Ep. 13: How To Outsource Design Drawings with Jessica Marchant of BlueSky Creative

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interior designers will start out not having construction documentation and then they land that really big project and the GC walks in and looks at them and says, when am I gonna have drawings?
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And rather than say "what?" They say "in two weeks, of course!" And then they start looking for a technical designer or someone to execute those drawings.
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Welcome to stuff interior designers need to know.
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This is the place to find out all the things you need to know to create a successful residential interior design firm that makes you, your clients and your bank accounts seriously happy.
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I am Rebecca West, author of Happy Starts At Home and a Business Coach with seriously Happy Coaching and Consulting.
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In this episode, I interviewed Jessica Marshant, a technical designer, and the founder of Blue Sky creative.
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Interior designers hire her when they wanna outsource their design drawings, construction documents, and 3D renderings.
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She's not just here to give you drawings, but also to help make sure that what you hand off to the general contractor is actually buildable.
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If you are tired of AutoCAD or never learned how to do technical drawings, or you're just ready to outsource so that you can scale your business, you're going to love the practical advice you're about to hear in this episode.
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Let's dive in.
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I am so excited to have this conversation because I have so many questions! Jessica, Welcome to the show.
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Hi, Rebecca.
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Thank you for having me.
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You're very welcome.
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Now, people might be laughing at me for being so excited to talk about technical drafting, that I feel like this is such a, uh, like a quagmire of unknowingness that we designers have.
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Yeah.
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Technical design is definitely its own bag.
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I think that is the perfect place for us to start.
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What does fractional technical design support mean.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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The term fractional is a term that we recently adopted I used to say that we were B2B technical design support, but as we all know, everything is based on SEO.
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So when fractional became really popular, I started incorporating it.
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Basically, fractional just means that you are bringing on an outside partner.
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So rather than hiring a a W2 employee, you're gonna work with an expert that is outside of your organization.
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So that's the fractional piece.
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Technical design is creating the buildable documentation starting with the design drawings and then evolving them into construction documentation.
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The homeowner, the business owner, whoever your client is, has the design drawings to review and to approve, and then your build team has the construction drawings.
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How do people realize that they need to start outsourcing this stuff in the first place?
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I think that happens in a lot of different ways.
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what I hear most from interior designers is that they got a project that needs it.
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And this isn't in all cases, but what I hear a lot is interior designers will start out not using technical design, not having construction documentation.
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They're working with installers that don't ask for it.
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Then they land that really big project and a complete gut.
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And they're gonna move walls.
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And the GC walks in and looks at them and says, when am I gonna have drawings?
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And rather than say "what?" They say "in two weeks, of course!" And then they start looking for, um, a technical designer or someone to execute those drawings.
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And that's a, a lot of times how they end up getting in touch with us.
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I think this is a great moment to talk about our education as designers.
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First of all, we have two different possible paths to becoming an interior designer, which may depend on what state you're in because of the rules around when you can call yourself a designer.
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In Washington state where I was born and bred as a designer, you could call yourself an interior designer with zero formal education.
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You might have a clue about design drawings or you might not, and you probably don't have a clue about technical drawings.
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That might shift if you have a formal education, but that depends on the formal education that you got.
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What did they teach you?
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Let's talk about a designer who actually went to a formal, full year degree, got a bunch of technical knowledge.
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Why would they hire out something that they're actually very equipped to do?
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The first two interior designers that ever hired us were formally trained and had BFAs in interior design.
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The first one said to me, if I never see AutoCAD again, it'll be too soon.
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She said, the minute I graduate, I walked out that door and I deleted that part of my brain and I don't ever want to open it again.
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The other one on the other hand, did enjoy AutoCAD, but she was slammed.
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So I get a lot of interior designers that are formally trained and have been trained in AutoCAD, and it's usually one of those two things.
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They either just don't enjoy it or they're just absolutely slammed.
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Maybe they do kind of like it.
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But they're slammed and they don't have 40 hours to sit there and create a construction document set.
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What about the person who has tons of creative talent, amazing with color, has a natural instinct for laying out things in a way that's just, works, but they don't understand the difference between design drawings and technical drawings.
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How would you explain that simplest terms possible?
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I typically explain that in an intro call and I will show them construction documents I'll take 30 minutes and we will just walk through them and I'll kind of preface it with, Hey, I might say some things that you already know, but let's just go through them and I'll say, this is our elevation symbol, and on our elevation symbol, it's gonna show you the page number and the elevation number.
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So if you zoom in on this, you'll be able to see that if you go to page 2.2 on that sheet, you'll see Elevation one.
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And I'll literally walk through it like that.
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Sometimes they're like, girl, I've seen this a million times.
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But a lot of times they're really glad either for the refresh, um, or just for the information and the education on it.
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I'm happy to do that educational piece with them because one of the things that I really want is for our clients to be able to review the drawings.
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I don't want to send them the drawings and they not review it because they don't know what they're looking at.
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I would rather take an hour to walk through it together.
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I'm just laughing 'cause I'm picturing myself with my taxes, I'm like, sure, that looks like, yeah.
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Something I should sign.
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Right.
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That's me to my CPA.
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I'm like, yep, where do I sign?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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We wanna make sure that the design intent is met, and if that means spending an extra hour walking through the drawings, I'm always happy to do that.
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So I'm kind of skipping ahead here, but that does make me wonder, are you charging a flat fee or are these hours that the designer has to be okay incurring as well.
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Yeah, so we are typically hourly for drafting.
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I've tried different methods.
