William Reid: [00:00:00] It's very possible that you are sabotaging your own new custom home project or remodel project and not even knowing it as you start to engage with design professionals. It's Bill Reid here with The Awakened Homeowner, back on the shores of Lake Almanor. Continuing on with our World of Design episodes, we're going to be talking about things that you may be doing to undermine your whole project when it comes to engaging with design professionals. So I call them designer obstacles, but they're obstacles that you might be creating.

So let's envision we're at the bottom of the trail, about to hike up one of these mountains here, and there's going to be obstacles that come up. Could be falling trees, it could be a ravine you got to traverse, could be wild animals. So the idea here is to launch a drone at the bottom of the trail and investigate the trail before you even leave. [00:01:00]

And this is the best way to position you to avert any of those potential disasters. So let's go into the studio and talk about these potential obstacles that if you can get to know those, you're in a much better place. See you in the studio.

All right, I am back in the studio. Now we're going to be talking about how you can undermine your project all on your own with nobody's help. And it's a lurking problem that people run into unknowingly. So what we've already covered in the world of design is we've talked about understanding design professionals.

We've talked about architects and residential designers, and then I touched on interior designers, and these are the key. These are the main designers that you'll be interfacing with at the beginning of your project. They're also going to be the most important people that you'll engage [00:02:00] with for the longest period of time.

They're going to be the ones that take all of your inspiration ideas that you've piled up sometimes literally, and translate that into working drawings and design work so that you can actually visualize your project and make decisions. And we're going to talk about that today because this is one of the biggest ones that you may be undermining yourself and you don't even know it.

So let's talk about the first one that comes to mind, and that's how you structure your financial arrangement with your designer. I call it handcuffing your designer. There's a few ways that you can do it, and one of them is the financial arrangement, the agreement that you make with your designer.

In a lot of the interactions I've had on social media and Facebook, I'm seeing people talking about how cheap they were able to get their design, how they didn't think [00:03:00] they even needed an architect, that they thought they would just show all their pictures to a draftsperson and have them drop the plans enough to get the permit and therefore they have only spent a few thousand dollars thinking that and proud that they got such a great deal when in reality they pay the price later and they don't necessarily pay one big lump sum price.

Later they get nickeled and dimed and chiseled away during the ordering of materials all the way through during construction, and they end up paying more for design fees through construction and they don't even know it. So it's actually less expensive to build your project if you invest more money in the design process. I know that sounds a little counterintuitive, but the more thorough your plans are, the better the specifications are, the better off you're going to [00:04:00] be. We're going to be talking about how this can cut your own throat and you don't even know it.

There's many stories out there and I personally have experienced them where a contractor is building off inadequate plans. So one of the things that happens before you're even building your project is you're sending your plans out to contractors to estimate your project, to provide you a proposal, to provide you a contract to build your project if the plans are inadequate, and that means that they have not thoroughly been thought through, there's not enough construction details that the materials have not been specified.

A lot of things that can happen. If a contractor does not ask a lot of questions, that doesn't put in proper allowances for your materials, you are going to be provided a proposal that's not real, that they're going to be providing you [00:05:00] a proposal based on the plans, quote unquote, and specifications and every single little move that you make to clarify details to finally specify materials is where you're going to get pummeled.

And like I said in the past episode, you wake up Monday morning and there's five change orders in your inbox because now you want all the interior doors to be seven foot or eight foot tall, rather than the standard six foot eight. There's just thousands of these details that you're going to ultimately depend on your architect and your designer to vet out into the plans. But here's the message I know you keep hearing is that you don't necessarily know what you don't know. So you are just excited that you've actually spent $5,000 on plans when they probably should have cost $25,000 or $45,000.

Who knows? It depends on the project. So this is the [00:06:00] point is if you think you're saving money and you're getting your permit really fast, you're probably not. You're probably making a lot of compromises at the end product. And guess what? You're not meeting your expectations.

So there's a couple things that we're going to do with each of these categories. We're going to talk about the questions that you can be asking your design professionals as you're interviewing them, so that you become more informed and also so that the architect understands that you are actually an informed client and I got to tell you, they're actually going to appreciate that. Some people think they're going to get nervous because they think, I know a lot, and that's not the case.

Architects and designers will really appreciate the questions that you ask and another message that you're sending by asking these questions is you are letting them know that you are interested in a quality design, a quality set of [00:07:00] plans, a thorough set of specifications.

