Number One Lesson My Clients Learned By Skipping Full-Service Design

Grab your coffee.

I have a story, and it involves a mountain-loving Dallas couple, a spectacular log home north of Durango, and a sentiment that completely caught me off-guard!

Here's the setup. This fun couple bought a big log home just north of town. Gorgeous location, great bones, but stuck somewhere in a Y2K time capsule. The home needed a good bit of cosmetic upgrades so it would no longer look like a hunting lodge and more like the luxury mountain escape they longed for.

I took them through my process, the same one I take every client through, and we pulled out the aesthetic they were after, the quality level, and the investment they were comfortable making.

They'd already been living there a few years, so when we got to the furnishings conversation, they told me they had it handled. Not because they didn't need a few things, but because they were confident they could take care of that part themselves. So we skipped it. What they wanted my help with was the unglamorous, but very necessary stuff.

Fixtures. Finishes. Cabinet design. All the decisions that need to be made before a contractor can pick up a hammer and actually know what he's building.

That's at the heart of my Pre-Construction Design Services. When you select this service, you get the design presentation, the 3D renderings, the design boards, and construction support all the way through the project.

And all of that is valuable and important, but what is not included in that service is Mountain Luxe Interiors managing the day-to-day, ordering and receiving the furnishings and decor, installing and styling all of the spaces, and finally, there's no Big Reveal for you to look forward to at the end.

To understand the features of each of our service tiers, check this out!

Now, back to the story…

They recently moved back in before construction was done. It was about 90% complete, but there were still several small details the crews needed to knock out, and the dreaded "punch list" was looming.

Even though they were happy with the design, one of their biggest frustrations was being there toward the end of the project. They felt the stress of managing all the last-minute details and punch list items with the crew. And that's the part nobody really thinks about in the initial phases of hiring a designer, if you opt out of the Full Service option and you're there through the final stretch, it's all on you!

So after doing a quick walk-through with them towards the end, the three of us were standing in the kitchen discussing the toll it was taking on them, and I teasingly mentioned, "Well, if you would have gone with the Full Service Design, you wouldn't be here right now! You'd be golfing on some picturesque mountain somewhere, not a care in the world, and I would have taken all of this off your plate."

The wife looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh… had I known that..."

Now, in my defense, I did present them with the Full Service Design option in the beginning, but they didn't think they needed it at the time. What they didn't realize was what that would have actually looked like in real life. I would have dealt with every imperfection until it was complete, and they would have walked in at the end to a finished, styled, magazine ready home for the full VIP Big Reveal, champagne and all. You know, the one with the goosebumps and sometimes even a few tears.

But they opted to go with the Design Only service. No problem. Let's get this party started with our Pre-Construction Design and Deliverables.

Here's the thing about me. I will never push a service on a client who doesn't want it, even when I know it would make their life easier. That's just not who I am. But I'll also be honest with you, because that matters to me too. Nine times out of ten, when a client could really benefit from the Full Service option and they go a different direction, they end up right here, in this exact spot, wishing they had done it differently. Not because I told them so. Because living inside a renovation is genuinely hard, and I know that better than almost anyone.

My job is to lay out the options clearly and let you decide, because it's your house, your timeline, and your sanity to spend as you see fit. But if I'm being honest, I'd rather tell you that truth now than let you find it out the hard way like our Dallas couple did.

Still. Hindsight is always 20/20.

So I'll ask you… have you ever purchased a lower-tier service and wished afterward that you'd gone for the full VIP treatment instead? Comment below and tell me about it. I read every single one!

And if you're standing where our Dallas clients were standing before they started, wondering which service is actually right for your project, that's exactly what a Discovery Call is for.

I'll walk you through what each tier really means in real life, not just on paper, so you choose with your eyes open.

Until next time,

…be surrounded by beauty!
Christine