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We do have a few clients that we do flat fee with, but I've worked with them for a very long time and we really have that process nailed down.
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I've found that sometimes it's easier to do flat fee with design build firms, because they have a contractual process that they're gonna stick to.
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But with my very creative interior designers, things are gonna ebb and flow.
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So for those projects, I found that hourly typically works better.
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For me, If I were thinking I do need to outsource this, my very first big worry would be how do I budget for that when charging my client, especially designers there who are charging a flat fee to their clients.
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What solutions have you seen around that?
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Yeah, I get that question a lot.
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I've been doing technical design for 13, 14 years now.
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So I can look at a project and give you a range of hours.
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I'll say something along the lines of, based on the information that I have here, I think that this CD set's gonna take 25 to 35 hours.
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That range is typically because the selections have not been made.
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I have drawings maybe from the architect or maybe they send pictures of the space and kind of give like an overview of the project.
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And that's typically enough for me to give a range.
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But what I don't know is the level of finish, right?
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If your bathroom is gonna have six, seven different tiles in it, that's gonna take longer to draft than a bathroom that has one tile in it.
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Right?
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Um, and I've never gotten pushback on that.
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The interior designers are always like, yeah, I get it.
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This range is perfect.
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And I'll tell them, Hey, you know, if I were in your position, I would go with the larger number, put a contingency on it to cover your time.
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Um, and then obviously we're B2B pricing, so we don't work directly with homeowners, so they have the ability to then mark it up as well.
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Since this is a price that you would give to designers, are you comfortable saying what your hourly rate is in a public
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forum?
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Yeah.
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We do pricing transparency.
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I'm really big on that.
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I don't wanna waste anyone's time.
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I don't wanna waste my own time.
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So our rates are always on our website.
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Um, right now it's March, 2026.
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AutoCAD drafting is $88 an hour, and 3D renderings are a flat fee and those flat fees are all listed on our website.
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You mentioned 3D renderings just so we've got construction documentation, we've got the design documentation.
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Are 3D renderings a part of design documentation or is that a separate category altogether?
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They're very much a part of construction documentation.
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Probably 30 to 40% of our projects do include 3D rendering.
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Typically we will put the 3D renderings into the construction document set because homeowners and business owners, 'cause we do residential and commercial, they love the renderings, but contractors love them too.
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So we always put them into the construction document set.
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but many of our clients don't do 3D renderings.
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What we try to avoid is doing 3D renderings without construction documents or without at least design drawings.
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And why?
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So our firm, first and foremost, is a technical design firm.
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And I feel like when you do 3D renderings without drawings, you have to take a lot of liberties.
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You have to make a lot of assumptions.
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And that is just not how my brain works.
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And that's not how most technical designers brain works, right?
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When I am looking at a project, I'm immediately thinking about how are we gonna build this?
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How am I going to take their design intent and make it beautiful and buildable?
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So if we don't have drawings and we're just doing a lot of liberties in, in the 3D renderings, that feels very conceptual and that's not, that's not really our focus.
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can you gimme an example of something where it might be really different when you're just thinking conceptual and then you try to make it buildable?
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Yeah, I mean, I think AI is a great example.
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Recently I saw a rendering that showed a concrete ceiling and my first thought was weight.
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I was like, this is gonna be so heavy.
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How are we going to do this?
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And then I thought, okay, this is probably gonna need to be some type of panel system and there's gonna need to be some type of joint.
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So I thought, well, if we don't want joints, maybe we do like Venetian plaster or something that gives the effect.
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These are the type of things that I think about.
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To just do a 3D rendering and make the ceiling look like concrete is just not in my nature.
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I love that example because when I was thinking about what that might mean, I was thinking how AI can sometimes put a staircase where it isn't in the original concept, right?
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Really obvious, glaring mistakes.
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But what the example though of concrete ceiling does feel more innocuous like, oh, that's just a finish.
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That's just an aesthetic.
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But you're right.
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If it's actual concrete, are you embedding your light systems?
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Will you ever be able to remodel or fix that?
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How does it integrate with all of the other building systems?
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It's a can of worms that if you're just thinking aesthetically never gets open.
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A can of worms is a great way to put it.
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Um, I think about, okay, well we are probably gonna need to put blocking in the ceiling.
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And if they're just adding it as a cladding, then that there's not an opportunity for that.
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In our experience, we always end up needing to go back and do drawings, even if we are doing something as simple as a foyer and the designer wants to add moldings to the walls.
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We can go into AutoCAD and lay out those moldings in an hour where if we go into 3D and we pick the wrong molding type or we don't do it in the way that is meeting the intent.
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It takes so much longer to update it in 3D, then it would if we just did a quick technical drawing.
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That totally makes sense..
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Now, you've mentioned AutoCAD quite a few times.
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I know a lot of designers in my circle are using Chief architect.
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Has that shown up in your world?
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What about people using that?
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Like what's the, what's the software situation?
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I've had several people reach out about Chief Architect.
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We only use AutoCAD for drafting.
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And that's nothing against Chief Architect or Revit.
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That's just what our team was trained on.
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At this point in my life using AutoCAD is like drinking a glass of water and it just feels hard to maybe learn a new software.
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I have had a few clients come to us that were using Chief Architect and we converted them to AutoCAD because at the end of the day, it's like, if you don't want to be the one doing the drawings, then do you really care what software we use?
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It comes down to that from time to time.
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One of the things I heard from people leading up to this episode was, what about the creative process?
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process?
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They said, part of my creative process is modeling it in 3D and trying things on.
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So how does that play out?
