It seems quite logical but more often than not jobs are often delayed by the decisions that we assume can be made later; honestly it can be difficult to visualize how thing will look. I've seen jobs delayed as the home owner is changing tile selection on the day of installation.

Designers along with your Contractor can often alleviate these problems by helping to pick out material selection that will work and function together. A good number of people feel that they can make good design decisions. But, remember that the cost of a good designer can be well worth the value versus the cost of having regrets later on.

I find there are two types of designers out there. The first will design the whole project for you based off their style with little input and second will help guide you based off your input and bring thing together. Interview designers and find out what fits your style and comfort ability level. Upon my first meeting with clients I often see clients with a binder of information, magazine cutout, ideas, and possible material selections; this is a great idea… If your one of those people, you most likely want to find a designer will help guide you to bring all those ideas together and make them fit and function together.

Remember when keeping track of information also keep your budget in mind. Many designers are artist with a great imagination but no sense in finance. A few cost to keep in mind are: material costs, moving plumbing items like your sink, increasing usage of power consumption, moving bearing or structural walls “one should get your contractors or better yet an engineers advice on this one,” and don’t forget that there will be about 25-35% market up on the cost of the job towards the General Contractor. I often see people shocked when the numbers come in. They pay $30-40 thousand in cabinets only to find construction cost an additional $50 thousand. And yes of course one could try to manage the project themselves, but do remember it is a full time job and the duration of the job will be a little over double the amount of time it would take a contractor; but, you may enjoy eating dinners in the garage.

It’s been shown that something always typically comes up usually due to a lack of foreword thinking and the client typically wants one more item taken care of, so it is safe to say to add an addition 5% on top of any bid for change orders; if you don’t use it, that’s great. I suggest saving the 5% and plan ahead.