How to Set Up Your Interior Design Proposal Package — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Welcome to another lesson on interior
2. 0:04design fundamentals. My name is Valerie.
3. 0:06I'm the owner and lead designer of Viola
4. 0:09House. And in this class, we'll be
5. 0:11focusing on the key step of your entire
6. 0:14project, the design proposal. Whether
7. 0:16you are pitching a residential
8. 0:17renovation or a large commercial fit
9. 0:20out, your proposal isn't just about
10. 0:23pricing. It is part of it and it is very
11. 0:25important. But also the proposal is a
12. 0:28communication tool and it includes
13. 0:30information that your client probably
14. 0:32sees for the first time. You should
15. 0:34include things like your process,
16. 0:37deliverables, timelines,
17. 0:39and all of the relevant information for
18. 0:42the client to be comfortable and
19. 0:44confident to say yes. In this lesson,
20. 0:46I'll walk you through a fully editable
21. 0:48design proposal template that you can
22. 0:50use in your own practice. And we'll
23. 0:52cover how to structure it and how to use
24. 0:54it as a working document throughout the
25. 0:57whole project. And of course, you can
26. 0:59download a free rayon template in the
27. 1:01description below and follow along or
28. 1:04start building your own. Let's jump in.
29. 1:07The intent of the design proposal is to
30. 1:09ensure that your clients know what to
31. 1:12expect and it's one of the first
32. 1:14documents that they receive from you. So
33. 1:16you need to very clearly communicate
34. 1:19what is about to happen, when it's about
35. 1:22to happen. So you need to include your
36. 1:24design phases, your fees, any kind of
37. 1:27information and your policies that um
38. 1:31you want them to be aware of the project
39. 1:33objective, the deliverables that they
40. 1:35will see and of course your rates as
41. 1:38well. So it really sets the professional
42. 1:41tone from the start if you do it
43. 1:43properly and could be a deal breakaker
44. 1:46if you don't unfortunately. And of
45. 1:48course, a professional proposal should
46. 1:50answer pretty much all the questions the
47. 1:53clients might have about the process,
48. 1:55but it will also protect you in a way.
49. 1:58It's not a contract, but you can use it
50. 2:00as a working document. So, you can
51. 2:03reference back to the timeline, to the
52. 2:05deliverables, to the policies that you
53. 2:08have outlined. Um, I look back at my
54. 2:11proposals quite frequently during the
55. 2:14project to make sure that everything is
56. 2:16aligned. So it's not just helpful to the
57. 2:18clients to understand the scope of
58. 2:20project. It's helpful for you as well to
59. 2:22reference back and see where you're at
60. 2:25and what still needs to be completed. No
61. 2:28project is the same and as I said the
62. 2:31each proposal will be a little bit
63. 2:33different from one one to another. But
64. 2:36it's great to have a template that you
65. 2:38can easily customize and you can do it
66. 2:40quickly based on the project needs. For
67. 2:44example, here I'll show you the template
68. 2:46that we made for you. You can add your
69. 2:48own logo. Here you can add your client
70. 2:51information, services that you offer. On
71. 2:54the second page, you can outline the
72. 2:56service that the clients are interested
73. 2:58in. You can swap out the images as well
74. 3:01to make sure that um they are aligned
75. 3:03with the project and the client can feel
76. 3:06that you know exactly what they're going
77. 3:09for. So you can customize the timeline
78. 3:12as well based on the service that they
79. 3:14offer and you can actually create
80. 3:16multiple pages um in rean design kind of
81. 3:20showcasing that you have different
82. 3:22service options so you don't have to
83. 3:24change it every single time. But in this
84. 3:26instance, here's just a simple breakdown
85. 3:29of the typical design process, which
86. 3:31includes the discovery call, proposal,
87. 3:34agreement, and payment, questionnaire,
88. 3:36design, meeting, concept, and sourcing,
89. 3:38design presentations, revision, and
90. 3:40procurement support. So, as you can see,
91. 3:43it kind of outlines each step with the
92. 3:46timeline and give you gives you an
93. 3:48estimated overall timeline as well. So,
94. 3:51you can definitely change this up. This
95. 3:53is just a text section. So you can
96. 3:56adjust it however you want. You can
97. 3:58change the dates content here as well.
98. 4:01And based on the project that you're
99. 4:02doing, whether it's residential,
100. 4:04commercial, you might have different
101. 4:06timeline and different items in your
102. 4:10process as well. So you can reflect that
103. 4:12here. And of course you can adjust the
104. 4:14deliverables as well. So for the virtual
105. 4:17design service for example, we would
106. 4:19deliver mood boards, custom floor plans,
107. 4:22shopping lists with clickable links,
108. 4:24color palettes, elevation sketches,
109. 4:27styling tips and visualizations,
110. 4:29revisions, and optional procurement. And
111. 4:32you can change the images here as well
112. 4:34if you think that they are not going to
113. 4:36match the vibe of the project that you
114. 4:38are working on. Let's just swap them out
115. 4:40to something a little bit more classic,
116. 4:43for example. And you can change the
117. 4:45drawing here as well to make sure it's
118. 4:47relevant to what you are doing. So in
119. 4:50this instance, this is the virtual
120. 4:52design service example, but I would do
121. 4:56another option. So we could select all
122. 4:59the pages here, copy and paste them. I
123. 5:02would just do it at the bottom
124. 5:05and you can just say full service design
125. 5:11and create the separate template for the
126. 5:14full service design with different
127. 5:16timelines obviously different
128. 5:18deliverables with the project objectives
129. 5:21so it's easier for you to copy and paste
130. 5:25it and edit it whenever you need them.
