The Interior Designer’s Role in Construction Project Management

Updated January 2023

If you’re newer to the field, you may have NO clue how to manage a new build or renovation project. Or maybe you’ve been collaborating with contractors for a while and things are feeling more out of control than ever. And if you have a difficult GC, lots of delays, and subs moving on to other jobs because they couldn’t wait for all your plumbing finishes to arrive, your profitability tanks, your overwhelm skyrockets, and your client is now somehow mad at YOU. The nerve!

If this sounds all too familiar, keep reading for seven ways to create boundaries around project management (there are certainly a million more). Throughout this post, I will refer to construction and renovation management as project management, and I’m making the assumption that you are NOT a licensed general contractor.

01 | Clearly define the services you offer during the construction phase

7 Ways to Create Boundaries Around Project Management for Interior Designers

If you are comfortable collaborating with contractors, doing site visits, processing change orders, and being the point person during the construction phase, this should be spelled out clearly in the contract and scope and should be reflected in your pricing. Or, if you will only collaborate and coordinate with your own painter/wallpaper hanger/carpenter/carpet guy/etc. that should be detailed as well.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to check with your attorney on what is allowed in your state related to managing your own subcontractors and billing for their services. This often falls into the General Contractor category and if you’re not a licensed GC, you could be opening yourself up to a lot of liability. So again → check with a licensed attorney in your state on the legal way to handle this and then define it in your contract.

But, even without taking on the role of GC, there is ample opportunity for you to be an asset to your client during the construction and installation phase, for instance, being present for deliveries of items ordered through your company, providing on-site design-specific instructions and specification books to installers and fabricators, confirming that installation meets your design intent, troubleshooting and answering questions from any of the tradespeople on site, and much more. A designer being on-site at critical points during construction can ensure the design is being implemented properly. If the project warrants and you are making regular site visits during the process, make sure both your client and the GC understand your role.

02 | Know who you will and won’t work with.

If you’ve been doing this for a bit, you’ve certainly worked with a builder or two you never want to work with again. Find out during the inquiry phase if the client has already contracted with a builder or GC. Based on past experience, there may be times when you either want to politely decline a project before putting any time and energy into it or alert a client about a negative history you had to steer them clear of potential problems as well.

Also, be sure your prospects are working with LICENSED professionals, not their brother and his college buddies who are “really good at carpentry”. (Yes, this has happened to one of my designers.) If they aren’t using licensed contractors and are planning to DIY any construction, you’re likely better off moving them to a Design Only service. More on that here.

Clients who are not yet contracted with a builder or GC will often ask for your recommendation. Develop your own list of contractors and tradespeople you are comfortable working with who you know do great work. Some states require that you provide a certain number of recommendations (if you are making recommendations) to avoid being liable for any work completed in the event the client hires one of your recommendations. So again, consult with a licensed attorney to see what is allowable in your state and how to word it in your contract and when speaking with prospects and clients. On the flip side, this can also protect you from having to share your recommendation list. “Sorry, we aren’t able to provide you with recommendations because we aren’t general contractors.”

03 | Be upfront with prospects about who hires contractors. You or them.

This comes back to point #1 about knowing what’s allowable in your state,

A general contractor is responsible for applying for building permits, ordering materials, managing the project timeline, and hiring, scheduling, overseeing, and paying all of the tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters, installers). You may be able to take on parts of the process, without being a licensed GC and without having to carry high liability insurance, depending on your state laws. Be sure to check with a licensed attorney for what is allowable in your state.

For instance, if your state allows you to hire subcontractors without a GC license or without special insurance, you may hire, schedule, and pay the installers whose work involves products or decorative finishes while the GC manages all the construction-related elements, such as the sheetrock install, carpentry, plumbing, and cabinet subcontractors. There may be instances where the installation of decorative finishes (wallcovering, drapery install, mirror, and art installation) happen after the completion of the GC’s management of the project so these may be areas that you oversee.

Make sure the client understands who will be responsible for what, and that they will have a separate contract (separate from the contract with you) with the GC and other contractors hired.

When we work with designers, we define multiple touchpoints throughout their process to explain who will be responsible for what, how services will be paid for, and who will be overseeing various aspects of construction.

04 | Price the project management phase properly.