So you can ask questions like, what level of detail will be included in my plans and specifications? They're going to try to answer that question. They could try to show you details. We're not trying to teach you how to be an architect, but have them explain the level of detail that they provided. You're going to instinctively know if they are interested in providing more details. They're going to figure out if you want more details like, like for example, let's say you're trying to build a modern farmhouse design and you have pictures of your interior doors that have a lot of detail to them that include, maybe a crown molding cap along the top of the headpiece.

Little, routed details, whatever. There's going to be things like that need to be [00:08:00] included in the plans and then therefore communicated to the contractor because that level of detail for a millwork detail around all of the interior doors and all of the windows can add up in cost. And guess what, if it's not included in the price to begin with, because it didn't make it on the plans, you may have showed your architect or your builder a picture or two.

But if it doesn't get in the plans, it's not getting in the price. And the worst case scenarios, all the doors get put in, the molding gets put on, and you show up all over the weekend to look at your project and it's nothing like you want it. So understanding the details.

Another question to ask to come out is, can you explain what's not included in your base fee? So when the architect provides a proposal, what is not included? Is everything included? This kind of question is going to open up the door for conversation and dialogue back and forth [00:09:00] between your architect so that you can understand what is or is not included.

For example, an architect might say what I like to do is I like to do the base amount, the minimum amount of detail so that we can get a permit. And then we'll talk about it later. We're going to talk about that in a minute, in a different line item here.

One of the next questions can be how do you handle situations where more details are needed during construction? So this happens all the time on every project, probably where a contractor's trying to build or assemble something and there's not enough information on the plans and how it's to be done. Now, technically the builder would've uncovered that during the estimating a proposal and contract process, but honestly, a lot of these contractors don't look at that level of detail until the time really comes that it's necessary.

The problem is the [00:10:00] liability lands on you. Liability lands on the architect, but ultimately you're the one writing the checks. So it's very rarely that an architect writes checks to contractors. So we need to understand how that happens during construction, and if that's included in their base fees.

And then another question is, what happens if we need to make changes or additions to the plans? So we just want to understand that process. Is that something that you're going to be paying for? Things like that. Another one is, can you show me examples of the level of detail I should expect for this fee?

Have them guide you through another project that's similar to yours, and have them explain their process. Have them show you the details. You're not necessarily going to understand all the details, but conceptually you're going to understand if they even provide those details and have them explain it to you.

And this is another area where you can really learn. So as we move down further into the [00:11:00] questions category here. We're going to ask questions like, how do you prefer to receive client input and inspiration? What's your process for translating my vision into design solutions? How do you balance client ideas with your expertise?

Can you walk me through how our initial meetings will be structured? So these are all trying to establish a set of expectations for you when you are engaging with the architect. Now, all these questions are going to be in the show notes for you to be able to download.

We're still in this handcuffing category, right? And here's some ideas how to, we call it anti-creative handcuffing. So we've got the financial handcuffing and then we've got the creative handcuffing. So the financial part of it was you walk around with your chin up saying you only spent so many thousands of dollars [00:12:00] on plans and much less than anybody else in the face of the earth.

Yet there's some monster lurking behind you that's going to get it out of you one way or another. And the result of that is usually missed expectations and higher construction costs and even higher architectural fees later as changes were made in details.

Now, creative handcuffing is another thing that you can do to a design professional. A lot of people spend many months and even years coming up with their inspirations and their ideas, and when the time really comes to engage with an architect, they pummel them with all their inspiration ideas and then come at the design professionals as, this is exactly what I want and just give me that.

Now what you're doing is you're handcuffing the creativity there. They're the professional. You know what you want and we need to know what you want. We [00:13:00] need to know the style and the inspirations that you have. But if you go in it too hard and try to direct the design too much, you're going to undermine the quality of the design that you gotten by an architect regurgitating basically what you've provided them, just putting it into the drawings and the specifications.

Now for people that are really experienced, homeowners that are really experienced, they've done multiple projects in the past, this could work where you actually direct the design because you're very adamant in what you want, but you're better off to spend your time on how you want to live in your home, the rooms and spaces that you think you want.

The lifestyle of your family within your home, the inspiration, images and ideas. We know that you want more traditional design versus modern, et cetera. In the back of your mind, you think you have [00:14:00] all the solutions, but hold back on that and let them come up with design solutions. There are going to be, I guarantee you.