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Can you only work with designers who don't need that iterative process or what happens?
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No, we get all types.
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We have some clients that will send us mood boards, some clients that they may be used design files and maybe they've mocked up 3D in design files, and that was step one of their process and then they send that over.
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So it kind of just depends on what their process is and where they're at.
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But I will say a lot of our clients come to us at a point in their business when they are very, very and they want senior level support.
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And they're kind of at the point where they don't wanna be mapping out vanities anymore.
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They wanna just say, here's the goals, here's the dimensions, here's the inspiration.
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You map it out.
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And that's where we come in.
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What are the signs of a company at that maturity level?
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Are we talking about a certain size, a certain revenue level?
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What do you feel like tends to be true?
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Most of our interior designers are solopreneurs.
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I think maybe the largest team that we work with is three, maybe four, so these are smaller firms.
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They don't wanna hire a full-time technical designer.
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Maybe they don't have enough workload for that, or in other cases, maybe they did hire someone and it just didn't work out.
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We also have a lot of designers that come to us that have been working with a drafter and it's been going fine and that person's been doing design drawings.
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But now they have a whole house remodel and maybe they're a drafter who maybe they've only been outta school for two years and they've never actually worked in the construction industry, and maybe they don't trust that that person can create the entire construction document set, so they'll bring us in for those larger projects.
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It feels like there's crossover here within the various parts of our industry it's bringing up the role of the engineer relative to the drafts how does engineering become part of your world?
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And also, can we define what that means for listeners?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So we have disclaimers everywhere, um, that say that we are not licensed architects and we are not engineers, and the drawings will not be stamped.
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We also do not do anything foundational or structural and to define it for a listener, that's really the engineer's part is anything that's going to be structural, things like weight distribution, your foundation, your roof, those type of things definitely need to be handled by an architect or an engineer.
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We've had a project where we did collaborate with an engineer because we took down a load-bearing wall.
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The way that that looks on our construction documents is we knew that the engineer was gonna put a load-bearing beam in the ceiling, so we drew a dashed rectangle in the set to indicate that we put a call out, that this is where the engineer comes in.
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The engineer then did a separate sheet which got added to the construction document set and that sheet got stamped.
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So that's kind of how we work through that.
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That's perfect.
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Um, and mirrors a lot of my experience in the background.
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Yeah.
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What about permits?
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What about when the question of do you handle permits or are these permittable, what's that look like?
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We've never had an issue with permits.
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And we've worked in many, many states.
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We do a lot of work in the south where it's probably a little bit easier to get permits.
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But We've even had a project in California and it's my understanding that California is a harder state to get permits in.
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Like I said, we've worked all over the country and we've not had an issue yet.
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Typically what will happen is our title block will have the client name and address, and then we will do electrical plans, show plumbing locations.
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Um, we'll pull dimensions to the center of the flange so that you can kind of see where the J box is gonna go.
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And that is usually enough for the electrician and the plumber to go pull a permit.
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Um, we also do demo plans and that's typically enough too, if the GC needs to go pull a permit.
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Going back to the hourly rate, you had mentioned that a lot of your best clients are the kind who have a robust firm, but they don't have a big team and they don't wanna grow the team.
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I didn't know if you wanted to speak to this at all, but the cost of having a team member is very different from hiring somebody fractionally.
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Do you wanna speak to what it really costs to have an employee beyond what they might be paid?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And I'll, I'll say something that I see a lot is interior designers trying to hire junior designers, aKA, someone that's just graduated, to do technical design.
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In my opinion this would, be very hard to do.
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To really be a technical designer, you need to have worked in construction.
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You need to have been around construction.
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You need to have been bullied by a couple of contractors.
00:21:15.602 --> 00:21:21.176
You need to have worn a hard hat.
00:21:21.176 --> 00:21:26.402
You, you really need to understand how things get built.
00:21:26.402 --> 00:21:39.971
I have a master's degree in design and, and I'll say even if you're graduating with a master's degree, I still don't feel that you have the ability to do technical design.
00:21:39.971 --> 00:21:44.406
You can probably do design drawings, but that's, that is different.
00:21:44.406 --> 00:21:45.821
Um.
00:21:45.821 --> 00:21:56.531
So to hire a technical designer, you're essentially hiring a senior interior designer that also knows how to do technical design.
00:21:56.531 --> 00:22:02.727
And depending on what state you're in, this could easily be a six figure salary.
00:22:03.162 --> 00:22:07.051
Very different from just $88 an hour when I need it.
00:22:07.561 --> 00:22:08.281
Exactly.
00:22:08.281 --> 00:22:09.751
You're not on the hook for all of that.
00:22:09.751 --> 00:22:16.051
Plus the whole hiring process, which we all know, nine times outta 10 seems to end in flames.
00:22:16.832 --> 00:22:17.162
Yeah.
00:22:17.162 --> 00:22:33.662
And the other part is if you yourself don't know technical design, you're hiring a junior designer to do it, you don't have the ability to train them because you don't know how to do it yourself, it's gonna be a higher salary to really get someone in there that knows what they're doing.
00:22:33.662 --> 00:22:35.251
And then you have to keep them busy.
00:22:35.251 --> 00:22:38.981
Technical design doesn't last the entire project.
00:22:38.981 --> 00:22:49.672
If you had a full-time employee, once it goes into construction, if everything's gone well, they probably don't have much to do at that point on the project.
00:22:49.912 --> 00:22:53.731
Going back to your ideal client size, not working with huge teams.