131. 5:28Design fees can be sometimes hard to
132. 5:30explain depending of what model you are
133. 5:32using. So you need to make sure that in
134. 5:35the design proposal, you have a very
135. 5:38clear understanding and um clear
136. 5:41representation of what you're going to
137. 5:43charge the client. Whether you're
138. 5:45charging hourly or fixed or hybrid
139. 5:48model, it's completely up to you. But
140. 5:51you need to make sure that it's itemized
141. 5:53and it's very clear with numbers. If
142. 5:55you're doing hourly, make sure you have
143. 5:57an hourly range so you're just not
144. 6:00pulling numbers out of the thin air and
145. 6:03uh the clients can reference back to it
146. 6:05as well. And you can plan for the
147. 6:07future, too. And of course, I like to
148. 6:10have a little note here at the bottom
149. 6:12that all fees include outline,
150. 6:14deliverables, communication time, and
151. 6:16revisions. Optional services such as
152. 6:18procurement support are quoted
153. 6:20separately. This is not a contract, but
154. 6:22it's a another reminder for the clients
155. 6:25that anything beyond this proposal,
156. 6:27anything beyond the scope of work that's
157. 6:29been outlined here is going to be out of
158. 6:33scope and quoted separately. And of
159. 6:36course, I would like to include a what's
160. 6:38next page um that kind of clearly
161. 6:41outlines what is expected not just from
162. 6:43us but from the client as well because
163. 6:46there are clear steps that they need to
164. 6:48take in order for us to start the
165. 6:50project and uh put it on our calendar.
166. 6:54So in this case you can review initial
167. 6:56contract signature and after payment is
168. 6:59received we're starting work. So
169. 7:02everything is very clear and simple. I
170. 7:04suggest not to overwhelm the clients
171. 7:06with tons of text. It shouldn't be the
172. 7:08whole page of text. Make it beautiful,
173. 7:11make it pretty, and make sure that you
174. 7:13have all the specific information in
175. 7:16digestible parts so the clients are not
176. 7:20feeling overwhelmed and they can read
177. 7:23through this quickly, reference back to
178. 7:25it whenever needed, and they know
179. 7:28exactly what your expectations are. And
180. 7:30of course you can also include a little
181. 7:32terms and conditions section. Um this is
182. 7:35just a basic kind of outlines. This is
183. 7:38not a contract per se. The contract is
184. 7:40signed separately and it goes into very
185. 7:44precise details of who is responsible
186. 7:47for what, what definitions every stage
187. 7:50has and uh all kinds of different
188. 7:52information. But for the proposal, just
189. 7:55to outline what you are okay and not
190. 7:58okay with, this is a good starting
191. 8:01point. Once the proposal is approved, it
192. 8:04becomes kind of your guide throughout
193. 8:06the project. And it's a good idea to
194. 8:09reference back to it quite frequently to
195. 8:12make sure that you aligned with
196. 8:13everything that you promised to the
197. 8:15client. And if you have any kind of a
198. 8:18difficult situation, it's great to
199. 8:20reference back to a during client
200. 8:22meetings as well. ble to kind of ground
201. 8:24the situation to say, "Hey, this is what
202. 8:27we agreed on. This is what's in our
203. 8:29scope. This was our budget. This was our
204. 8:32scope of work." And of course, because
205. 8:34you're using Rayon Design, you can
206. 8:36easily create a link for the clients for
207. 8:39the proposal. So, you can just click
208. 8:41here into preview and it's going to
209. 8:44generate the presentation.
210. 8:46So, as you can see right here, we
211. 8:48created just the proposal section and
212. 8:53you can publish it from here and create
213. 8:56a link and enter this link into your
214. 9:00client portal or in the email just to
215. 9:03make sure that you always have access to
216. 9:06this document and the clients have it as
217. 9:08well. So, you can reference back to it
218. 9:11whenever you need to. And that's
219. 9:13honestly the best way to do it. If you
220. 9:15have any questions or you need a little
221. 9:17bit more guidance, you can now book a
222. 9:19one-on-one demo with Rayon team in the
223. 9:21description below. That wraps up our
224. 9:23design proposal template. As you can
225. 9:26see, it's not just about getting the
226. 9:28project. It's about setting up every
227. 9:30phase for success. By customizing the
228. 9:32template to reflect your services,
229. 9:35process, visual style, you can set the
230. 9:38tone from day one on what the clients
231. 9:40need to expect from working with you.
232. 9:45[Music]