4 Reasons Why Interior Designers are Important in Custom Home Construction

I recently had the privilege of visiting with a lovely woman in Durango, Colorado, who recently booked a Discovery Call with us.

She stated on our questionnaire that she and her husband were textbook cases of what not to do when building a mountain home.

She reiterated to me everything I talk about here on the blog and social media regarding a designer’s role in the success of a new-build project. She stated that they wished they had known about this before they started construction over a year ago. They are now all moved in, and though they love their home, they would have done some things differently.

They wish they had hired someone with an eye for all the details they overlooked while in the process of building their new mountain home.

Hindsight is always 20/20 so I encouraged her that it’s never too late and that she had come to the right place!

Even though there is still a little more to do, there are ways we can help them button this project up and have her house feeling like…well… a home!

In this blog post, I will share some snippets from a podcast I listened to recently that emphasizes the significance of interior designer’s involvement in building custom homes.

Custom Home Design Requires the Right Experts

Brad Leavitt owns and operates a successful residential construction company out of Arizona, AFT Construction, specializing in high-end custom homes.

You will learn that they take a very hard-lined approach when it comes to the involvement of an interior designer for their custom new builds.

AFT Construction requires their custom home clients to hire an interior designer before they will take on their project!

Are you are planning to build a new home or are you a general contractor and build custom homes? If so, you need to hear this podcast or keep reading below for my commentary on the content of the discussion between Brad and interior design coach Luann Nigara. They begin the discussion by talking a little about the history of Brad and his company and their current requirements for projects in the future. (The quotes below in italics are direct quotes from the podcast with some edits for easier reading.)

“One of the goals when I started AFT company seven years ago was to create a mandatory requirement for our clients that if they call me and say, ‘Hey Brad, we want you to build our house, we know your reputation, we know your skill set and your quality and all those things that go into it, but we want to do our own design, we kind of know what we like, and we feel that we can do that portion ourself,’ and my immediate response is ‘Well then I'm not your builder.’ They're calling the wrong person—we need a designer.”

“It was funny because about a year ago, there was a client with whom I had the same conversation, and I told him that, and he kind of stepped back, and he's like, ‘Why would I need a designer?’ and I said, ‘Well, let's talk about that. There are about 20 things that you're not taking into consideration that you need to’ and he did hire an interior designer, and it really changed the success of that project.”

I will be honest. Hearing this was a breath of fresh air! That someone in the construction industry actually “gets it.”

Designers Provide a Roadmap for Builders

Brad also addresses the contractor’s struggles to adopt that same attitude about interior design when Luann asked him why he thought there was a lot of builder pushback on insisting on hiring an interior designer for custom builds:

“I think it's a lot of things. I think maybe some of them have had bad experiences with designers, maybe some of them are a little prideful as some of us builders are because we think we know the best method… and maybe some of them just don't have the resources where they build. I think more than anything is education. What it comes down to is that a lot of the builders, when I show my [designer’s] design book, they're blown away…they see the value there.

I think any designer pitching to a builder, that's the key, say' ‘Look at this design book! I'm gonna lay out everything. It's a road map.’ In so many cases, we have our architectural set, but it's the design book that really takes precedence and carries us through the build, and so as these builders see that and the value, then it clicks, and then they can maybe let their pride go.”

So let’s get into the 4 reasons why Brad believes having an interior designer involved in a custom new home project is paramount both for the advantages to the builder and also obviously for the homeowner.

1. Save Money by Saving You and your Contractor Time

I am going to start with the big one for everyone…SAVING MONEY! We accomplish this in several ways, but one of the most effective ways of saving money is saving time on the construction site. If you are the homeowner looking to build, especially in a mountain town where maybe this is your second home or your forever mountain home, and you are not located in the same area as your build or renovation. In that case, you don’t have time to babysit the contractor, his subs, and the overall progress of your project.

Building in a different town or state is hard enough without worrying about whether your construction team is carrying out your vision. You don’t have the time to travel back and forth, get on calls, and answer tons of questions that you may or may not have the answer to.

As the builder, you also don’t have the time to track down answers and finishes from the homeowner, who also doesn’t have the time, capacity, or knowledge to answer those questions!

Here is where the involvement of an independent interior designer is paramount. Brad mentions this in the interview:

“They're [the client] just handing me Pinterest pictures that don't really relate to the home I’m building. But if we have that information, the client likes me at the end of the day because I'm not calling them, and their time is valuable, so they're not wasting time at a ton of these meetings and going to resources at all these different stores and me calling them saying hey how high do you want this light you know this hanging chandelier off of the table well I don't know what should I do whereas the designer will say hey Brad you know I want this 50 inches off finish floor perfect you know and so that's the value that they're not only saving me time and money but they're saving my relationship with the customer.

I can easily say on my projects that we're saving over 10% in overhead because of the arm of our designer. Because, as you mentioned, our designers, our project coordinators… there's a lot of value to bring, but one of the biggest things is they're sourcing all the product and material and putting this together in a book and giving it to me saying ‘Hey Brad you have your architectural plans here's my design book.’

And on the estimating side alone, how much time it saves me because now I'm only sending out one book. I'm sending out the plans and the design book to my tile guys, to my framers, and everyone has all the information and all the ceiling details, you know, whether we're doing coffered ceilings or faux beams, etc., and so it really makes it easy for us to manage the construction costs.”

2. Avoiding costly Mistakes

When building or renovating a home, it's crucial not to overlook the potential pitfalls and costly mistakes that can arise during construction. This is where the expertise of interior designers becomes invaluable. With our keen eye for detail and extensive knowledge of design principles, we can guide homeowners through the often complex world of new construction, ensuring a seamless and successful project from start to finish.

