Why You Should Expire Your Interior Design Proposals

Feb 25

Updated September 2023

If you've ever sent out an interior design proposal to a potential client (you might call it a contract, LOA, scope and service agreement, etc.) and then waited on pins and needles for their response…this tip is for you.

Expire your proposals.

Most of our designers expire proposals within two weeks MAX. Some expire them within seven days.

6 reasons you should expire your interior design proposals. Learn why most of our interior design clients expire their proposals within 2 weeks max. And how to add this policy to your current contract and client experience documents.

Why should interior designers expire their proposals, contracts, letters of agreement

1) If someone wants to work with you, it should be a HELL YES. Clients who book quickly are the ones who turn out to be the best fit clients. They know what they want, they make decisions quickly, and they are all in on YOU being the key to their solution.

2) If someone sits on the proposal and then all of a sudden you have an awesome project come along, but you can't commit to it until you know if the previous proposal is going to book, you could risk losing the unicorn project if you can't give them a timeline of when you can start.

3) This weeds out price shoppers who are talking to five other designers and comparing apples to apples (if you have good marketing, a beautiful portfolio, and an elevated client experience there will be NO COMPARISON!).

4) It protects your time and gives you a valid reason to reach back out (you should always send at least 3 follow ups after you send the proposal/contract/LOA out).

5) It allows you to adjust your pricing if things change. If you send a contract to the Smiths and then three months later they come back and sign it and pay their first installment, you're locked into pricing that may be lower than what you charge now.

6) It protects your capacity. If someone comes back and signs a proposal thinking they can start in two weeks like you originally told them you could back in October, you'll be slammed if you're already full AND the client will have a bad experience because now they have to wait to start OR you start them and it's bad for everyone because you're too busy.

How interior designers can expire proposals

Include a line in the email you send with your contract that states when the proposal expires.
In your CRM software, set an expiration date for your file.
In your follow-up emails, remind the potential client that you have limited capacity and their proposal is only valid through XX/XX. After that, pricing and availability are subject to change.