There's going to be plenty of times during the design process if you're hiring a qualified designer that you're going to go, I never thought of that. That's amazing. We have to have that. This is going to happen with quality designers. Now, if you're one of the cheapies and you just hired the $5,000 guy, then you're probably going to direct have to direct all the design with your limited knowledge base on what the possibilities are.

That's another repercussion of going with a draftsperson approach, or the least expensive designer. In the anti-creative handcuffing strategy for homeowners, share your dreams and visions. Not specific solutions yet. You can get into that conversation with architects. As the design is evolving, provide [00:15:00] inspirations and lifestyle insights so the architect knows your family, knows the type of home you live in now, the type of home you're dreaming about.

Let them be creative. Don't dictate every detail. And that's what we have for the handcuffing, the financial and the creative handcuffing. Let's move into the next one. The next one I've already mentioned a few times in previous episodes, and this is called the permit push. I think I may have coined that phrase, but I'm not sure.

But the permit push is an anomaly related to the handcuffing aspect, but really what we're talking about is a particular approach that a designer may take, an architect may take, and may even mention it to you that says, here's the way I like to work. I like to generate the design and the plans just enough to get [00:16:00] building permits so that we can get that process going, because that can be a very timely process and you never know what the city or the counties are going to request or allow us to do. So I'd rather just get it in there and then we'll worry about all the details later.

This is a really big problem because the city building departments require the minimum level. They don't care about any of the interior design. They don't care about any of the interior elevations. They just care about the architectural design, the structural design, and the site plan. The things that the planning department needs and the building department needs, and I'm going to get into that in a whole other episode of what those two building departments need.

So a designer will often either consciously or subconsciously generate the absolute minimum to get them into the county. Now, here's what happens with that, is the [00:17:00] amount of deferred decisions that come into play with the permit push is an amazing amount because every single little decision, the window type, the door type, the siding type all the architectural material decisions and all the interior design material decisions all get deferred, and then that's managed during the permit process.

The problem with that is there's way too many cracks that everything can fall through, and I guarantee you things will fall through that. So you're going to want to understand that the city only requires a C-level plans, and what you are going to want is an A level set of plans and specifications so that you can obtain accurate costs and proposals from contractors.

So that materials can be procured on time to get to the job site so that you can meet your expectations both financially and [00:18:00] visually. So I want you to be really careful about getting sucked into the permit push now when you go with an inexpensive designer. They may only be capable of providing plans suitable for the permit push.

In other words, they're not going to, they're going to do the bare amount of architectural details that the builder needs to build the project. The problem with that is a lot of improvising goes into play with that, and you start hearing things. I don't need a detail. It's the way I've always done it.

Just because you've always done it that way, Mr. Contractor doesn't necessarily mean that's the right way, especially nowadays where the building codes are changing. So minimal details equals change orders equals improper installations, equals missed expectations. Just to name a few. So that is the permit push.

Now another element that can trigger the permit [00:19:00] push is the actual homeowner. And that's what this episode is about, is how you can undermine yourself, how you can sabotage your project. And that is you are in a hurry. You want to get started. You've been thinking about this project for months, years.

You finally picked up the phone. You finally engaged with an architect. Now you are chomping at the bit. You want to get the project started. The architect says, okay, you're really excited. You want to get started? Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to just do the bare minimum right now to get into the city.

Then we'll do everything else later. You don't know that's a problem because you've never done this before, perhaps. You say, yes, this guy is on my team. I'm ready to go. You don't know that you are burning yourself later when it comes to actually building the project, so you have to be very careful that you do not fall prey to starting your project too early, because the consequence to that is inadequate plans and specifications that will really [00:20:00] hurt your project.

So here's some questions to ask your designers. Once the plans are ready to be submitted to my county, will decisions still need to be made? If so, can you explain some examples? So now that you know what a little bit more that you didn't know, listen for the answer. And then another reply might be, could we just spend a little bit more time and address all of those decisions and details ahead of time so that I don't have to worry about those? Once the project construction starts, open up that dialogue.

See their philosophy, see their understanding, their philosophy, and approaching a project like this, and just get your bearings on the type of designer that you are interviewing. Remember, this is the stuff we want to do before [00:21:00] you actually hire a designer.

