Dear Dakota | How to Define Your Interior Design Process

Mar 7

Updated September 2023

DESIGNER SUBMITTED QUESTION

“Can you help me design/define my process and place it against timelines?”

We cover typical project timelines in our Waitlist Workshop (one of my favorite workshops we’ve done!) and always recommend the following when mapping out the key milestones that are important to your client.

The typical process we map out for our clients goes something like this:

01 | The Interior Design Inquiry Phase

This may include a discovery call, consultation, proposal, and anything you do prior to your client signing on and paying. Read more about organizing your inquiry phase here.

02 | the interior design Onboarding Phase

This may include sending welcome materials, kickoff meeting, intake, and anything else you might need to prepare prior to starting their design. You can check out our onboarding checklist for designers here.

03 | the interior design concept + Design Phase

depending on how you work, this may include a concept design and a final design or a single design phase, revisions, and anything that needs to be finalized before collecting furniture invoices and placing orders. Check out this article for how to reduce revisions in the design phase.

04 | The Interior Design Construction + Order Management Phase

Once all of the invoices have been paid in FULL, the management phase begins. This may include placing and tracking orders, project management, site visits, etc. For more on what your role as a designer should look like when working in construction project management, click here.

05 | The interior Design Installation Phase

This may include getting ready for the big day(s) begins with install prep work, install day(s), punch list, final walk through, and professional photography. Grab our install day process checklist here.

06 | the interior design Offboarding Phase

This may include wrapping up any remaining items from install day, sending over a closing packet, requesting feedback and a testimonial, preparing a gift. Check out our complete guide to requesting feedback + testimonials here.

Can you help me define my interior design process process and place it against timelines? We always recommend the following to our clients when designing their process. Map out the key milestones that are important to your client.

How to determine how long each phase of the design process takes?

If you offer multiple services, the timeline will be different for each service. Keep in mind, people aren't as keen to wait as they used to be and in fact place more value on quicker turnaround times.

Seriously, just map it out. How long does each phase above really take you? What are the variations? The phases you have control over are ones you should set in (soft) stone. For the other phases, the ones outside your control, you should provide a wide range based on the size and scope of the project.

At a minimum, you should know your process well enough to be able to provide a timeline range to your clients to calm their nerves and let them know what to expect. For example, you might say, “After your first meeting, we'll start working on your design plan and should have it ready to present within XX weeks.”

If you struggle with this, you can reverse engineer your entire process like hundreds of other interior designers have by grabbing our Client Experience Templates for Interior Designers.