Site Surveys

In this post I wanted to talk about the importance of taking site surveys and why we need to do this.

Firstly -What is a site survey? Well this is a sketch drawing of a client's room with all the measurements and details written on it to assist us when we are away from the site and preparing our designs. Usually a site survey can be backed up with some good digital photographs so that as well as measurements we have visual information as well. All the information on the site survey can be used to draw scale plans and elevations in order to demonstrate our ideas to our clients.

So -how do we "do" a site survey? Where do we start? Well it's really not that hard. You need a blank piece of paper, a tape measure and a pen or pencil. Firstly draw on the paper, as large as possible the outline shape of the room. You don't need to worry about the proportions of the walls or anything like that -just a rough outline drawing of the room. Then mark on the door and window positions -again you don't need to be too accurate. Once you have done this you can begin to measure. Now measure the total length of the room and write it on your survey drawing, and do the same for the width of the room. Remember it is important to use the same units for measuring throughout, and in this day and age it is only really acceptable to use metric measurements. Next you need to measure the positions of the doors and windows - the distance from the room corners and the width of these. By each window you need to make notes regarding the height of the cill from the floor, the height of the window recess and the space above the recess to the ceiling. The same goes for the door -make a note of the height of it. Write down somewhere the total overall room height. You will need to measure and record the size of any fireplaces, chimney breasts, alcoves, built in cupboards and any other features of the room.

Once you have got all the important measurements take another careful look at the room. Now it is time to mark light fitting positions, electrical socket positions, radiator positions and any other fixtures that are important. It is not alwasy necessary to record the exact measured positions of these but just to make a note of where they are, so that any future proposals for lighting or furniture placement can take them into account.

By now your survey drawing is probably looking pretty messy! Don't worry about that too much as long as you can read everything when you get back to your desk it will be fine. Finally before you leave the site, quickly note down all the measurements of any pieces of furniture that the client has said they want to keep, so that you can position these on your final scale plan when you come to do it.

So it's pretty easy really, just an exercise in observation, and it does get easier with practise.

At home over the last couple of years we have allocated a small area of our garden to vegetable growing. This is mainly my husband’s domain but I must admit I have enjoyed the process more than I thought I would. I was in the garden the other day, thinking about how well the veggies were progressing when I thought of this comparison:

I realised that my business has grown rather in the same way that the veggies have!
Firstly I prepared the plot – this is a bit like doing all the ground work in getting the business off to a good start –writing a business plan, researching the market, deciding on a business name , a logo, sorting out insurance and paperwork, planning my marketing strategy etc.

Secondly we then planted the seeds – similar to beginning to market the business getting our name known locally through advertising, talking to people, and networking. Sending out information to prospective clients, setting up a website and generally making noise about what we are all about.
Then came the nurturing- so that the plants would shoot and grow. I compare this bit to constantly doing all the marketing activities I could to get myself known and gradually seeing things change. It is hard work to get any business off the ground and a lot of perseverance is needed. Rather like vegetables not growing overnight, neither does a business –it needs constant work to get the phone to start ringing with people wanting my services.

The vegetable plants flower and then the actual vegetables start to form. This is the really exciting bit! As you become more established in business you start to become more confident in your marketing activities bringing you good rewards. If you have developed good relationships with customers you may start to get referrals and word of mouth business as well.

Harvesting the vegetables –the fun part where you finally can reap what you sowed. In your business this is where you start to find you are making enough money from your business to improve your lifestyle in a way that you want to. You can start to enjoy some of the money that all your hard work has brought in.

Of course -the other thing about growing vegetables is that you need to keep on planting new seeds, and keep on feeding and watering the plants through the season as you use the vegetables up so that you get a constant supply of vegetables. This is the same with marketing your business –you need to keep on doing marketing activities regularly even when you are seeing rewards. That way you will not find your self without vegetables –sorry I mean work - once you have finished the jobs you are currently working on.

So this week I am making sure I am keeping up to date with marketing activities, as well as planning some different and new marketing ideas for after the holidays. This way hopefully when I have finished working on the projects that I am doing at the moment, there will be more work ready and waiting for me to get on with.

