Dear current/potential homeowner client, Thank you for your business. As we are starting on your project I would like to seize the opportunity and point out a few things for you to keep in mind: (1) No matter how much money you are paying us and how long you’ve haggled with us about our design fees, I can assure you that you are getting way more than your money’s worth. We will work endless hours on the project, you will change your mind a million times causing us to redo our work and we will have to find solutions every time your contractor makes mistakes. Please stop haggling about our design fees. Please pay us on time. Please give us our final payment. (2) Speaking of the contractor, I would like to make a few things clear. He is not your friend. Or mine for that matter. He is not a “nice guy” generally. He is not on your side. He will cause delays. He will cut corners. He will do everything he can to make things easier for himself and his crew, like trying to convince you that plain painted walls are so IN, flat ceilings are all the rage and plain beige ceramic tiles are scientifically proven to be the best option for bathrooms. You must understand that your team is made up of yourself and myself. Only. THE CONTRACTOR IS THE ENEMEY. Repeat. THE CONTRACTOR IS THE ENEMY. (3) Yes we know the website houzz. Yes we know it has thousands upon thousands of images of fantastic ideas. No we don’t need to see the thousands you’ve stored on your iphone to understand what you want for your dream house. You don’t need to whatsapp them to us either. (We are willing to look at a few pics for a general direction of your preferences, but that’s all.) No we can’t take a fireplace from this picture, combine it with a chandelier from the other picture and team them with the rug from the third picture and the curtain fabric from the fourth picture. Do you know the website allrecipes? It’s got hundreds of thousands of recipes too. Next time you’re planning dinner why don’t you pick ingredients from 37 recipes to come up with that spectacular dish that will wow your neighbors? الله يخرب بيت هاوز عاللي عملوه .. يارب ارزقهم بهاكر يقرفهم زي ما طلعوا روحنا و جابولنا وجع الدماغ .. يارب اللي ينزل صور من السايت ده موبايله يفرقع .. يارب يخلو الصورة بدولار و تيجي الفاتوره بعشرين ألف دولار للي في بالي يارب ) (4) Some clients are under the impression that home design is about “taste”. It’s not. There is a science behind it and it is a profession like being a doctor or an attorney. If you are one of the people that believe it is strictly about your personal taste, then I urge you to go right ahead and do it on your own. Save your money.. and my ulcer! (5) While we are on the subject of taste, let’s briefly touch upon the issue of color. Now believe it or not color is the most difficult aspect of the whole thing. That is because my dear client, color is completely subjective. We have no way of knowing that you associate the color purple with grief, or that you cannot stand blue because it reminds you of your primary school uniform that you hated or that your favorite color in the world is mosheer tantawy peach. You know when we present our work to you, it is titled “design proposal”; i.e. we are PROPOSING a comprehensive concept, one of its elements being color, and would like to engage in a constructive discussion with you analyzing this concept, its merits and what can be improved and so on. It really isn’t our goal to launch a 4hour meeting lamenting the rug color in the shots. And no, the solution isn’t to present 12 rendered “color options”. (I’ll let you in on a secret. Exact color selection will only be achieved by physical samples as in paint swatches done on site, wood samples, specific fabrics etc.) (6) WHEN CONSTRUCTION STARTS: please please please.. you know yourself better than I do. If you are the faint-hearted kind, please understand that there is a time when it’s best not to visit the site. There comes a time when everything is grey. Walls, ceiling and floor. At this time the place looks tiny. And it’s then that many clients panic then give into their impulse to move this wall back a meter to make the bathroom bigger (in effect closing the entry hall), break down the other wall to enlarge the bedroom (cancelling the dressing room in the process) and so on. You must trust the drawings. I’m not telling you that you should God forbid trust me. No, trust the drawings because they have measurements on them, which is fact. When the bathroom looks tiny, refer to the drawing. It says 3 meters. I know it doesn’t LOOK like 3 meters on site now. BUT IT IS. So go away, measure 3 meters then measure your arms and legs and your old bathroom and your balcony and your kitchen and your car and whatever you need to get a realistic reference then chill and leave the grey walls alone! (7) WHEN CONSTRUCTION STARTS: please refer to number 2 above. (8) WHEN CONSTRUCTION STARTS: please do not bring your extended family to see the house at the different stages. Or your work colleagues. Or your relatives visiting from el balad. Or another designer and/or contractor. Especially if you are the hesitant type and may be influenced by other people’s opinions. Which you probably are; that’s why you’re bringing them to house during construction in the first place. Let me tell from experience. Changes during construction are a nightmare for you. This is the chance your monster of a contractor was waiting for to pounce on you screaming YOU’RE MAKING CHANGES! وفين يوجعك بقي .. The project begins to drag on and you become thoroughly confused with each new opinion you hear and don’t know what you should do and who to listen to. I find that at this point clients tend to turn back to us (after having become convinced that we are in effect useless, thanks to the cacophony of opinions) to rescue them. We’re happy to do that, but more likely than not there is always some irreparable damage on site. Finally, I cannot stress enough how much we care about your project and how keen we are that it surpasses what you’ve ever dreamed of and more. That is our success and also what makes us happy. I remain your devoted designer, Amira
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 18:51:45 +0000
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