idea about how the “Design & Planning” stage goes about! No worries … I agree, you might feel clueless about the whole process, as you don’t do it regularly. But this confusion or cluelessness should not be an obstacle to you. It may feel a bit difficult, but it should not feel intimidating in any sense. And so, I am here to make you aware of the process of designing and planning.
Once you come up with a concept and a vision for your project, the most important stage of the project demands its commencement. Embarking on a journey of designing and planning takes a lot of inputs from both, the client and the designer. Although major part of this stage is taken care off, by the designer. But that doesn’t mean you totally forget about it. You can surely relax a bit, but in this stage you have to monitor the whole process at several check points and regular intervals to arrive at the desired results. It is surely a big process and will determine every little detail of your space and hence needs your attention particularly in 5 places. Let’s see what those are…
- The Presentation
Once the concept is finalized and all the initial discussions are done, the designer goes back to the designing board and comes up with an overall scheme and presentations for the whole project. Understand the whole scheme and try to discuss everything with the designer to have better clarity of the proposed design scheme. Try to avoid the “Go with the Flow” approach from both, your as well as designer’s side, as it will only lead you to make and break situations on site. Try to have as much clarity while in the paperwork stage as you can. Request the designer to give the presentation and visual representation in detail. Study it keenly. This will make you understand the skill, command and creativity of your designer. If you don’t like anything, convey it to your designer. Redoing and reworking at this stage is easy. So settle only when you agree with, and understand all the details. Remember, “If you spend more time doing precise paperwork in the office then a less time is spent for execution on site”.
2. Accuracy of drawings
The concept and vision of the drawing is conveyed to the contractors via detailed drawings, specifications and presentation. The accurate paperwork for the project will make site contractors to understand the execution of the project precisely. So make sure you understand, check and only then sign the drawings for approval. Once you sign the drawings, try not to make changes in them as it will have a cascading effect on the budget and the timeline of the project. And the estimated date of completion and handover will be on stake then.
3. Compliance & Synchronisation
While you are in the process of making a space, there are several selections of materials and white goods to be made by you with your designer. And in this process, if you and your designer are well synchronized, then it will be smooth and pleasant journey for both of you. The mental synchronization will help you in attaining harmony and will make things easy for you. It is ok to disagree or have different views and opinions while making few choices, but if you and your designer are not on the same page or at same wavelength, then it might create quite a few uncomfy situations during the execution of the project. I would advise, “Either ask your designer to follow your choices or you make peace with your designer’s choices and opinions”.
4. Detailed budget
Based on the layout, selected materials and concept and vision of the project, the designer should be ready with an overall detailed budget of the project with it’s necessary payment terms and schedules. You must go through and approve it for the project to move ahead. It is very important for you to agree on a payment terms and schedule so that an uninterrupted finance is maintained, and the work is executed as per the timeline given by the designer.
This can be mentioned as, “The payment schedule and terms are the backbone of any project”.
5. Inventory of the materials
An inventory is a checklist of the project and it is a summary of all the items required to be done for the project. Few items are made on site, few are purchased off-the-shelf, and few can be are ordered as per your taste and specifications. An Inventory gives you a clear idea of selection time, ordering time, site delivery and installation on site. This will give you an idea of where the project is standing during execution. I would put it as, “This checklist will give you a remote control of the project so insist for it.”
After looking at all these five points, you must have got some idea of “the designing and planning stage” of the project. This stage is to be executed by the designer but with your approvals and consent at every stage. This is the stage of GIVE AND TAKE in between, you and your designer, where the designer GIVES you the design & choices of materials and TAKES your approvals for the project. So make sure you don’t miss any one of them and I will reach you with more tips, tricks and hacks in my next blog. So make sure you…
Catch up, to match up!