Writing a Client profile

When starting on a new project one of the first things to do is to write a short client profile. Understanding your client is the single most important factor to consider before embarking on putting pen to paper and starting to plan your designs. Some designers use a questionnaire form to make sure that they gather the right information without forgetting to ask anything, and this is probably a good idea certainly when starting out. I tend to nowadays just have a bullet point check list which means that some of my initial conversations with the client are less stilted and formal.

So what do you need to know about the client? Well a good place to start is making sure you have all their contact details, mobile numbers, email addresses etc, and remember to ask your customer which is the best way to contact them. There is no use at all merrily emailing information to a client only to find that they actually rarely use email and would prefer you to phone or write to them. Then you need to know some information about their lifestyle –do they live alone? Do they have children? Pets? Do they have lots of house guests? Do they enjoy watching TV or do they prefer to read? If possible try to ascertain what they do in their spare time so you can start to build up a picture of how they may use their house. For example if they love the outdoors, and have a passion for gardening, perhaps they will want a low maintenance home without too many expensive mod cons, so that they can focus more time and money on their passion.

Once you have gathered this information you will need to ask questions about the room they are asking you to redesign. What do they want to use it for, what time of the day will they use it, what are their storage requirements, technology requirements etc etc.
As you can see the questioning should by now have led you to getting to know your clients quite well by now. I usually finish up by asking them what have they already got that has to be included in the room, do they have any ideas of style or design that they want to be taken into account and finally is there anything they would absolutely hate to see me include in the design.
All this information goes into the front of my client file, and whenever I work on that client’s project I make sure I read it through first to ensure I am working towards fulfilling their requirements.

FINDING INSPIRATION

More often than not when I visit a client and take a project brief I can quickly see in my mind the direction the project will go. Either the building or the client's lifestyle will start off a creative train of thought in me. I would love to say it is always this way, but sometimes, for one reason or another it takes a bit longer to grasp onto a design idea that will suit a particular client. I guess this is the designers equivalent to "writers block". Over the years i have developed some techniques and ideas to overcome this, and I thought today I would share them with you.

• Keep yourself open to ideas at all times -you never know when inspiration may strike. Keep a notebook and camera handy to record your sudden brainwave in the supermarket, or your colour combination idea you suddenly hit upon whilst waiting for a bus!
• Obviously magazines can be a great source of inspiration and for this reason i keep a fair few back copies. However I don't use them to copy a scheme or room, but to find some element that I can adapt and build on to create something unique for my client.
• A bit of culture never goes amiss, and lots of inspiration is to be found in your local art gallery, museum or exhibition.
• Don't be afraid to go to the client with several initial design concepts for them to choose from, before embarking on a lot of work that is not quite what they were expecting. This way you can be sure that when you are working in detail on a scheme, you are working on the right scheme for your client and are not wasting time. You could present some concepts ideas on small boards using magazine pictures, fabrics, pieces of wool, paint swatches, postcards,etc. to build up the overall idea of a scheme.
• For colour scheme inspiration I have a tin full of those small paint swatch cards that you can pick up at any DIY store. Sometimes I tip them all out on my work table and move them around until I come up with a pleasing colour combination. This way I come up with something unique for my client rather than presenting them with a scheme that is in trend and that anyone could create by looking in the current magazines.
• Travel books -I love looking through travel books for inspiration. You don't need to buy loads of them -libraries usually have a good selection. I find inspiration for colour schemes, mixing textures, ways of displaying items and much more in their pages (along with a yearning for travel!!)

Hopefully these ideas will help you when you get creative block! If you have any techniques that you use that I haven't mentioned here why not share them with us by posting a comment?

Staying motivated

I have been receiving and marking lots of students assignments lately which suggests that some of you are managing really well to remain motivated. This is really good news, but I think it is important to understand that everyone suffers from time to time from lack of motivation. So how can we keep up the momentum and keep going to reach our goals? Here are a few tips that may help:

1) Think back to what made you start this project in the first place. Close your eyes and try and take yourself back to that excited feeling when you couldn't wait to get started -remember the buzz you got from making the decision and then doing something about it. This should help you get some of that excitement back again

2) Consider WHY you started this project in the first place -what was you goal? Was it to learn more so you could change your career? or perhaps you want to create a beautiful home for you and your family? Whatever the reason, by taking a bit of time to remember the WHY should help motivate you to move forwards.

