Find an Architecture and Interior Design firm with a Clear Idea of Who they Work with Best
How we click with our architecture and interior design clients
Choosing an architecture and interior design firm to bring your dream home to life can be a challenging process. Clients often struggle with deciding on a firm because there are many unknowns, which leads to second-guessing and uncertainty.
And, it’s no wonder—designing your dream home is likely the most significant investment you’ll ever make. In addition, you will be working together over an extended period of time, so a lot is riding on finding the right match.
Finding and choosing the right firm can mean researching, comparing options, looking at reviews, and attending numerous meetings to find the design professionals you connect with best. The key to it all is finding an architecture and interior design team who you feel comfortable with, who you know has your back, and who understands and can deliver what you envision.
It’s also important that your architecture and interior design firm has a clear vision of who their ideal clients are. If they work for anyone and everyone, then they likely don’t have specific experience with they type of work you want.
And when the relationship isn’t a good fit, problems can arise. Often, minor issues can turn into significant conflicts, and even subtle differences in how you relate with your architect and interior designer can amplify into big misunderstandings. The abilities to communicate, collaborate, and connect are essential for the success of your project.
With everything riding on how well you and your design team get along, going about the process of finding the right fit can almost seem like dating.
Are we a perfect match?
Just like you are on the hunt for your ideal architecture and interior design firm, we aim to find the right fit with our clients!
As with any design team, and based on our more than 24 years of experience, we have a good idea of the types of clients we work best with, and those we don’t.
This article will provide you with our insights into what we look for in our ideal clients.
Our goal is that sharing the traits our favorite clients have in common will *hopefully* help you to identify key criteria you can use in your search for your ideal architecture firm.
To give you an idea of who we love working with, here are the main things our favorite clients all have in common:
A realistic budget
One of the first things we nail down with our clients is their budget. Working with clients who have a realistic budget in mind makes everything easier. We’ll help you work out what your must-haves and nice-to-haves are, and help you understand what’s achievable. Our goal is to find a nice balance between your wish list and budget limitations.
Working with a realistic budget ensures you won’t be disappointed when you realize some things just aren’t feasible. On our side, it means we can better deliver what you have in mind without sacrificing essential elements of your design.
PRO TIP: When speaking to architecture firms, don’t be afraid to talk openly about your budget. Many clients withhold this information, perhaps out of fear that their architect will design a more expensive project if they know the client’s “true” maximum price, but that can lead to wasted time and effort. If you are upfront about your budget, your architect can be upfront about what you can expect.
A realistic timeline
In the same vein, having a realistic timeline is super important. Again, things tend to go more smoothly if you understand how long the design will take and are comfortable with the agreed timeline.
At Studio Z, as with any architecture and interior design firm that works on custom projects, there are no hard and fast rules for project timelines. Every project is unique, with different demands - there is no formula. It’s vital that our clients understand this.
It’s also important to understand that every decision, and every delay in decision-making, can have a ripple effect on the project schedule.
As we work together, we do our best to help you understand how certain choices will affect your timeline. But even the planning stages can take more time than clients expect. This is because we will essentially build your design on paper first, and it’s a creative process, not a simple click of a button.
With all projects, we outline key milestones and stay in constant communication. Having a clear schedule and regular contact is vital. Gaps in communication can leave clients feeling that progress has stalled, even if it hasn’t.
PRO TIP: Work with your design team to establish realistic timelines early in the process, and be sure to discuss how important decisions and changes can affect those timelines.
Trust in our expertise
For many of our clients, working with us is their first time working with an architect or interior designer. For that reason, we look for clients who are enthusiastic about learning how the design and building process works.
We see ourselves as guides for our clients, helping them on their journey to a better life and a happier home. An important part of that journey is that we have their trust.
It’s not that we will have every answer at a moment’s notice or that we are human supercomputers who can calculate material costs in our heads. Still, we do have quite a lot of knowledge, and, typically, that’s the main reason we hope clients hire us in the first place—because they trust our expertise.
And our projects tend to run faster when clients trust and rely on our know-how and the process we have designed over the years. We don’t claim to be perfect, but after completing 155 projects, we do know a thing or two about delivering results.
