A few days ago, we were approached by a builder friend who had decided to set up his own business of carrying out complex renovations.

The crux of his request was: save me! His new client urgently needs an interior design. The budget for the renovation of the entire flat is just £80,000. The client gave him some renderings and asked him to make everything as seen in the pictures. However, once the work started, they found out that something had gone wrong as planned.

The example project was a rendering of the interior made by a design girl from Ukraine for only $300. Instead of drawings, there was a general plan of the room with furniture placement. That was all.

The builders, inexperienced in such matters, got to work. Much of the necessary work was not included at the outset. All the work was done by eye, and some things had to be redone. But most notably, the client had purchased large-format tiles for an intricately shaped wall, and the amount of waste after cutting was almost half of what was purchased!

The client was very unhappy with the waste and felt that the builders had stolen materials without his knowledge. He, of course, charged the contractor for all costs. They replied that they were doing everything without any documentation and were not going to pay. But the client, after seeing the cost of the design project, realised that it was comparable to the cost of the destroyed materials and refused to pay. As a result of someone’s desire to save money, both parties suffered.

There are several lessons to be learned from this story.

Whether such work is worth undertaking is for everyone to decide for themselves. But this story is a prime example of why it only makes sense to start serious work when you have a complete project with detailed documentation.

The client decided that his flat was simple and there was no reason to pay for a design project when a girl could visualise the look five times cheaper. And the cost of materials could be easily calculated by him. In the end, he was wrong by twice the cost of the materials and three times the timing of the work.

The builders who undertook the work deceived themselves. Firstly, they agreed to do the work ‘based on a photograph’ that did not even show the dimensions. Secondly, they agreed to work ‘by eye’ with a specific budget. In doing so, they voluntarily took on some of the responsibilities of an interior designer with no experience or ability.
The builders spent three times as much time on site as planned, and earned far less than they had anticipated. They had to redo some of the work at their own expense.
If the entire renovation budget had been calculated before the work started, more suitable materials could have been chosen and used more economically.

All this would not have happened if a design project had been commissioned before the work started. Despite the relatively high cost, it would have paid for itself through a reduction in the duration of the works and savings on materials.
The quality of the design project – an exemplary relationship between client and contractor. It is difficult to say which party needs the design more – the client or the contractor. It is more likely to be both parties together.