Okay, so then let's move into the next question. Is there a system in place to capture all the deferred decisions so we can tackle them during the permit processing? So now you've decided maybe you will defer some decisions, and honestly, it's almost impossible to make every single decision before construction starts. The idea here is to minimize the amount of deferred decisions so that they're not big ones and there's not a lot of them.

So find out if there's a process. And the reason I mention this process is because all of these deferred decisions just fizzle away until the time comes. Your tile setter walks up to the job site and says, okay, I'm ready to go. Where's all the tile? Let's take a look at all the material. Where's the grout colors?

What color metal trim do you want? Let's talk about the layout and the design of the tile. I'm ready to start Monday, [00:22:00] and everybody looks at each other and says, did we order the tile? Did we pick out the tile? Are all the drawings and details done for the tile so we can show the tile setter? This happens.

It happens all the time, and I keep using this tile example because it, for some reason, it's one of the ones that's just the, one of the biggest nuisances of a project. So if a builder and a subcontractor or an architect and designer don't tackle that early enough, you could be real in real trouble. If you're building a custom home with four bathrooms and kitchens and entries, and you could have, tens and tens of thousands, if not a hundred thousand dollars worth of tile in a nice high-end custom home, if this isn't addressed properly, you are completely screwing yourself over.

And guess who pays the price? You pay the price, in money and time, and everybody else just looks, starts looking around, kicking their feet in the dirt, and [00:23:00] then they just disappear. You're the last person standing, going, darn, I wish I had hired the interior designer.

I wish my architect told me that I needed one. There's just all kinds of things that you didn't know until it's too late now. A good builder, a good contractor will provide you a project schedule before you even go to contract so you can understand some of these expectations. But don't count on it.

I would say more often than not, contractors and builders don't provide detailed schedules that can really get you into deep do-do here's another one on this category. Will the plans be complete enough when interviewing contractors and obtaining estimates? Later in the design process, this is a big one, because your contractor ultimately depends on the plans and specifications to provide an accurate proposal for your [00:24:00] project, meaning the actual price.

If they don't have that, you're going to get into deep trouble because all those costs are going to surface later. Meanwhile, you've picked Johnny the local builder here that happens to be the least expensive. What better? He's from the area, he's the least expensive. Guess what? He just priced out what's on the plans.

He didn't ask any questions, so now you're going to pay that price later. So understanding how complete the plans are going to be, meaning telling your architect, I want the plans to be complete. I want all the details there. I want all the specifications there so that I can get an accurate price. I don't want to get surprises later.

Once your architect knows that they're fully capable of it, and they'll do that. In fact, the really good ones will insist on that. But homeowners can sometimes pull the rug out from underneath them and say no. Let's worry about, I want, I just got to get started. I want my home built so I can have my first [00:25:00] holiday event in there, and you just think that everything else will just work out. And that burden gets put back onto the designer and architect, and then it trickles all the way out into the field when the contractor's out there trying to build your project.

Here's what happens. It takes longer. It just takes longer. You're not going to get in there on the holiday event anyway because you've leapfrogged over some of the most important elements to actually execute the construction rather than designed during construction, if that makes sense. So be careful when pushing for the best deal in design. Don't be afraid to invest in design.

Proper plans, specifications. Don't be afraid to invest in the time to design proper plans and specifications, so therefore, start as early as possible. Architects and designers have stepping stone approaches to their process, and we'll talk about [00:26:00] that in this world of Design series.

We're going to move on to the next one, the time commitment challenge. All the years I've been doing this, I've thought about this and I've gone back and looked at some past projects. The projects that came out the best. And I mean the best by yes, how great they ended up looking. But really what I mean by coming out the best is the client was the happiest at the end.

There were very minimal if any change orders that the project was built on time or very close to the deadline date. And I thought about, all the decisions were made, all the materials showed up on time. The architect and contractors got along great. My designers and my men in the field got along great. Why is this? I was thinking, and it is because the quality of the plans and the specifications were the high priority was placed on that. But we need [00:27:00] the client in order to do that. And that's what it is. It's the client's time commitment to the project.

The more time you allocate to the project in the design phase. The less you have to do in the construction phase and the more thorough the plans and specifications become, and as you engage with your designer and questions are asked, and answers are provided in a timely manner that you've provided, you've done your own little research and you're providing details and web links, and they're having good meetings and exchanges with your design team.

If they know that you're there with them alongside, they're going to ask you more questions. If they don't think you're there and you don't have enough time to allocate they're not going to ask you as many questions. And what happens with that? Decisions get made without you. Decisions get deferred and you don't even know what's happening.

