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I’m pricing out a large job, about $175,000. I know the client is looking for a decorator to “run the job”. Some items on the prints just say “finish per decorator”. These items I’m just not including and will deal with them as changes. In terms of having to spend time to work with the designer, I’m thinking of putting in another $5,000 for all the BS.
What do you think?
Barry
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Replies
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I just went through the same thing and no one wanted to pay me for my time invested. The designer came in after the contract for the work we were to do was signed & the job started. The homeowners then decided to remodel their kitchen & hired the designer to do the job. Needless to say I was the one on the job to coordinate the whole thing. I would definetly charge for your time & charge well!
*The 5 Gs are really skimming the bottom of the barrel. Unless this is just a mgmnt fee, no work/materials included. Then, it still might not be enough. Be wary of "Designer-Selected, Contractor-Supplied" materials. Anticipate how you'll deal with those materials when they are rejected by the owner and/or designer, especially special order materials. Also, put strong verbage in your contract about foreseeable AND unforeseeable delays in your schedule due to the inability of others (owner or designer) to stick to a selection.(On one job, the designer kept changing her mind on the cabinetry--even after an entire set of custom made cherry cabs arrived on the site. The owner's took the backseat and deferred to the designer's opinions. Among other things, it was real pain to try to keep the various subs from bailing to the next job. The job was 3 months delayed because of the changes to the interior finishes. Now, how much do you think that 5 grand will cover?)Rather than a set fee ($5,000) I would suggest you allow for a contigency fee based upon actual delays with a multiplier of x.
*Make sure you make an allowance in your pricing for the designers 'cut' on items supplied like appliances, cabinets, etc. Some won't ask for it; a lot are going to expect a big chunk of the markup for...well, I'm not quite sure what for,if they are getting paid by the client, but they expect it. Find out the designers policies on this if you can. If you've got 20% put in on an appliance, and the designer wants 20%, what you gonna do?
*Hi B. Novick, Cost plus sounds safer as pointed out by Rich in his post. There are so many variables and his example shows that. Instead of a flat fee I recommenda percentage based on cost. It won't seem arbitrary to the customer and you'll be paid accordingly.Good luck, Dan-O
*B-You can use the designer or the designer can use you. Just make sure that all changes get a change order with a delay, and that cost for delay is specified. Have the owner sign the change order, putting your cost on top of the cost for whatever the designer does. If you establish the right working relationship with the designer, which can usually be done by saying something stupid to the homeowners like, "Wow, she's brilliant. I would never have thought of putting a range in the kitchen," you can win an ally.SHG
*SHG has a good idea about getting all changes in writing BEFORE commencement of that work. It's a no brainer, right? But my experience has been all changes result in delays, therefore they eat into the margin. So make sure you include an amount covering these delays in the CO cost, right? Not so fast. First, do you have authority to be party to those COs? Are you sure? This goes right back to your original contract. Be sure to add a clause which stipulates how and by whom all COs (no matter how small) will be handled.In summary, it looks good on paper to say no work will commence until a written CO is approved. In actuality, such a bureaucrasy can and does add gobs of time to the schedule.An aside, most designers--at least the ones I have worked with--have little to no knowledge of how this process should work. This may mean you, yes YOU, will have to take the time to educate them. There's that time thang again. Now how much would you guess?
*I was thinking the $5,000 I was putting in the job was only for the extra time I was going to spend meeting with the designer, then meeting again with the homeowners. The clients are both working professionals, out of the house by 7:00 am and gone at least 11 - 12 hours a day. The items speced on the prints that say "custom cabinets, see designer for design details", have all been left out of my proposal.Barry
*things are not left out of your proposal unless you list them under [exclusions].. and then state a method for dealing with them...anything else is opening yourself to a big misunderstanding....what do you think the owners meant when they gave you the prints that spec'd the cabinets that way ?
*The "custom cabs" part of the specs means that they haven't picked out a cab and designed the kitchen, but want an installation cost for whatever they end up getting. This of course makes it impossible for you to bid, since you have no idea what you are installing and the way kitchen boxes go these days, it could be damn near anything (especially with a designer involved).So make it absolutely clear that it is either an exclusion or, if you prefer, a T&M rate for the unknown. And be particularly wary of the designer deciding to move the plumbing, etc., to locations that require every wall in the kitchen to be moved and every stack, wire, etc. to be redone. BTW, my approach is always a cost benefit analysis: "You can do it, but to move that bearing wall 2" will gain you this cute little piece of filler and cost you $27,962. If the filler is worth it, then let's do it." Few people are that dopey.SHG
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I'm pricing out a large job, about $175,000. I know the client is looking for a decorator to "run the job". Some items on the prints just say "finish per decorator". These items I'm just not including and will deal with them as changes. In terms of having to spend time to work with the designer, I'm thinking of putting in another $5,000 for all the BS.
What do you think?
Barry