00:22:53.731 --> 00:22:57.602
Because if you have a huge team with 30 different people in departments.
00:22:57.602 --> 00:23:02.092
That's when each department can be kept busy with their area of expertise.
00:23:02.261 --> 00:23:02.682
Yeah.
00:23:02.682 --> 00:23:03.582
Absolutely.
00:23:03.761 --> 00:23:10.602
One of the things I heard from designers as we were leading up to this episode was what about creative control?
00:23:10.602 --> 00:23:22.176
Because they're a bit concerned about somebody having too much of an opinion, but also on the flip side of that creative help, like if you see something that needs to be resolved or isn't buildable.
00:23:22.176 --> 00:23:32.507
How do they navigate them staying in charge, but also do you help them when they are facing something they might not be, realize they're facing.
00:23:33.241 --> 00:23:33.991
Absolutely.
00:23:33.991 --> 00:23:42.321
So as far as creative control, our job is to make sure that the interior designer's design intent is met.
00:23:42.321 --> 00:23:44.461
I don't care what that is.
00:23:44.461 --> 00:23:49.192
if we're hanging chicken bones from the ceiling, we're gonna make it work.
00:23:49.192 --> 00:23:50.241
We're gonna make it buildable.
00:23:50.241 --> 00:23:57.172
I'm gonna figure out how to hang those chicken bones, like whatever it is that you wanna do, we're gonna figure out how to build it.
00:23:57.172 --> 00:24:01.041
Um, we have no ego about this.
00:24:01.041 --> 00:24:11.692
I'm on the technical side because I don't think that color and soft goods and working directly with homeowners is my strong suit.
00:24:11.692 --> 00:24:21.666
So there is no clash on creative control As far as finding problems before they happen.
00:24:21.666 --> 00:24:24.757
That is absolutely something that we're looking for.
00:24:24.757 --> 00:24:32.017
So just to go back to my concrete ceiling example, I'm gonna say, I'm worried about the weight here.
00:24:32.017 --> 00:24:33.156
Here's some ideas.
00:24:33.156 --> 00:24:41.767
Maybe we figure out how to make panels if you truly want concrete, or I saw this Venetian plaster product that looks like concrete.
00:24:41.767 --> 00:24:47.287
And then I'm gonna consult with the interior designer to see which direction they might wanna go.
00:24:47.287 --> 00:24:57.817
But at the end of the day, if they say, I want a 20 foot by 20 foot piece of concrete and I want it adhere to the ceiling, I'm just gonna put a disclaimer on the drawing and keep moving.
00:24:57.817 --> 00:25:04.102
What about if it's something that's technically buildable but might not be as functional as it could be.
00:25:04.102 --> 00:25:11.001
I'm thinking maybe like in within kitchen cabinetry, a lot of times people will throw something in, but it's not an optimal use of space.
00:25:11.001 --> 00:25:12.471
What if you see something like that?
00:25:12.471 --> 00:25:13.551
It's kind of in the gray area.
00:25:14.192 --> 00:25:14.652
Yeah.
00:25:14.652 --> 00:25:17.076
So one of the things that we do are red notes.
00:25:17.076 --> 00:25:28.836
Let's say that we're working on a kitchen for you and you've got an appliance across from the island, and the egress around the island is 34 inches.
00:25:28.836 --> 00:25:31.116
We're gonna note that in red.
00:25:31.116 --> 00:25:36.967
When I send that back to you, I'm gonna say, Hey, what do you think about pulling the island back?
00:25:36.967 --> 00:25:43.896
I'd really like to get you to 42 inches, and if we can't get to 42 inches, let's try to get to 38.
00:25:43.896 --> 00:25:47.596
And we love to give people options.
00:25:47.596 --> 00:25:53.086
I might say, I'm gonna draw what you asked for, because we're all visual, right?
00:25:53.086 --> 00:25:54.136
All designers are visual.
00:25:54.136 --> 00:25:56.176
I need you to see that this doesn't work.
00:25:56.176 --> 00:25:59.176
So at that point, we'll go ahead and do option two.
00:25:59.176 --> 00:26:01.156
We'll pull the island out.
00:26:01.156 --> 00:26:13.636
We'll give you that really nice 42 inch space, and then maybe put bar stools to show you that hey, the island's kind of in the living room a little bit, but it's still gonna be better than what it was.
00:26:13.636 --> 00:26:20.297
And then maybe option three is we do a more narrow island and then I let you choose.
00:26:20.297 --> 00:26:26.372
I used to work for a developer and one of the things that they used to say was choices not changes.
00:26:26.372 --> 00:26:32.606
So I feel like in design there's usually two or three ways to build everything.
00:26:32.606 --> 00:26:40.946
And sometimes it's faster for us to just go ahead and draw it all three ways and then let the interior designer choose which direction they want to go.
00:26:41.277 --> 00:26:42.446
That's actually very cool.
00:26:42.446 --> 00:26:43.616
I love that answer.
00:26:43.616 --> 00:26:48.656
Um, that made me go somewhere in my head and I was gonna go somewhere else.
00:26:48.656 --> 00:26:52.406
Now my 48-year-old brain is to a stop.
00:26:52.406 --> 00:26:52.616
Okay.
00:26:52.616 --> 00:26:52.886
Hold on.
00:26:52.886 --> 00:26:55.916
Um, truly.
00:26:55.916 --> 00:27:11.826
Okay, let's talk a little bit about how to make things go as efficiently and as effectively as possible 'cause while design iterations are great and they're a really important part of design, we're also trying to spend our clients' money well and be as profitable as we can.