You can bill for project management in several different ways, so be sure to bill in a way you will actually follow, and will compensate you and your team for time spent in this phase. Yes, we have worked with numerous designers who lose money in the project management phase because they haven’t accurately set parameters around what is or is not included. Here are a few ways to structure this:

Bill hourly for all work done in the project management phase. This means, once the design is presented and the included revisions are completed, everything moves to an hourly rate while you cover aspects of the construction and installation phase.
Include project management in your contract, but include a cap or a retainer for the number of hours allotted to a project during the construction phase to include contractor collaborations, communication, site visits, respecs, etc. Anything over that will be billed at the hourly rate. Tip: If you do a monthly retainer for project management, set your retainer amount at a minimum number so you don’t have to deal with rolling hours over.
If allowed in your state, you might be able to mark up the subcontractor’s fees when you charge your client (for example, the wallpaper installer charges you $2,000 and you bill your client $2,500). This covers you for your time spent on coordination, administration, scheduling, and overseeing their work. You also may be able to subcontract services that do not take place on the construction site, such as upholstery and seamstress services for drapes and pillows, and mark those fees up since they are product fees.

05 | Communicate clearly and understand expectations and timelines.

Getting to know the builder or GC and their timeline is key for ensuring you are coming in as an advocate and not the enemy. Just as often as designers have had bad experiences with builders, builders have had bad experiences with designers. This is why being proactive from the start is key. Once you’re brought on to the project, reach out to the construction team and talk through what you’re doing for the client and learn how they work.

Should you have access to their software program?
Should they have access to yours?
What is the schedule of work?
When do they need specs and how should you submit them?
Who is your point person on the job site?

Be sure to let your client know how you and the construction team will work together and who their point person is. This way there is a chain of communication, rather than everyone getting information at all different times and everyone being confused because “he said she said”.

Then, during the design phase, be sure to check with the builder to make sure the designs are feasible and within budget. Yes, we know that anything you can imagine can be brought to life with skilled professionals…but we have to make sure the builder isn’t going to die inside when he sees your design plan knowing those materials are 9 months out and would push the client 3x outside of the budget they have allotted.

So check to make sure the design plan you are dreaming up is feasible and cost-effective before presenting it to your client. Builders will greatly appreciate this collaboration, and it will start you off on the right foot with them.

06 | Guide your clients by letting them know what they can expect during construction/renovations.

One word: DUST. Remind them that it will be non-stop during and for days/weeks/months after. Second word: NOISE. This is especially important for clients who work from home or have young children. In a more extensive project, the client may need to live elsewhere for a time. This can be hard (and expensive) for everyone, but in the long run, saves on sanity.

As the expert and main point of contact, we all know your clients are going to look to you for everything during the project management phase. This means it serves you well to let your clients know what to expect. In our Emerson Client Experience Templates, we have guides that let clients know what to expect for various types of work being done in their homes, and we have many clients who have written evergreen blog posts they share with clients letting them know how to plan for a kitchen or bathroom remodel.

If your clients haven’t signed with a builder or GC yet, you can provide your insights on whether to include a per diem fee if the project is late, whether to include incentives for early completion, whether to include a bonus if the project is on time and on budget, whether to have a contingency clause, what allowances actually should be ($3,000 for lighting for an entire house????? $1,000 for hardware???????), etc.

Check out our Construction Design Client Experience Templates and our Emerson Client Experience Templates.

07 | Use a project management software.

If you’ve been here for a while, you know we have a love for Asana, a project management software used by a majority of our designers and event planners. When clients come to us and they aren’t using anything to manage all the backend tasks, it’s typically our first software recommendation.

Using a project management software allows you to manage, organize, share, track, and communicate about everything related to a project, and when you use Asana, you can create templates for each project type with a set of checklists that you can easily duplicate for each new project, reducing your chances of missing any important details.

You can create processes in Asana for things like:

managing a trade day
handling quality control during construction
making reselections during construction
attending key site visits and what to do at each (think electric, plumbing, counters, etc.)
attending the final walkthrough
preparing the punch list

You can also track progress, manage contact information for tradespeople and vendors, plug in key dates and identify who is responsible, and have a central hub for your entire team to go to when they have questions or updates on the project.

If you aren’t yet using a project management software like Asana, Trello, Monday, Clickup, etc., be sure to check out our complimentary Asana Blueprint here.

If after reading this post you’re like, “Naaaaah, I don’t really want to offer project management or deal with construction, I’d rather just stick to design-only projects.”, then be sure to add check out my Design Day Workshop to learn all about launching this profitable service.