Some can drive your design team stark raving nuts!
The serious side of this problem is no laughing matter, and nutz or not, time is money and that invoice in the mail is the bottom-line clincher. It is vital to know all the facts about how it got to that number.
We all like to think we are efficient – and prudent. But, too often, little stuff adds up and disputes that assumption.
How efficient is it, for instance, to take four five-minute phone calls with your designer waiting each time (on the clock) to continue your meeting? Do you think your professional should "give you" that quarter-hour? Or, when your designer arrives on time for your appointment and you keep them waiting thirty minutes – do you think they should clock off? (You would not want your designer taking phone calls or texting while you were paying them to be focused on you!)
Digressing into stories that could wait for a lunch break is another pitfall; pleasant though it may seem, the timing is all wrong.
Just as you value your time -- and in business see it with a cash value -- the same is true for your contracted professional. On the clock means just that. It is important to assume your part of the responsibility.
There are many factors that can waste time and money on both sides of the equation. Some involve respecting the experience and knowledge of your design team. They know the appropriate strategies, resources and procedures needed to move things along. Yet, often days and even months can be squandered by a client that insists on "shopping around" in unfamiliar areas of production, supply and capability, delaying the completion of the project. Then, as deadlines approach, guess who is on the hot seat?
Not being clear about the details is another stumbling block. Most professionals have minimum time frames for blocks of work. So don't confuse that as a flat fee quote! Clarify terms, ask questions and hold the professional's feet to the fire if you don't get it! Confusion and frustration are great time-wasters!
Your designer is there to produce what you decide on. The project is yours, not theirs. It is wasteful to make decisions that are really not decisions if you and your designer must go over the same territory repeatedly. Try to make careful, guided choices that won't cause reiteration.
Your professional cannot take responsibility for distractions, interruptions or digressions that you allow. Those are costly minutes that can add up to hours. When you decide to permit unrelated phone, text or personnel interactions when you are working with your team – that's on you!
Bringing unrelated persons into meetings causes distraction. Revisiting decisions and choices already made is a huge time/money consumer. Making repeated phone calls with no informative message is a big waste of time for both parties. Phone tag is an expensive game!
No professional wants to have to explain to a client why a scheduled half-hour became a billable hour and a quarter because the client didn't insulate the meeting.
Keep each other informed concerning commitments with other parties that might impact your designer's role and responsibilities. Un-doing and re-doing costs money!
Your design team is charged with using your time and money carefully and bringing the job in on time. Help them out by considering these and other things that nibble away at the integrity of your project: its timeline, costs and successful completion.
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book and Instagram at Business Design Services.
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