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Thread: Design Boards for customers prior to the design / build process

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
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    Ogden, UT
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    Design Boards for customers prior to the design / build process

    Hi,

    To the design and builders out there.. how do you charge for the initial idea phase? I'm interested in creating 'design boards' for these potential customers thru Pinterest, etc. I need the customer to be committed as these take time and thought on my part.

    How do you typically charge / handle this situation. I'd like the price I charge to go toward the final product.

    Does your method change according to the customer type: Interior Designer vs End User?

    Cheers,

  2. #2
    When doing residential work we would just typically offer some coarse initial concept drawings, nothing detailed, dimensioned, etc. and then the job goes on deposit. Your situation may be different but its never been my experience that anyone is willing to pay a non-refundable design fee for drawings. This subject gets kicked around all the time and in my opinion the only real answer is to do some quick initials, get the job on deposit, and then adjust from there. The customer has to know that you are not going to draw/design the job on speculation or only to have your detailed drawings shipped out to others or the home center for competing bids. The general rule is some concept drawings that remain in your possession until the project is locked to move forward.

    Commercial work or interior designers should be doing that work for you and handing you drawings for bid. Then its on them.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
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    6,529
    That’s a tough one. First thing I do is work with the client to find images of things they like and get an idea for size. Then the biggest hurdle is to be upfront with pricing - I give a general range or general estimate based on what I think it will take - T & M + OH&P. If the client says they’re okay with the cost, then I proceed with 3D modeling and the back and forth of tweaking the design.

    Edit: just wanted to add that I get people who want something custom but don’t have the budget. I tell them I make high end custom furniture, and my prices will not be less than IKEA. For some reason people think I can make one offs from hardwood fro less than mass produced veneered chipboard.
    Last edited by Matt Day; 11-24-2020 at 1:36 PM.

  4. #4
    I charge for design work. It doesn't go towards the build cost. Why would it? The value of my endeavors doesn't change based upon who the client is. Why would it?

  5. #5
    Agree with Johnny. I've worked in a couple shops where the owners thought that giving a celebrity a lot of free time and
    pampering was going to bring in some money. He didn't understand that those people don't want their friends to know
    that they didn't spend lavishly.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
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    3,655
    I can't speak as a builder, but as a customer I've had different experiences and different expectations. As a principle, I think designers should get paid for their work. I have had the experience though where no useful design was ever produced (had this problem with multiple architects), or where a design was agreed on and the person then disappeared and never made the item after I accepted the design and bid. It's hard to justify paying for that.

    I don't expect to pay for the kitchen designer at the Home Depot to give me a bid on cabinets, if someone who is not working on salary for a large company does a detailed custom design for me, then yes I do expect to pay; an architect is a good example of this. Working with a small or very small business I expect a bit of middle ground-- I need to provide enough information to show I'm serious, the designer/builder needs to show me enough work and thought that I'm confident in hiring her.

    What worked best for me was process I went through in buying the only custom furniture I ever had someone else make. I identified the maker through a picture of his work in Fine Woodworking, we talked on the phone and I guess we both passed the initial screen. We then drove to his shop about 4 hours away with rough sketches I'd made, we spent two hours together getting a shop tour and refining the sketches and discussing the project and arriving at a ballpark budget. At that point I was confident that he could and would do the work, so put down a deposit. He then produced shop drawings ad final budget that I approved, during our visit he'd shown me some of the curly cherry he'd use for the project, otherwise I would have wanted to see the wood. We had a payment schedule that I don't remember now--something like a third up front, a third at the midpoint and a third at delivery. He did not itemize the billing, it was a set price for a described scope of work. I trust he paid himself for his design work-- these were not Ikea pieces or prices. I would have expected to lose my couple hundred dollar deposit if I hadn't accepted the final drawings and bid, but not pay the full cost of a design we weren't going to build. I assume he set his deposit at a level where he was happy with that risk.

    I think we both walked away happy. We bought a piece of finished furniture he happened to have in the shop when we visited and sent other folks his way when they admired our cabinets. He featured our cabinets on his web site for a while.

    So this process involved some trust and time and effort on both of our parts prior to money changing hands. I know I was engaging in pre-screening to be sure that I trusted him to do a dood job, I assume he was also pre-qualifying us as customers and buyers. Either one of us could have bailed at the phone call or visit stage. If I had bailed for some reason and he sent me a bill for the two hours we spent together I would have paid it, grudgingly. He would have not gotten referrals from me.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    black river falls wisconsin
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    931
    customers just love to get full designed project. makes easier to get bids from other buildets.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Peoria, IL
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    4,443
    One of the dangers of charging for your design service up front is that after they pay for the design, it's now their property. They can take your design and go shopping. I never have a line item called design, it's part of my shop overhead. Just like the gas to travel to the customer, measuring the room, and design meetings.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    SE Michigan
    Posts
    3,222
    As a consumer, I would not expect a detailed design until after committing to the job. I think it’s only right to choose a contractor/builder based on previous work and references and a discussion/rough drawing of ideas. In fact, I would not at all be surprised on a major project if the contractor/builder wanted to charge a separate design drawing fee (either by him/her or contracted out).

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