There are good reasons for choosing design professionals with appropriate credentials, reasonable and relevant experience, and an accessible track record. Your insurance against avoidable, costly misinformation is to do your homework!
Cheaper, faster and easier are relative terms; we can wish as much as we wish to, but they come with a cost. Cheaper often just means predictable obsolescence. Faster, for speed alone, usually increases the margin of error and can compromise quality. Easier, while it’s everyone’s dream (for everything!) only happens selectively! The challenge is to recognize these promises, analyze their validity, get the facts and test their forward path. One reason you have hired a professional (with a connected professional team) is to be able to work with legitimate, informed, credentialed experts who know what they are doing – and who have your vision and your budget securely in mind. Most professionals are interested in long-term relationships with clients. After the project is completed, they want to be a resource for you. Some clear signs of an opportunist are characteristics and promises that feel like: too many promises too soon; a down-and-dirty attitude; slam-dunk answers to your questions; we-can-knock-this-out-for-you-in-no-time assertions; claims of don’t-worry--you can afford it; pressure to hurry up! Clear signs of a professional, on the other hand, is one who takes the preparatory slow-lane even when a prospective client just wants to get on with it! It is not delay or malingering to cross every “t” and dot every “i” when it comes to really discovering what a client needs and wants. And, it is not procrastination (on your side of things) to do the research and background check of the professional you are considering. A professional designer knows that their more meticulous approach may cost them a job. However, there is also a lot of damage control that eventually comes back around! You, the client, must often make hard choices to better serve your purpose and avoid the traps of unrealistic promises and costly misinformation. What good is a “quick-fix” that needs to be redone in less time than necessary? How is it good financial planning to try to “do it all” now, cheaply and carelessly – instead of incrementally, over time, with quality and with reasonably paced budgeting? Your professional designer has nothing to gain from dispensing hollow promises or misinformation. You have everything to gain by investing wisely in the help you choose. |
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A., Certified Interior DesignerRED goes with everything! Read my blog and find out why. Collaboration & Writing: Ms. Zoe Tummillo
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September 2020
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