3) If you are still struggling to get going try not to think of how much more you have to do until you get to the end -just break the work down into small pieces and work on one bit at a time. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming, but by doing this you are achieving and moving forwards all the time, and before you know it you will be well on your way to the finishing post!

4) Get someone to help you. I am here to help all my students with their coursework, but of course there is nothing like a bit of family or friend support to help you along as well. Explain to your support friend that you want their help in getting your project done. Obviously they wont be actually helping you do the work, but they can help you by asking you if you have completed your next assignment, or if you are keeping on track with your programme of work. If you show them your work, and they are impressed this will spur you on and give you confidence to produce more.

5) I mentioned in the last point, a programme of work. This isn't for everyone, as some people like to be less structured with their work, but if you are really wanting to get through a course, or project then why not write a timetable or programme. I remember doing this when I was at college. Monday -source tile samples for bathroom project. Thursday -do scale drawings for bathroom. Saturday - Choose colour scheme and complete written work for bathroom assignment -etc. If you can stick to thisplan, and tick things off as you do them you will really see your progress.

6) This last point was suggested to me by my business mentor when I was feeling a bit lacking in motivation a while ago: Go and read a really good business motivation book -there are literally loads on the shelves to choose from, these can not only re -ignite your interest but help you learn a lot in the process. Another way to learn and get motivated is to subscribe to free pod casts and e newsletters from entrepreneurs and marketers that can be found on the web. There are so many of these to choose from, but do be warned this style of learning doesn't suit everyone. If anyone finds anything particularly worth looking at drop me a line and I can pass it on to others. Here a a couple to get you started: www.clientmagnets.com and www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk if you subscribe to these newsletters and/or blogs you will get lots of tips and information from expert business marketers.

Strengths and Weaknesses

In my role as a Distance Learning Tutor for interior design students I often come across some very talented and creative people. So many students have a lot of passion for what they do, and a lot of great ideas, but what many designers or potential designers do lack is the organisational skills to put a project together.

One of the first things I always suggest they do when starting a project is to observe the room in question really carefully before all the ideas come flooding into their heads. Observation is a really important part of a designers work and to help with this I suggest that a designer should write a list of the room's strengths and weaknesses so that they can work towards improving the weaknesses and enhancing the strengths.

For example one weakness in a bedroom may be lack of light in the area by the bed. Then when the designer comes to creating a scheme for this room, they would know that this needs to be addressed, either by using lamps or wall lights or ceiling spot lights or whatever fits into their overall design. A strength maybe fabulous views of the countryside. This would lead a designer into considering carefully the window treatments for this room so that this view isn't spoilt by heavy curtains during the daytime.

So the message here is observe the room before starting to get creative, and make a list of strengths and weaknesses to which you can refer along the way. This list almost acts as a tick list of requirements along with the clients brief of course.

When to walk away..

I have been working with a difficult client lately. She is a really nice person, but is a difficult client! Why? Well when we meet up and discuss her project, I listen to the brief she is giving me and make notes. I then go away and start working on the schemes for her house according to the likes and dislikes she has given me in the brief. When I am ready to present my proposals to her, I arrive at her house, only to be greeted with the words... "I've changed my mind". By the time she has finished telling me what she has changed her mind about, I can already tell that everything I have done, based around the original brief is now totally unsuitable.

Now I am not unreasonable, and I agree that everyone can change their minds about a few things from time to time, but this client has now done this to me three times! The really annoying thing as well is that she doesn't ring me up at all to tell me that she has decided on something else, but waits until I arrive with my proposals!

I then realised that perhaps I hadn't explained exactly how this works, and I hadn't given her any boundaries so that as far as she was concerned, I would just keep on coming and going for as long as she wanted me to, so a few weeks ago I met with her I did have to have that talk. I explained that it was best if she really thought about what it was she likes, dislikes wants and doesn't want before letting me get started on a proposal. I explained that it was extremely frustrating and time consuming to base the whole scheme on something she has told me one week, only to find out that she has changed her mind the next week, and I also politely asked her to call, email or even text me if she has another change of direction, to prevent me from wasting my time.