A key way we earn your trust is by listening to you and ensuring that we truly understand your needs, wants, dreams, and aesthetic goals. Our goal isn’t to design a Studio Z home; it’s to create your home.
PRO TIP: When considering hiring an architecture firm, make sure they put your interests and priorities first. Ask about their process and the level of involvement they want from you during the project. In our experience, the more you can contribute to the early stages of the project, the happier you’ll be in the end results.
Creative thinking only!
We love working on projects with unique conditions that challenge us. And when it comes to finding innovative solutions for design issues, like making the best use of a small space or expanding rooms with a tricky existing structure–that’s where we thrive.
So if you’re looking for creative solutions and a team that thinks outside the box, we might be the architecture firm for you.
PRO TIP: Check out your architect’s portfolio. Are all the projects similar in nature and design, or is there a wide variety of solutions and styles? The more varied the portfolio, the more experience your architect will have in creating a fully custom solution for you.
An exciting aesthetic
As with any art form, it’s all subjective. What makes good residential architecture is a very personal thing. However, it’s super-exciting when a client comes along with an aesthetic or style that resonates with us.
We love working on projects that we’d enjoy living in ourselves, and, quite honestly, we’ve felt that way about nearly every project we’ve worked on!
PRO TIP: Be prepared when working with your design team. You can create collections of images and inspirations on sites like Pinterest and Houzz. Be sure to share your ideas early on, and it’s helpful to add a note to explain what you like about each image. Watch for signs that your designers are as excited about what you want as you are.
A new stage of life
Many of our clients are women over 40 entering a new stage in their lives where (finally), it’s all about them! Their kids have moved out, they’re successful in their careers, and it’s time to make their home their own.
With the kids gone, they want a home where they can entertain friends, have time to focus on themselves, and enjoy their favorite hobbies.
Our work is about getting a complete picture of what that dream life looks like for you, so we can design a home that allows it to come true. Is it extra guest bedrooms for when family members come to visit, a room dedicated to your painting passion, or maybe extra counter space to explore your culinary skills and delight your guests?
PRO TIP: Before talking with your architect and interior designer, get crystal clear about what you want in your new home. The more you can clarify your goals, the easier it will be for the design team to help you achieve them.
They want to create a forever home
Another group of clients we love working with are those who want to set their houses up for the future so they can live independently for years to come. These clients tend to be in their older years and are ready to transform their home into a sanctuary that’s fitted for their unique abilities, perfectly functional for their lifestyle, and beautiful - all at the same time.
At this stage in their lives, a home remodel or extension can be daunting; that’s why we ensure they don’t have to worry about managing all the moving parts. We feel strongly that we are our clients’ advocates. We build such a solid and in-depth understanding of who they are, their limitations, and what they want to achieve to ensure those needs are met.
PRO TIP: Given the expense of remodeling or renovating your home, it’s best if you think about it as a long-term investment. For that reason, it’s essential to talk with your design team about how your needs may change over time.
One of our favorite projects
Our Cape Cod project definitely springs to mind when we think about some of our favorite clients. What was amazing about this project was that, after the remodeling, the house looked the same from the outside, yet the inside told a completely new story.
Once our client’s teenage daughters had grown, it was time to redefine their home to suit their changing lifestyle and prepare for the future. So we:
Added a new primary bedroom on the first floor to facilitate their needs as they got older
Added two large guest bedrooms and a new bathroom for their daughters to stay in when visiting with their families
Created more space for entertaining with a new family room, a bigger kitchen, and an open dining room
These changes resulted in a completely transformed home that made sense for our clients’ changing lifestyle priorities and the future they envisioned. It encapsulated everything they wanted and more and solved unique design challenges - we couldn’t be prouder of the result.
A Cape Cod Becomes Spacious
Think we might be a good fit?
We hope that after reading this, you have a better idea of the type of client we love working with. We also hope you have some great insights into working with your architect.
If you see yourself in a lot of what we wrote, we’d love to get to know you better and see if we’d be a good fit for each other.
The best way to truly know we’re the right team for you is by talking to us. This way, you can get to know us, ask us all of your questions, and see what we’re all about!
Want to chat with our team about your project? Get in touch today.