A New Way to Interview Your Interior Design Professional

I admit, nobody preaches prevention as a recipe for avoiding project disaster more than me when it comes to interior design, remodelling and decorating. My eBooks and numerous published articles are always focused on "getting it right the first time".

However, life being what it is, even the best of us in the business get faced with the unexpected and despite all of our skill, knowledge and experience we find ourselves in the middle of challenges we would give our eye-teeth to have avoided.

These are the times when "the rubber meets the road" and the true professional rises to the occasion. These are the times when, despite the difficulties at hand, we dig in our heels and with integrity and determination, work our way through to a successful conclusion.

Check out what happened when one of my projects ran into difficulties...

Despite a happy track record with the trades brought into the project, I was faced with inferior and unacceptable workmanship on an interior millwork project. I called those involved to a meeting to discuss the issues and while I trusted them to make the necessary corrections, much to my embarrassment and dismay, the results were less than what I had come to expect from them.

To make matters worse, those responsible were unavailable to do immediate remedial work due to prior commitments which took them out-of-town. So, to ensure the best interest of my client was honoured in a timely fashion, I called in other professionals to complete the project properly. The cost would be resolved between the original trades and me – not the client. In the end, a satisfactory project was delivered. Had my client tried to deal with the trades directly themselves, a very different (and not so happy) outcome would have resulted.

The finger was pointed everywhere, but in the end, it was my commitment to my client that ensured a positive result. My own knowledge and experience allowed me to discern where imperfections in the original building construction caused finishing problems and where just plain poor workmanship kicked in.

Even the best contractors run into difficulties

Even the best contractors run into difficulties. Clients often mistake the cause of problems and over-react. There is a huge difference between a leaking toilet and a shower that needs a 6" strip of silicone on the threshold, but the commitment to finding and solving the problem--whatever it might be--will be the same for the project manager and contractor with integrity.

A new way to screen professionals

In today's confused marketplace where it's hard to tell a grocery store apart from a drug store let alone a true professional from someone with a box of nails and a hammer, a new way of screening professionals is needed. We need to look beyond the glossy pictures and examine their "sticky power", and how they deal with the curve balls that inevitably come towards us all.