​There are many reasons why a large project might have to be approached incrementally.   The most obvious, of course, may be funding.  However, while arranging the financing for a design project can be time-consuming, frustrating and require many compromises, other considerations also contribute to the wisdom of dividing a project into two or three manageable phases with breathing space between.
 
Your designer will help you assess the complexities of the design vision you have in mind.  Often a client feels they must abandon the vision they want or make undesirable compromises, because they cannot afford the time or money to do it all at once.   Accomplishing that vision in reasonably spaced phases is one solution.
 
While some rationales are similar for both residential and commercial projects, each has very specific challenges that are characteristic of their category.
 
There is the important consideration of whether or not a home or business will be occupied while the design project is taking place.  For financial pacing as well as periods of relief from disruption, timed phases are a smart consideration.

​You are excited about your project and you are ready to get started!  All the important decisions have been made and you have decided to work with a Professional Designer.
 
It’s now time to focus on that relationship, clarify your financial intentions, define the scope, translate those understandings into the appropriate paper work, get it under signature, and begin.
 
What is the “appropriate paper work” for a design project?  What does the operational package look like that will help your project move efficiently, stay on track, adhere to budgeting projections, guard against misunderstandings, avoid mistakes, and insure a good working relationship?
 
To begin, it is necessary to avoid verbal commitments, directives, and decisions.  In the brainstorming function, anything goes!  Talk about possibilities, pros and cons, and “druthers”; but the serious action plan must be agreed upon in writing.