00:27:11.826 --> 00:27:14.076
So two questions around this one.
00:27:14.076 --> 00:27:21.366
The first one is, do you adhere to a certain kind of code set given that code is different all around the country?
00:27:21.366 --> 00:27:23.527
You were just talking about that island clearance.
00:27:23.527 --> 00:27:25.727
Are you following NKBA guidelines?
00:27:25.727 --> 00:27:31.537
Like is there a certain code set that you recommend designers work off because it's more universal?
00:27:31.537 --> 00:27:39.342
And what can a designer do to make the process as efficient as possible?
00:27:40.241 --> 00:27:45.696
Yes, so we are following the National Kitchen and Bath Association standards.
00:27:45.696 --> 00:27:50.051
And then we have internal SOPs that we try to follow.
00:27:50.051 --> 00:27:57.981
So just from being in the industry, things that we found that work a little bit better or, you know, look a little bit better.
00:27:57.981 --> 00:28:00.582
That is definitely something that we're following.
00:28:00.582 --> 00:28:10.961
As far as keeping things on track and you know, trying to manage time efficiently, that is definitely something that we're focused on as well.
00:28:10.961 --> 00:28:14.182
Our team is all about production.
00:28:14.182 --> 00:28:16.442
We wanna get your project in.
00:28:16.442 --> 00:28:23.461
We want to put our head down and focus on your project and give it the focus that it needs.
00:28:23.461 --> 00:28:26.672
And then I wanna get it back to you so that you can mark it up.
00:28:26.672 --> 00:28:31.442
The more information that we have, the more we can do on the front end.
00:28:31.442 --> 00:28:36.521
But to just start a project, we really need three things.
00:28:36.521 --> 00:28:38.182
we need site photos.
00:28:38.182 --> 00:28:42.297
And the reason we need site photos is because we wanna look for site conditions.
00:28:42.297 --> 00:28:52.241
When you're out there on site and you're taking photographs, I know the homeowner's following you around, talking to you, and things are gonna get missed, right?
00:28:52.241 --> 00:29:04.692
Like you're not gonna notice the giant soffit above the vanity and you're not gonna notice the weird vent on the wall that's gonna be right in the way of the molding that you wanna put up.
00:29:04.692 --> 00:29:16.392
So while the client is talking your ear off, you can take those photographs and then you can send them to us and then we're gonna look through them and really look for those site conditions.
00:29:16.392 --> 00:29:22.311
The other thing that we need are dimensions, and we get those in many different ways.
00:29:22.311 --> 00:29:28.711
Some people are using Canvas io, which I think recently they changed their name, and that's great.
00:29:28.711 --> 00:29:30.811
That creates a DWG scan.
00:29:30.811 --> 00:29:35.402
Some people draw the floor plan, that is fine too.
00:29:35.402 --> 00:29:43.041
I have a couple of clients that'll just take pictures of the walls and then straight from their iPhone, they'll just draw the dimension on the wall.
00:29:43.041 --> 00:29:47.582
And in a more simple space that works fine sometimes.
00:29:47.582 --> 00:29:52.541
But yeah, we need dimensions, we need site photos, and then we need the goals of the project.
00:29:52.541 --> 00:30:01.041
If we're gonna do kitchen layouts for you, and not everyone does this, some people have a cabinet company, some people do their own layouts.
00:30:01.041 --> 00:30:04.551
But if we're gonna do the kitchen layouts, we need to know what the goals are.
00:30:04.551 --> 00:30:15.321
If the goal is to create a larger island and add more storage, that's very different than if the goal is they hate uppers and they want all floating shelves.
00:30:15.321 --> 00:30:17.582
And then I also ask for construction notes.
00:30:17.582 --> 00:30:23.481
If you wanna take the soffit out, you're relocating the hvac, you can go ahead and let us know that in the beginning.
00:30:23.481 --> 00:30:27.451
The other thing is I'm gonna reach out and ask you questions.
00:30:27.451 --> 00:30:34.971
If we can't move efficiently on the project, we're gonna put it on hold and I'm gonna reach out and ask you the questions that we need.
00:30:34.971 --> 00:30:37.112
We're not gonna just spin our wheels.
00:30:37.112 --> 00:30:47.791
We will make assumptions when, when we feel like we have 90% of the information, but if we have 10% of the information, we're not gonna make assumptions.
00:30:47.791 --> 00:30:51.112
We're not gonna send you a packet that's just completely wrong.
00:30:51.625 --> 00:30:57.464
Yeah, call that designing in the dark and I refuse to do it as a designer, that's not gonna set anybody up for success.
00:30:58.220 --> 00:30:58.640
Yeah.
00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:00.599
What about video?
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:01.980
Is video helpful?
00:31:02.040 --> 00:31:03.402
Video's helpful too.
00:31:03.402 --> 00:31:13.521
The best kind of documentation we can get is when you stand in the middle of the room and take a picture of each wall and also take a video kind of scanning.
00:31:13.521 --> 00:31:16.342
Um, and then don't forget the ceiling, the ceiling, ceiling's.
00:31:16.342 --> 00:31:19.372
Our fifth wall, we need the picture of the ceiling too.
00:31:19.771 --> 00:31:29.211
And also look in the closets because half the time you open a closet and half the closet's missing 'cause of HVAC or a staircase or something that you can't see till you open up those doors.
00:31:29.602 --> 00:31:30.112
Yep.
00:31:30.211 --> 00:31:32.132
So what are the things that designers.
00:31:32.132 --> 00:31:34.007
Shouldn't do.