So [00:28:00] you have to make a conscious choice. If you're going to be able to allocate enough time out of your day, out of your week for months and months to manage this project, whether you're picking one of one partner or another that's going to be the lead on the project, or if you're doing a very high end project.

And it happens to be out of the area where you're living. Now, you may want to think about what's called an owner agent, and we'll have another episode on that. But an owner agent is an extension of you. They are your advocate. They're usually past architects or builders or both, and they can represent you, but that's not as often a situation.

That's usually in more of the upscale projects where you're building second homes. But let's be aware, let's, the reality check is this. A remodel or new home project is like a second job for you. And if you treat it as a part-time weekend job, you're going to, the results are going to end up like that.

You're going to end up with a side job. [00:29:00] You're going to be making compromises that you don't necessarily know you're making until it's too late. So allocate enough time, stay in communication. The most engaged homeowners on projects are also the happiest in the end. I've noticed that.

And everybody's happy. The designer's happy. The contractor's are happy. It's because when a contractor is building a project and they feel that they are being efficient and productive. They feel great about it. And guess what? They like you more. And the next time they're, they, the next challenge they have, they start thinking about this project as their own home because they got to know you really well and they're going to honestly, they're going to do a better job quality wise if you are more engaged.

The other thing I want to tap on with this too, is your time commitment definitely affects [00:30:00] or directly affects a productive design process. And depending on your arrangement with your architect, your designer, your financial arrangement, you could actually save money on the design fees and save money on the construction.

Because they're churning along. They're just cranking it out because you're there. You're back and forth. You're back and forth. So let's talk about some suggestions for you to actually achieve this when you're working with your architects or designers. First of all, establish a preferred communication method.

And the reason I mention this is we all know that everybody's texting. And they're emailing and we're still using voice to voice, and then there's also website platforms that a lot of contractors and architects use now to manage projects, which are some really great tools. I use a tool called Job Tread, and I communicate with my clients.

I document all my projects and specifications there. I do [00:31:00] all of these things. To manage the project all in one location. Now, you could, if they offer that service, then you could decide let's just use that exclusively. My idea here is to pick one and try to stick with it. It could be email, it could be texting.

I know the reality is you may end up using both, that's a little sketchy to go through. So I would recommend you try to pick one communication method and stick with it so that you can document it and keep it at your side. Try to set pre-scheduled, dedicated weekly meetings or twice weekly meetings so that everybody knows that on every Thursday at 10:00 AM we're doing the Smith remodel meetings.

And that also allows you to manage your time and carve that out of your schedule that's best for you. Let's see. Let's move into the next one. Oh, here's a good [00:32:00] one. Talk about your design decision making style. I call it there are different types of homeowners and how they want to go about making decisions.

One profile is, do you want your design team to just come to you with two or three options for anything, for a particular product, for a particular design idea, anything related to design, or are you the type of homeowner that wants to understand every single option out there for windows, let's say for example, there's just, thousands and hundreds of window options, and I'm exaggerating, but are you the type of homeowner that wants to research it all on your own, figure it all out and you want your architects to provide you, 20 different examples, have a dialogue or a conversation with them about the design decision philosophy that you have or requirements that you have [00:33:00] so that everybody gets on the same page. So that's a big one that I've learned that if everybody gets in the same page, you're going to be in a good, in a much better situation.

Think about it, you've got a meeting every Thursday, and today we'll be talking about windows and doors. And then the next day we're going to be talking about roofing materials. And if you know what's coming next and if you don't get that proposed to you from your ask say, what would we be covering next week? Start doing your own little research if you want. We're going to be talking about the stone that you want around the front of your home.

We have a few ideas we'd like to share with you. We'll be ready to share with you that Thursday. And if you have a sense or an idea of what you think you'd do a little bit of research on your own. Shoot them a couple emails if that's the method you're using for communication. Tell them, I really like this.

I really like that. If you haven't already done that, and then that meeting, the following meeting will be the much more productive. Here's another big one, [00:34:00] decisiveness. So it's very hard for homeowners to make decisions, and I'm sure you can identify with that. Here are the things that can help you make decisions.

Remember the design professionals have built in skills or trained skills and talents to take all of your inspiration and ideas and some of these people build the project in their head. Contractors are notorious for this or famous for this, however you want to look at it. Very good builders, craftsmen can see the plans and build in their head very good.

