The Hidden Cost of Getting Things Done
Hiring an Interior Designer will definitely save you time, but it can also save you money. It’s in our best interest to make your budget stretch as far as possible and give you a completed home at the end of a project. To make sure we are maximising the amount you have to spend on furniture, fixtures and fittings and items you can actually use and see, we use our extensive knowledge of the industry to make sure you pay minimum amounts for services like delivery.
Affordable Interior Design is possible and if your more organised you can save yourself not only a lot of headache but also a lot of money. Find out more about our pricing for interior design, we love being transparent.
If you have a limited budget, an interior designer could be key to spending it wisely
DIY vs Professional Interior Designer
If you are thinking about undertaking an interior project yourself, or want to compare the cost of DIY vs getting a designer, don’t forget to include delivery fees. Remember the cost of an item on their website rarely includes delivery. Here are some easy to fall into traps for inexperienced designers:
- Not including the correct delivery fee. If you are ordering tiles, or heavy items then the delivery amount will depend on weight.
- If you live upstairs or downstairs or there are more than 4 stairs to access your property, an additional delivery fee will be added for larger items.
- Many items are only available for a kerbside delivery, meaning the supplier will literally leave the items on the side of the road. You will need to have some strong people on site ready and waiting to go.
- You will have to be home to receive all your items, or have them sent somewhere where someone can sign for, and check the items for damage. Deliveries take place between 7am and 10pm depending on the company. Some suppilers give you no notice when they are coming, some will give you a text message a few hours more. Some offer a service where you pay to be informed. If you required Saturday delivery (which some suppliers simply do not do) that will also cost extra.
- Nipped out and missed a deliver? The furniture delivery industry is not like royal mail, if you miss a delivery you will have to pay for redelivery.
- Forgot that your sofa doesn’t come fully constructed? You will either have to pay for the delivery drives to put it together. They often require special tools.
- “White Glove Service” will cost extra, and will mean that the company will carry the item to where it needs to go and unwrap it and take away the packaging.
- Many items do not arrive on the stated day, so require you to chase the supplier.
- Items can turn up broken or incorrect which will also require much chasing of suppliers and also co-ordination with the delivery company to come and re-collect (and they will have strict rules on how it has to be packaged)
- You will have to store these items somehwhere, if you are storing them on site when you havre building works, you are taking away space from the contractors and risk the items being damaged. Also, don’t rely on builders to receive your delivers, they won’t know if they are right or not, things easily get lost on site and they won’t be liable and if they have to keep downing tools to sign for parcels they will (rightly) charge you for the extra hassle.
A careful eye and layered design is what creates a finished looking home
Taking On The Delivery Process
That’s quite a long list of potential headaches! At Kia Designs, we will save you money and a lot of time by taking on the whole delivery process.
- We recommend having every item delivered into a warehouse. This means the items will be catolgued and checked for damage on arrival. It also avoids all extra charges for things like stairs, Saturday delivers, parking problems, access issues, pallett only delivery. Plus it frees up space on site so that the builders have more room to move around.
- We have access to suppliers who will only deliver to pre-approved industry only addresses.
- We are able to access trade only retailers that can order in items from a variety of suppliers and all come from one place, meaning 1 delivery fee, that is usually waived if it is a large order. Saving you from getting the items from 15 different places.
- We know how much each company will charge to deliver, so we are able to factor that into our pricing, so while we might go for the more expensive toilet roll holders, we will add them to another order from a certain supplier who will have much better delivery fees and thus save overall.
- By having 1 person put all the items of furniture that come in pieces together on one day you save overall.
- Some stores will require a minimum spend before shipping. If your order doesn’t meet that target, we can combine it with that of another client and get you the products you want whilst halving your delivery fees.
- If you haven’t really done much design work before, you will undoubtable forget items. We don’t. You’ll miss count the number of sockets or switches you need and need to order another 1. Delivery on small items can often cost more than the items itself, these little mistakes can really add up.
- We have extensive knowledge of international shipping and taxation charges, so we’ll know if that sofa you love will be cheaper shipped from America (yes, sometimes that happens). Some suppliers will only ship internationally business to business.
What 100+ Interior Design Projects Teach You