Did this do the trick -well no it didn't! I met with her again last week and still she has changed direction and cannot decide what it is she really wants from me. I could see this going on for ever -it is a really draining experience and quite frankly I have other things to be working on, and so I decided to tell her that I suggested we took a break from the project altogether. I suggested that she had a good look through all the ideas I have given her so far, and really take some time out to decide where she wants to go with the project. In the meantime, I can use the time to work on other projects, and maybe I will go back to working with her in the future without feeling any of the resentment that is beginning to build up.

I was thinking that I can easily walk away from this job as I have plenty of other work to be getting on with, but I know that when I was starting out in business because I really needed the work, and wanted the clients I would do anything for them. But if we think about it, this sends out the wrong messages about us, and about how valuable our time is. So if you find yourself in a position where something is not working, or when someone starts to take advantage of your good nature, don't be afraid to politely walk away. Hopefully there will be a more pleasant client just waiting around the corner!

Client Presentations -tips for interior designers

I often get asked for advice as to how to present ideas to clients. Whilst I think that over time every designer develops their own particular style, here are a few tips to get started:

Most people who employ and interior designer will be doing so because they are looking for something a bit different from the norm, so try and make your presentations as attractive and interesting as possible. I don't just meant the actual scheme content here, but the layout and design of the sample board and supporting documents as well.

Put your self in the shoes of your client. They possibly don't have the vision, creativity or confidence to create schemes for themselves. Therefore your presentation needs to be very visual, so that they understand exactly what the finished scheme will look like.

Vagueness really doesn't cut it. A vague sample board portraying an approximation of a colour scheme with several possible ideas for wall coverings which may go with a variety of upholstery fabrics...... This just wont inspire confidence in your clients, but will leave them feeling confused and unenlightened. Whilst it is a good idea to have a few alternatives up your sleeve in case they dislike something, you need to present a good solid scheme that you can really "sell" to them.

Include as much detail as possible without getting too technical. Including detail in your schemes will give your client the confidence that you have really thought about how everything will work in their environment. Rather than say "we need a lamp on that table" you should show them exactly which lamp you propose that will co-ordinate with everything else. In the same way rather than saying you propose the use of a wallpaper for a feature wall, you will need to explain which wall you intend the feature wall to be. The client wont want to be making these decisions for themselves -this is what they are paying you for.

Have an idea of what things cost. Often when explaining a scheme you will find your client stops you and asks questions such as "how much per metre is that carpet?" Now it is really hard to know every price, but it is certainly worth having a few notes of costs to help you along. Likewise it is a good idea to have made a few notes about sizes of furniture etc.

Make sure your sample board is really neat and well labelled. This sample board is your "selling tool" and to this end it must be as near to perfect as you can make it. Imagine if you were a client presented with two sample boards for the same scheme -one with all the pictures carefully cut out and glued on, with neat labelling and titles, and the other with tatty edges to all the pictures, half of the pictures falling off, and some of the items not labelled. Which designer would you use? Which designer looks like they are most likely to pay attention to detail when it comes to re-designing your house?

Hopefully these tips will help you to see why it is so important to spend as much time as possible in preparing for your client presentation meetings. Like everything else, these things come with practise so if you are feeling nervous about the standard of your presentation, why not show them to a few friends or family members to get some quality feedback. As time goes on you will develop you own particular style of presentation which you will be confident with.

A BIT OF A CHALLENGE!

With most of the U.K seeing quite a bit of snow since the beginning of the year I think many of us are finding it a bit of a challenge to keep going! having spoken to quite a few other small business owners I am hearing that we are all getting a bit frustrated with having our "New Year enthusiasm" thwarted by the weather. However, we all know there is nothing we can do about it so it isn't worth getting too upset! So although i have had to postpone a few things until the snow clears a bit more, I have redirected my energy and time into getting a few things that have been on my "to do" list for longer than they should have been. As most of these things are admin based, it will meant that once things are back to normal again I am confident that the admin side of my business will be running smoothly, and that I will know where to lay my hands on everything I need! So I have sorted out the pile of paper on my desk and either binned, filed or actioned everything, I have sorted out my fabric collections, weeding out discontinued fabrics and re-pricing the rest, I have reviewed my advertising and planned where I am going to spend that part of my budget for the next 6 months.

So whilst the weather has stopped me visiting clients and getting out and about a bit, I am confident that when things are back to normal all my admin systems should work smoothly, and I will know exactly where to lay my hands on things that I need! (well most of them anyway)