One of the primary benefits of working with an interior designer is their ability to help homeowners avoid costly mistakes. Whether selecting the wrong materials, underestimating spatial requirements, or failing to plan for future needs, these missteps can result in unnecessary expenses down the line. Brad mentions this as he and Luann discuss the designer’s role in small details and how our deliverables help avoid those issues:

“Even the architect is designing from the outside and not necessarily from the inside… that's a real thing. It's such a good perspective because, as you mentioned, the architect is designing outside in, and the designers are inside out. So what happens is even on small things… let's say it's a very traditional home with a lot of trim and stack trim where if the door doesn't have enough return, you know, to the wall, the designer has selected this stacked casing, it's not going to fit. And then you're trying to scribe it and cut it, and you know, one side is two inches, and the other is 6 doesn't work.

Same thing with windows. Maybe the way the windows are laid out, you can't get your rod, you know, your curtain rod in, so it's those little things where … designers bring so much value because they can really look at these details. The architects, not in all cases, but in a lot of cases, are laying out the bathroom to their understanding, but the designers looking at it, ‘If I open my door here and it swings this way by looking straight at the toilet, I change this layout so I'm not looking right at that.’“ “

By collaborating with an interior designer, you can access their wealth of experience and insight. We can help you make informed decisions about everything from the layout and flow of your home to the selection of materials, fixtures, and finishes.

Moreover, interior designers are adept at coordinating with architects, contractors, and other professionals involved in the construction process. We act as your advocate, making sure that your vision is accurately translated into reality and addressing any potential miscommunications or issues that may arise along the way.

This collaborative approach helps streamline construction, preventing delays and further financial setbacks. In short, partnering with an interior designer during your new construction project is a wise investment that can save you both time and money in the long run. From a contractor’s perspective, they want to save themselves those added headaches and loss of profits because of mistakes that could have been avoided by having a designer on the team from the outset.

“I don't have to make 20 calls to my designer. They don't have to call me because it's there, it's concrete, and then it saves me money because I'm not going to make a mistake. I'm not going to install the tile shower wrong for the designer and client to come back later and say, ‘Hey, you installed this wrong.’ I have to rip it out and do it again, which costs you money to my bottom line, so that's where just that cohesiveness of the communication and information.

I'm not going to cut corners or make changes without calling my designer if there's a question, so there's that trust factor, you know, that win-win between the two of us. And let's be clear: this is the crux of the value of the relationship. It's not just having a designer in the mix. It's having a designer in the mix who has carefully delivered to you a finished design book.”

3. Design for the level of investment

Not many homeowners and builders consider this approach to building a house: design and build the house to the investment level rather than designing and then figuring out how to pay for it. Here is Brad’s approach to the budget:

“I think most consumers don't understand is there's this mentality that I need to design my home with my architect and then after the home is designed, you know, from an architectural standpoint, let's find an interior designer, and let's start picking finishes and let's then send this out to three general contractors get three bids and here's our price.

It really is defeating in so many ways because there's so much lost time. There's so much coordination that could be done and even more than that, what happens is this cat-mouse game, and you don't know if the GC will undermine you and maybe substitute things or value engineer the project. Whereas the most successful project is when a client says, ‘OK, I'm going to hire Brad and AFT, I'm going to hire this architect and this designer. Here's my budget. I'd really like to spend $1 million on this house’.

Great, now, as a team, we three know the budget. It's not this cat and mouse game, and from design, we can start working on layout and elevations and design and make sure that everything's going to flow and work and communicate with each other and then at the end of the day be appealing, which is what we want and we hit that budget.”

At Mountain Luxe Interiors, we understand that achieving an awe-inspiring home design doesn't need to break the bank. We work hard to craft exceptional spaces that align seamlessly with proposed budgets. It takes meticulous planning, creative problem-solving, and resource management to strike the delicate balance between aesthetics and cost-efficiency, maximizing every dollar while preserving the integrity of the design vision.

4. Achieve Stunning results

The fourth reason for hiring an independent interior designer for your custom home or renovation is that we will always seek to make your home look amazing. Think about it this way…

• The architect’s role is to ensure that your home has all the necessary spaces, looks great on the outside, and is structurally sound.

• The builder’s role is to take what the architect puts together and execute that in a tangible way so you can move into it.

But who is thinking about how you will live in this home for years to come? If you answered the interior designer, you won! Here’s the aesthetic advantage of hiring an interior designer from Brad’s perspective.

“I love it when I finish a project, and my clients are like, ‘Hey Brad, if you want, bring future clientele to take a tour,’ and you open that front door, and there's just a wow factor. We had a high-end design firm that understands the impact of that entry or the way that kitchen looks, the convenience of that working triangle that the customers use in their day-to-day life, in their closet and kitchen and bathroom.

All these elements are thought through with great intent, and so … when they're at the Country Club, they're with their friends. ‘Hey, you know what I love about AFT and the team? They insisted I use this architect and designer, and they thought through everything!”

With our eye for interior details and deep understanding of design (and construction) principles, we meticulously curate every element of your home, from furniture placement to the selection of color palettes and textures. All this should be done before the house is just black lines on paper (or blue lines if you’re old school).

Collaborating closely with you every step of the way, we ensure that your dreams and desires are fully realized. From conceptualization to execution, our focus is on creating an environment that looks amazing and functions seamlessly for your lifestyle.

Your custom home or renovation project deserves the care, attention, and expertise that only an independent interior designer can bring to the table.

Until then,

…be surrounded by beauty!
Christine