00:31:34.007 --> 00:31:37.126
Like, what's the best way to derail this process?
00:31:38.406 --> 00:31:39.156
Gosh.
00:31:39.156 --> 00:31:49.707
I think we're pretty good at working with creatives who, you know, maybe are not the most organized.
00:31:49.707 --> 00:31:52.586
I kind of enjoy that, to be honest.
00:31:52.586 --> 00:31:58.136
I really like wildly creative people and, and helping them get things dialed in.
00:31:58.136 --> 00:32:02.317
So I wouldn't say there's anything that would completely derail it.
00:32:02.317 --> 00:32:05.596
maybe just like lack of communication.
00:32:05.596 --> 00:32:09.007
And it very rarely happens.
00:32:09.007 --> 00:32:15.636
most of the designers that we work with are so on the ball and they wanna get the project done, and they want it to be awesome.
00:32:15.636 --> 00:32:27.411
I do hear from interior designers who will say, my process hasn't been great and I've been figuring things out on the fly, and I'm, I'm leveling up my business and I'm ready to get organized.
00:32:27.411 --> 00:32:36.056
Blue Sky Creative is here to support you are not here to support me, so I'm gonna meet you where you are.
00:32:36.056 --> 00:32:42.496
We have things that work really well, like using Google Drive sharing, and having a kickoff call.
00:32:42.496 --> 00:32:46.816
My calendly is always available to you if you wanna jump on.
00:32:46.816 --> 00:32:49.306
We use a lot of Loom videos...
00:32:49.306 --> 00:33:01.655
I tell our interior designers, if you're up at 2:00 AM with anxiety and you need to make a Loom video to get your ideas out, just make one and send it over to me and we will tackle the revisions that way.
00:33:01.655 --> 00:33:04.398
I really like to meet people where they're at.
00:33:04.868 --> 00:33:11.798
We're always getting spam email saying, Hey, you want me to do your 3D renderings from, you know, all over the world.
00:33:11.798 --> 00:33:15.519
I never pursue them for a lot of reasons.
00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:22.028
And one of them is I don't know the difference between a good provider and a not good provider.
00:33:22.028 --> 00:33:26.419
Construction drawings and design drawings, they follow some standards.
00:33:26.419 --> 00:33:28.969
You know, a blueprint set should look like a blueprint set.
00:33:28.969 --> 00:33:40.818
But 3D renderings can be anything from kind of a weird, grainy concept of a room to something where people think it's a photo of the real space.
00:33:40.818 --> 00:33:40.878
Yeah.
00:33:40.878 --> 00:33:44.788
Where do you fall in that and what do you think is important?
00:33:45.874 --> 00:33:48.503
Yeah, with 3D renderings, you're absolutely right.
00:33:48.503 --> 00:33:50.453
There are some that are just plain bad.
00:33:50.453 --> 00:33:53.078
But also there's different styles.
00:33:53.078 --> 00:33:59.233
There are 3D rendering artists who do a more painterly style.
00:33:59.233 --> 00:34:02.804
maybe things are a little bit more pastel in nature.
00:34:02.804 --> 00:34:11.719
Our style is realism, we're trying to really capture how it's going to look once it's built.
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:21.574
To do that you have to be very good at lighting, 'cause lighting is what really makes a 3D rendering look good.
00:34:21.574 --> 00:34:28.768
You need the lighting sources to be "real," and I'm using quotations here, but you need them to be real.
00:34:28.768 --> 00:34:32.489
You need to light the actual lights in the room.
00:34:32.489 --> 00:34:36.268
And then you also need to light the windows.
00:34:36.268 --> 00:34:41.849
You need to have light coming in from the windows, and that's how you're gonna get realism.
00:34:41.849 --> 00:34:49.858
Getting to that point with 3D does take years and it's not fast.
00:34:49.858 --> 00:34:58.338
I tell people, if you are looking for a two day turnaround on a 3D rendering, we are not the firm for you.
00:34:58.338 --> 00:35:01.398
There are 3D rendering artists that do that.
00:35:01.398 --> 00:35:13.668
What they're probably doing is they're probably using things from catalogs that already exist and doing a fast model and then putting it into a rendering software and sending it out.
00:35:13.668 --> 00:35:17.958
We are building everything pretty much from scratch.
00:35:17.958 --> 00:35:26.599
So whatever your lighting fixture is, we're gonna build the lighting fixture, we're gonna build the cabinet face, we're gonna build everything.
00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:28.969
And that level of detail does take time.
00:35:29.809 --> 00:35:37.998
And it's that integration between all of that work and the fact that it also results in accurate buildable drawings, drawing that makes that time worthwhile.
00:35:38.869 --> 00:35:39.768
Absolutely.
00:35:39.768 --> 00:35:48.224
for us, because these 3D renderings are not just for the homeowner and they're, not just for vibes, right?
00:35:48.224 --> 00:35:54.105
These are going into a construction document package that a GC is gonna look at.
00:35:54.105 --> 00:35:59.025
So we want the molding to be the correct molding type.
00:35:59.025 --> 00:36:01.250
We want it to be in the correct size.
00:36:01.250 --> 00:36:03.679
We want the scales to be correct.
00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:14.469
In my opinion, if you are using the 3D renderings for anything that has to do with construction, then you need to be working with someone that understands technical design.
00:36:15.094 --> 00:36:22.048
Do you feel there's a place for quick modeling, quick rendering, cheap outsourcing, or even AI rendering?
00:36:23.028 --> 00:36:24.108
Absolutely.