Architects and designers are already developing the concept in their mind about what your homes going to look like they can think about a project holistically where you've zeroed in on what master bathroom you like or what you know, architectural style you like, or what tiles you like. Good companies, good design agencies, develop [00:35:00] structured systems to help you make decisions.

The biggest one in my mind is 3D visualization. So if an architect can provide you and an interior designer too, if they can provide you 3D renderings on their computer software that include obviously the design of the home or the design of the space, and include the materials that you like.

Or at least the general material itself. If you want a white cabinetry and black countertops and subway tile and this and that, they can actually, and nowadays it's not that hard, is incorporate that into the plans and presentation to you that make your decision making process a lot better.

Here we go. They develop the plan and the design in software. If they don't use software, that's probably your big red flag. That's the $5,000 guy or the $2,000 guy. That is doing your plans. One of your biggest questions are, how are you going to help me visualize and make decisions? That's probably the biggest one. Is, how can an architect or designer help you make decisions you don't care?

Whatever it takes, tier designers are going to provide mood boards and vision boards and material samples and drawings and renderings. Architects are going to do the same thing with drawings and renderings and even realistic renderings these days. So this is the biggest thing that I've noticed once you start to see a client say.

Oh man, I love it. I get it. I understand what we're doing now or I can't really visualize that. Can you turn the model around? And if you're not getting that, then you [00:37:00] are going to be, you're going to have a lot more difficult job in making decisions on the project. We used to call it in our design studio, we want to get the client bobbing their head up and down.

Yes, I love it. And the only reason the client's going to be able to say that is if they can visualize it. So we're going to ask these questions. Is the information I provided early on enough to point you in the right direction? How will you help me make decisions? So here we're talking about the early discovery stage.

And all of the things that you've taken and done to share with the architects in our methodology, the awakened homeowner methodology, is that enough? Ask the question, are you guys getting it? Do you understand? And if not, and make sure they really understand that you like this particular style and these materials and the project programming we call it, which is all the rooms and spaces that you [00:38:00] want.

Let's make sure that conversation is open. And then next, how will you help me make decisions? That's a big one. That's a big open-ended question. And listen for the answer. Hopefully you're seeing, you're hearing. We love to use 3D renderings to help you make decisions. If you don't hear it, ask it.

Will you be using three dimensional renderings in your presentations? If not, I would just, I wouldn't use them. I wouldn't go with them these days. I would just turn around and walk away. And if you're using the really inexpensive designer there you go. That's what you get. And if they say we can do some of that, what does that mean?

So ask those questions. Will the 3D views include the materials shown in my inspirations and ideas, as well as any suggestions you may have? Good one. So they can do black and white renderings. They can just throw any materials in there. But it would be really helpful if they had some kind of way to visually represent what you like.

And then how will the interior design materials be [00:39:00] presented to me? Will they be providing real material samples? Will they be doing color mood boards and vision boards? Let's get to know what's happening there. So we're getting down to the end of it and how you can not undermine your project. Let's talk about what I call power qualifying your designer candidates.

These are the questions that you are going to want to ask to make sure that they're a good fit for you. We'll go through them and remember, this will all be in the show notes. So you can just go to the, in the YouTube channel, you go to the bottom, or in the podcast episode, you should be able to see these.

So here we go. We're going to go through these pretty fast. Can you tell me what the most critical aspects of design are? Listen and learn. Listen for the word details. Listen for the word 3D visualizations. Listen for the right consultants that need to be brought in. Just listen and learn and keep mental notes of that so you can ask questions later.

Would it be [00:40:00] possible to show me designs you are particularly proud of and the details that went into it to make it happen? Good one. So now you see this beautiful professional images of completed projects plastered all over the internet, right? And you just love them.

But you know what? Let's go a little bit deeper. Can I see the plans? Can I see the details? Can you then tell me what were some of your biggest challenges with this project? There's always challenges. Right and ask them, in more detail tell me why that was a challenge and what could have been done differently.

I know this sounds like a lot, but these are the kind of things that you want to know going in to make sure that you know what to expect with your designers as opposed to assuming you're just writing checks and everything's going to be great. Based on your proposal, is this what I should expect?

You want to only ask this if the architect can walk you through the [00:41:00] impressive plans and details, right? So you've seen the details. Now you're asking, am I going to get that? Are my contractors going to get that. So that's another one. Here's a good one. Do you see any particularly tough challenges on our project based on everything that's been shared with the architect?

