How Does Your Firm Deal With Change Orders?
Original photography posted at Unsplash by Spacejoy.
Original article posted at Business of Home by Haley Chouinard.
While the design process should be collaborative to an extent, no designer wants a client who constantly changes their mind. We asked nine designers—Caroline Brackett, Monica Jacobs-Driskell, Dani Haas, Nina Magon, Gideon Mendelson, Christina Nielsen, Courtney Robinson, Tula Summerford and Lance Thomas—to share their policy on change orders.
SET ASIDE TIME
“I like to give a dedicated design development time period for changes and revisions in respect to drawings for custom furniture or millwork, as well as a deadline for when materials and fixtures must be finalized. The design process can be stressful, so by making my process collaborative with my clients, we get to the end result smoother and I feel confident in the choices we make.” —Courtney Robinson, Materials + Methods Design, New York and Los Angeles
FOR A FEE
“I allow my clients to make change orders as long as they understand timeline adjustments and fees associated with those changes. Unfortunately, social media apps like Pinterest and Instagram can send clients on a design spiral. I had a client that literally added a new line item to the scope weekly. Mind you, it was a yearlong project, so, yes, I welcome change orders—but with a cost and timeline expectancy associated.” —Monica Jacobs-Driskell, Monica Jacobs Interiors, Atlanta
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
“My contract states that no orders, custom or otherwise, can be canceled. I am transparent with my clients when they are placing orders and give them realistic shipping dates. Revisions can be made to design plans until the actual construction has begun. After construction has begun, the client must agree to pay a change fee and any additional fees incurred by the construction firm. Upon payment and approval, the changes are put into place. With construction delays, the clients sometimes decide a few months later that they want a different style than originally planned. If it can be done, we will make it happen. My goal is for my client to be happy! Most of the time, the client understands they will incur a change fee but are willing to pay the fee.” —Tula Summerford, Design By Tula, Raleigh, North Carolina
FLOOR MODEL
“Very rarely do we run into this issue. The only time a change order will happen is when we’ve already confirmed a design for a space and we find out that a fabric is back-ordered. That’s when we have to make changes sight unseen. But for the most part, we set ourselves up for no errors with custom furnishings, thanks to virtual renderings and showing the client samples. I will say, with casegoods and smaller items, we do a lot of designing on the fly, and because we have a showroom, if the client doesn’t care for, say, a pair of lamps we’ve selected, we’re able to put those on the showroom floor and select something else as a replacement.” —Lance Thomas, Thomas Guy Interiors, Lake Charles, Louisiana