00:36:24.108 --> 00:36:31.938
I think to get out a concept just to make sure that it's gonna work and maybe no one ever sees it except for you.
00:36:31.938 --> 00:36:35.809
Maybe it's just the internal interior design team that's using it.
00:36:35.809 --> 00:36:41.039
Or maybe the, you know, the homeowner is fine with something loose.
00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:46.079
They just wanna see how the colors play together, how the wallpaper is gonna look with the sofa.
00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:49.929
I do think in those cases it can work.
00:36:49.929 --> 00:36:53.498
I probably would not do something loose for commercial.
00:36:53.498 --> 00:37:01.208
But for residential, I do think there's a time and a place for a kind of a down and dirty 3D rendering.
00:37:02.139 --> 00:37:13.528
But as you alluded to, being very clear that that's what this is, is very important because clients are so much more literal than we ever expect them to be, and you don't know what they're zeroing in on.
00:37:13.528 --> 00:37:21.759
I think these tools are really valuable but we have to be very careful that we didn't save time in one area only to create a monster in another area.
00:37:22.628 --> 00:37:23.528
Absolutely.
00:37:23.528 --> 00:37:29.878
That's one of the reasons why we don't do that and we don't offer those types of renderings.
00:37:29.878 --> 00:37:34.548
I've had designers reach out and ask for things that we simply don't do.
00:37:34.548 --> 00:37:40.699
And it's just kind of against our values as a technical design firm.
00:37:40.699 --> 00:37:55.713
There are 3D rendering artists that will just put in a lot of extras and, and things that maybe can't even be built, you know, but that's just not our process.
00:37:55.983 --> 00:37:59.284
Because your reputation is literally relying on it's buildable.
00:37:59.943 --> 00:38:00.873
Absolutely.
00:38:00.873 --> 00:38:14.284
There is no better compliment for us than when the interior designer reaches out and says, my general contractor pulled me to the side today and told me that these were some of the best construction documents they've ever had.
00:38:14.284 --> 00:38:16.764
When we hear that, it just lights me up.
00:38:16.764 --> 00:38:24.114
If we consistently put out good work, then I know that our clients are gonna get that feedback, and that makes me happy for us and for them.
00:38:24.684 --> 00:38:28.735
Which is the perfect segue into talking about hiring a provider.
00:38:28.735 --> 00:38:35.655
How in the world is a designer who has never outsourced this stuff and may not even do their own drawings, right?
00:38:35.655 --> 00:38:38.355
How are they supposed to vet a provider?
00:38:38.355 --> 00:38:39.614
What are they supposed to look for?
00:38:39.614 --> 00:38:43.514
How will they know they're supposed to get off that ship because it's sinking?
00:38:43.514 --> 00:38:45.315
what guidance can you give people?
00:38:46.090 --> 00:38:53.050
Yeah, I think it's very different if you're hiring us or a firm like ours versus hiring someone in-house.
00:38:53.050 --> 00:39:02.219
So when you're hiring someone in-house, if you want someone that's going to come into the office every day, you have the challenge of location.
00:39:02.219 --> 00:39:11.070
Technical design is already very niche, and now you need to find someone to do this very niche thing in your city.
00:39:11.070 --> 00:39:12.800
It can be done.
00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:23.079
And if you are hiring for something like that, then I wouldn't look at anyone that can't send you a portfolio and a good portfolio.
00:39:23.079 --> 00:39:26.219
You're not looking for a draftsman.
00:39:26.219 --> 00:39:32.250
A draftsman is gonna be someone that does the type of thing that an architect does.
00:39:32.250 --> 00:39:33.389
Exterior work.
00:39:33.389 --> 00:39:35.940
Adding cladding to exteriors.
00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:38.139
Drawing elevations of the front of the house.
00:39:38.139 --> 00:39:43.510
They're absolutely not an architect, but they're doing things that look like architectural drawings.
00:39:43.510 --> 00:39:48.070
You're gonna need someone that knows interior design.
00:39:48.070 --> 00:39:50.679
So that makes this even more niche, right?
00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:56.079
Because now we need a technical designer that also knows interior design.
00:39:56.079 --> 00:40:01.150
'cause otherwise, you're gonna end up with someone that you have to tell exactly what to draw.
00:40:01.150 --> 00:40:04.860
You're gonna say, I need a vanity with two sinks.
00:40:04.860 --> 00:40:07.289
And they're not gonna put in a tower.
00:40:07.289 --> 00:40:10.949
They're not gonna put in a drawer base, they're gonna just draw base cabinets.
00:40:10.949 --> 00:40:13.139
You really need someone that knows interior design.
00:40:13.139 --> 00:40:14.670
If you're hiring, I have to
00:40:14.670 --> 00:40:27.480
just pause for a second because you're making me laugh so hard because we have all, as interior designers looked at architectural drawings of a bathroom or a kitchen or a bedroom, and we're like, somebody's supposed to live here.
00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:28.364
Like, yeah.
00:40:28.364 --> 00:40:29.284
What?
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:30.480
Yeah.
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:41.342
And there are drafters that get jobs at interior design firms and they're still drawing a rectangle for the vanity.
00:40:41.342 --> 00:40:44.672
You're gonna need someone that can go above and beyond that.
00:40:44.672 --> 00:40:51.253
You're gonna need someone that can do space planning and drafters are not space planners, right.
00:40:51.253 --> 00:40:53.293
Your door swings are gonna be wonky.
00:40:53.293 --> 00:40:55.027
And not speaking for everyone.
