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What Level is Your Design Business?

Gina Caulkins

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Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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  • in reply to: Hiring a draftsperson #30075
    gina.caulkins
    Participant

    @Lauren – I’m hoping to find someone local to measure and get things into cad too. I’ll share if I find anyone!

    in reply to: Outsourcing Spec Book Creation #29710
    gina.caulkins
    Participant

    I hope to/plan to have my assistant create them. She is also handling elevations and I think they can go hand and hand. I plan to create the first one with this new template (which is way better than what I was using) before passing off to her. I do plan to manage updates myself though.

    in reply to: Contractor fee estimates #29709
    gina.caulkins
    Participant

    Thanks, Camie!

    in reply to: Contractor fee estimates #29670
    gina.caulkins
    Participant

    Thanks for chiming in, Camie! Helpful to know. I’m curious how you handle cabinetry for a remodel — meaning at what point you determine the specific line/maker. I’m finding that a lot of contractors here have the lines and makers that they want to work with (which makes sense)! So for the remodel project we just kicked off today, I told the client we would first present all of the design materials (tile, counters, hardware, lighting, dining room furniture etc) and cabinet style/color etc but not the specific cabinetry. Once this portion of the design is done, the contractor has enough info the bid out the project – and then we will get into specifics with cabinetry. Thinking it needs to be in this order because 1) The contractor might have preferences (and buys the cabinetry) and 2) This is a huge line item and we don’t know the budget we’re working with since we don’t have the bids from the contractors yet.

    Does that sound right? Thoughts?

    in reply to: Contractor fee estimates #29555
    gina.caulkins
    Participant

    Hi Lauren, ITA. It seems totally inefficient to either add another design step, or design the space, and then find someone who can do it within budget. Thanks for confirming your experience here too – it seems like it’s the norm for remodels in the Bay Area unfortunately. I plan to try Jenny’s suggestion of “designing in the middle” and see how that works. Of course this means possibly leaving really cool materials, ideas etc on the table because we’re not sure if they fit in budget.

    This opposite way of working does mean that contractors are a great referral source though. I already had a great referral for a kitchen + bathroom project because the client reached out to the contractor first and he refused to estimate it until a designer created the plan, so he looped my firm in.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
What Level is Your Design Business?