Taking control of your project
Well, there is perceived control, and there is control!
While there are upsides and downsides in both, what’s most important is that you, the Interior Design Client, know where control is, and that it is on track to accurately achieving your Interior design vision.
Some Clients actually want their Interior designer to take “full” control of their project, make all the choices, all the decisions and be randomly subject to praise or rebuff. Uh … no. Control, as a concept, is really, really loaded! No professional wants to set themselves up as either the shining hero or the fall guy, across the board. The control issue needs to be clarified, decided and documented — at the front end of your Interior design project.
There is a bonafide role that is the right way for an Interior Design Client to maintain control of their project by wisely delegating. Your Interior designer has the capability and the experience to be the Project Manager when a Client hasn’t the time or the inclination to be on the design job site, in the field, observing the crews, overseeing schedules and subcontractors and all the rest of it.
A competent Project Manager oversees it all — from planning thru all aspects of coordination and facilitation. The Project Manager shares control with the Client in balanced roles.
If the control factor is smartly orchestrated, the Interior design project has the best chance of unfolding smoothly, accurately, efficiently and economically. Throughout the entire project there will be a constant chain and flow of choices and decisions. Everyone involved needs to know — and should know — who the go-to persons are for answers, where they are and how to access their authority.
One of the worse things that happen to crews, subcontractors and other professionals on a job site, is to get the old run-around when they need information, authorizations and answers of any kind! People tend to take things into their own hands if they repeatedly experience frustration trying to get the answers they need, the guidance they deserve and the clear knowledge of who’s in charge. Many costly situations have developed for a Client when someone had not been able to get the information or authorization they needed, and under the pressure of time, went forward and took an expensive gamble.
Taking control of your Interior design project starts with establishing and clarifying the pecking order!
A clear structure for authority, clearly understood by all involved, has important ripple effects. It imposes onto every aspect of the path of your Interior design project. Timing is always the universal pressure factor — and not just the part about time is money! Time is the straw boss that dogs every inch of the sequencing process — prepping, ordering, receiving, installing … When interruptions to the flow occur, because there is no one available with clear authority, it’s just an invitation for confusion.
Worse, is the Client who won’t delegate authority legitimately, who bestows the label Project Manager in name only, and likes to keep one toe in the water. Beware of the awful risks of micromanaging. That’s not control or management, and it usually leads to conflict.
If you are a potential Interior design Client or a Client with an Interior design project already under way, make sure your structure of authority is clear for all involved. Taking control of your project means planning well, delegating intelligently and communicating fully and appropriately!