Most home remodeling projects start with design. (Yes, you do need a professional designer.) But who do you hire to do the design work? For most projects, your main choices are between hiring an interior designer or a full-service design-build firm that has interior designers on staff.
In this article, I'll walk you through the differences between these two approaches and the pros and cons of each.
Read more: The Best Approach to Interior Design in Des Moines
Many people think of interior designers as high-end design experts who only focus on creating stylish and sophisticated spaces. That's only one part of a designer's role. An interior design firm primarily specializes in making sure your spaces are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing.
An interior designer works with different kinds of rooms, including living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and even outdoor areas. Areas of their expertise include space planning, lighting, and finishes for a home so it can meet your lifestyle needs and well-being.
You'll work with an interior designer or with a small team of designers who can bring your ideas to life with curated recommendations. They'll be the ones providing guidance on what sink fixtures work best for your kitchen, or what flooring would be suitable if you're redesigning a residential home. Expect your interior designer to visit your home for a detailed look at your space. Your interior designer will draw up building plans you can take to contractors for bids.
A design-build firm also has interior designers on staff, who walk you through a process that is similar to what you would find with an interior design firm. Your designer will help plan the space, choose fixtures and finishes, and make other design choices. As with an interior design studio, your design-build team will produce a set of building plans. However, their role does not end there. Your design-build team will also handle the construction phase of the project.
Full disclosure here: I own a design-build firm here in the Des Moines area, and I believe the design-build approach is the best way for homeowners to get the smoothest remodeling process possible. Here are the top four benefits as I see them:
For homeowners seeking greater budget control and accountability, design-build firms are the way to go. These firms are cost-efficient and can provide you with ongoing estimates throughout the design process. Your team will be with you each step of the way to understand your individual needs and wants and collaborate with you to keep costs down during the design phase.
Before building begins, most design-build firms will offer you a fixed bid for construction, so you know exactly how much your project will cost before the first hammer is swung. If you hire an interior designer, they may be able to provide some price estimates during the design phase, but they don't have construction staff on their team, and it may be difficult for you to get a clear picture of how much your design choices will cost.
In a remodel, there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of potential for things to go wrong. It's important to make sure that roles are clearly defined and you know who is responsible for what. When you hire a standalone interior designer and a standalone contractor, there is a risk that they will blame each other for cost overruns, failed permit inspections, and other potential setbacks. On the other hand, when you hire a design-build firm, the buck stops with one company. They are taking full responsibility for your project.
Design-builders ease the process of remodeling by providing a unified, holistic approach to your project. They handle all of the design process themselves from start to completion, but they also handle the construction phase. A design-build firm will have experts with years (even decades) of construction and design experience on their team. There is a tremendous benefit when the designer of a project is able to talk directly with the team that will be doing the building. This helps ensure that building plans are accurate and that the design can be efficiently permitted and built, which ultimately saves you money and time.
One of the most overlooked benefits of hiring a design-build firm over a standalone design agency is that it frees you up from the difficult task of getting construction bids and choosing which building contractor to hire. This can be a painful process, especially if your designer didn't do a great job estimating costs during the design phase.
You may be in for a big shock when you get bids back for 20 percent, 30 percent, or even 50 percent more than you were expecting. And even if the costs were what you were expecting, it still takes a lot of time to properly vet contractors, checking their credentials and references. With a design-build firm, you only hire once, and you can spend the rest of the time focusing on your project rather than restarting the hiring process halfway through.
Now that I've outlined some of the main benefits of choosing a design-build firm, I want to cover why some homeowners still choose to go the interior designer + contractor route. Most homeowners I talk to know they want the design-build model, but here are a few scenarios you might find yourself in that would lead you to explore a standalone interior design service:
Budget is less of a concern: Everybody is on a budget, but for some homeowners who are less cost-conscious, working on a design without getting ongoing construction pricing estimates may be okay. For these folks, hiring a standalone design studio and then getting construction bids later may be perfectly fine.
Design is your primary concern: Interior design agencies focus on one thing: design. There is a perception that they strive for more cutting-edge designs. If your goal is to get your home featured in the pages of a magazine, and you value unique design above convenience, then the design agency approach may be a better fit for you.
You like more control: The design-build approach was created to make the remodeling process convenient and smooth for homeowners. Communication is at the center of the process, and everyone is on one team, working together. The goal is a personalized design built on schedule at a fair price. On the other hand, some homeowners prefer to be more involved in negotiating with multiple contractors to get the terms they want. They like the idea of a more adversarial relationship between the design team and the construction team, with their designer acting as "another set of eyes" to check the construction work, helping to ensure that the builder did everything in the contract to the letter.
In this article, I've compared interior design studios to design-build firms, but what about architects? Can't you hire an architect to design your remodel? The answer is yes, but most homeowners don't. While there are plenty of architects who do residential remodeling projects, the bulk of the profession focuses on commercial and multifamily projects.
If you are thinking of hiring an architecture firm for your home remodel, their service offerings would be very close to those of an interior design agency, and all the benefits and drawbacks I outlined above would apply. It's also important to note that it's possible for a design-build firm to have licensed architects as part of their design team, in addition to interior designers.
Compelling Homes is a design-build firm with over 15 years of experience serving Des Moines, Iowa, homeowners. Our in-house contractors and designers will help you find the right design and build that fits your lifestyle. We offer a variety of different home renovations, including kitchen, bathroom, and whole home services, so no project is too big for us.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and see how we can make your dream home a reality.