And they might say things like I don't know. This 40 foot tall ceiling you want could be really tough and could cost a lot. Start opening up that dialogue now so that decisions can be made or directions can be given. Would it be possible to speak with the contractor and client of the project you just showed me?

So here's what we're doing. We're getting a little tricky here, is we're trying to get into a situation where we're getting past the list of three referrals that you've asked, early on. Now we're getting into, I want to connect the dots from the project you showed me that [00:42:00] you're famous for.

To the guy who built it and the client that had to live through it. Now you can put that all you know together and really understand what your experience may or may not be. We're going to start to close out here pretty soon, but there's a couple other things I want to mention. Power qualifying exercise benefits all of this stuff is demonstrating to the design candidates that you're interested in a design experience.

You're setting the table there, right? So now you get a sense. They get a sense of who you are as a client and what expectations you have of them, and they can deliver. It's just a matter of them understanding, getting those built in client references that may not be off their official list. This is a good one, and you can do that with more than one of their projects if you want.

And then another benefit of this is you might be able to identify potential [00:43:00] contractor candidates early in the design process, right? So you can bring them in when necessary to be doing budget checkpoints and stuff, which we will, I'm going to get into that too.

So here's the key takeaway today, and like your action plan, or just at least things to be thinking about as you're pondering, doing your project financial handcuffing. Don't constrain your designer with inadequate fees. You'll pay more later whether you pay your designer later or your contractor later because they didn't know what to price out to begin with, or both try to overcome that temptation to get the cheapest designer creative handcuffing.

Don't over direct or blurt out all your solutions to your designer to begin with. Let them be creative professionals. Wiggle your way into all of your ideas that have been stuck in your head for five years. If you've been thinking about this project let them come [00:44:00] to you with the basis and their interpretation of you and your family and your property and your goals, and let it ride and see what happens.

That's what you're paying them for. So make sure you do that. The permit push. Be careful that's lurking around. And that's another way of saying inadequate plans. And that's another way of opening up the risk for inadequate decisions, inadequate specifications, inadequate budgeting, change orders, all this kind of stuff.

So the permit push is another way of saying crappy design. So in another way of creating a lot more work for everybody later on in the process, you, your architect, your contractor, the participation gap. Make sure you're ready to commit adequate time or offset that with somebody else to help You could be your architect.

They could be your agent. Just as long as they know that you are a busy [00:45:00] executive or something flying all over the world, you're just not going to have that much time. Or you have, a very busy family life and it's going to be hard for you to allocate, a lot of time to the project. So I need the architect, I need a designer that's that type of person to basically help me all the way through the handcuffing prevention formula.

How about that? So in invest in comprehensive design services upfront, demand complete plans before construction begins. Engage actively throughout the design process. Visualize your project with 3D presentations. Communicate clearly and consistently. The handcuffing prevention formula. These are the things that you can do.

Because there's a lot of other things that are come at you that you can't do anything about, but these are the things that you can do. So remember, your designer should earn your trust through quality work, clear communication, and comprehensive [00:46:00] presentation. Don't handcuff them financially or creatively.

You'll only be cutting your own throat. So that's my episode today. That was designer obstacles, but really it's obstacles that you can create that we can avoid by just informing you. I would really welcome you to subscribe to the podcast and the YouTube channel. I'm posting the podcast on both channels and I'd like you to subscribe.

That's just letting me know that you are out there listening. I would love to hear your questions and comments, and I think you can do that in the YouTube channel. I don't think you can do that in the podcast platforms, and you can always email me. And I also want to mention that the awakened homeowner book that I just published is encompassing all of this material that I'm talking about and I will be talking about forever probably. And this is a [00:47:00] really good guide for you to just hold onto, read through and go back and forth to as you're navigating your project.

My idea is to provide the people that love to read, they can read the book. I'm posting blog posts for this. People that like to listen can do it with a podcast, people like to watch, can do it on the YouTube channel. And these are my ways to get all of this information out there. Because that's my mission, is to empower you to take charge of your project. And that is what I have for you today.

In closing thought, the best designers want informed, engaged clients by understanding these obstacles. You're setting yourself up for a successful planning partnership and a project you'll love. That's what we want, right? We're building our dream home. That's what I have for you today. This is Bill Reid and the Awakened Homeowner mission.