00:40:55.027 --> 00:41:02.561
Obviously there are fantastic drafters out there that, that do have interior design knowledge and just call themselves drafters.
00:41:02.561 --> 00:41:07.891
But in some cases you look at drawings and you're like, wow, like you said, someone's supposed to live here.
00:41:07.891 --> 00:41:10.170
This doesn't seem thoughtful at all.
00:41:10.170 --> 00:41:18.626
So you need to look at their portfolio and you need to think if this is a portfolio that you would feel comfortable presenting to one of your clients.
00:41:18.626 --> 00:41:23.476
There are some very messy drawing sets floating around.
00:41:23.476 --> 00:41:27.856
And that's why I say, if you're hiring someone, look at their drawings.
00:41:27.856 --> 00:41:43.016
you know, If they get to the point where you are, you are interviewing them for the job, have them sit down and go through the drawings and talk through their process and explain things to you and ask yourself, can I quickly look at this drawing and what's going on?
00:41:43.016 --> 00:41:47.186
Because if you can't, then your homeowner definitely can't,
00:41:47.516 --> 00:41:49.585
and your contractor might not be able to either.
00:41:49.585 --> 00:41:55.675
they're also just regular humans trying to chase a deadline and they don't wanna work any harder than they have to.
00:41:55.675 --> 00:41:59.601
And they will not usually put in extra work just to be nice.
00:42:00.521 --> 00:42:01.061
Oh yeah.
00:42:01.061 --> 00:42:04.510
I mean there are definitely some contractors that will make assumptions.
00:42:04.510 --> 00:42:09.150
You know, I, I have a thing against Schluter and there's,
00:42:10.050 --> 00:42:11.070
I'll battle you on that one.
00:42:11.070 --> 00:42:12.661
I'm a Schluter fan, but that's okay.
00:42:12.661 --> 00:42:13.590
We can stay friends.
00:42:14.101 --> 00:42:15.451
Yeah, absolutely.
00:42:15.451 --> 00:42:27.871
I have a lot of designers that do like Schluter but if you don't like Schluter, then we need to make sure that we put some pencil tile or something in your drawings, because otherwise they're gonna put Schluter in your shower.
00:42:28.141 --> 00:42:30.331
Can we talk about floor transitions?
00:42:30.331 --> 00:42:32.791
Because that's another area where that comes up.
00:42:32.791 --> 00:42:38.592
If you're remodeling a part of a home, and I'm assuming you sometimes do drawings for partial remodels.
00:42:38.592 --> 00:42:38.862
Is that true?
00:42:38.862 --> 00:42:38.922
We
00:42:38.922 --> 00:42:39.282
do.
00:42:39.461 --> 00:42:39.672
Okay.
00:42:39.672 --> 00:42:39.876
Yes.
00:42:39.876 --> 00:42:45.362
Do you bring up the transition between the old flooring and the flooring?
00:42:46.364 --> 00:42:54.791
Sometimes, so we do flooring schedules where we will show the different flooring materials.
00:42:54.791 --> 00:43:10.717
Those transitions definitely need to need to be discussed because if you have an old hardwood that's an inch thick and you're doing a three quarter inch tile or a half inch tile, you're gonna need some kind of a transition at that door.
00:43:10.717 --> 00:43:24.197
If we have a red flag, then we will bring it A lot of times with remodels, we are updating flooring so we don't have to worry about the transition as much.
00:43:24.197 --> 00:43:36.706
But yeah, it is something that we can put into the drawings if there's a concern or a red flag there, we can put notes in there that they need to build up the tile so that it's flush with the hardwood
00:43:37.266 --> 00:43:41.817
Thinking about not hiring an independent, but thinking about hiring you and your colleagues.
00:43:41.817 --> 00:43:46.458
what separates somebody who's a good one from a mediocre one?
00:43:46.458 --> 00:43:46.976
And do.
00:43:46.976 --> 00:43:51.157
I as an independent designer, really stand a chance of being able to tell the difference?
00:43:52.751 --> 00:43:56.248
Yeah, I mean, The first project's always gonna be a gamble.
00:43:56.248 --> 00:44:10.389
If you do an intro call with me, we talk about your business, we talk about Blue Sky Creative, we talk about the services that we offer, and then I walk you through a construction document set and I show you 3D renderings within the set.
00:44:10.389 --> 00:44:11.829
So you have seen the work.
00:44:11.829 --> 00:44:15.619
so Number one, Always, always, always look at the work.
00:44:15.619 --> 00:44:18.148
Number two, ask things about scheduling.
00:44:18.148 --> 00:44:22.679
Ask if I reach out to you with a project, when are you gonna squeeze me in?
00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:26.548
Typically, we are one, maybe two weeks out.
00:44:26.548 --> 00:44:29.278
It's typically one week, but we're one to two weeks out.
00:44:29.278 --> 00:44:32.969
That's our standard, a smaller project, we'll try to squeeze in sooner.
00:44:32.969 --> 00:44:42.153
I had a designer tell me yesterday that she sent a project to the drafter that she's been working with, and she was told six weeks.
00:44:42.153 --> 00:44:59.860
You wanna ask those questions, because if you are the type of designer that's gonna have a project pop up and you're gonna need to have drafting in a week or two, and you know that about yourself, then you don't wanna bring on a firm that's gonna consistently be two months out on a project.
00:44:59.860 --> 00:45:06.971
Then I think the other thing is just making sure that you jive with that person because we're gonna spend time together.
00:45:06.971 --> 00:45:10.871
We're gonna email with each other, we're gonna talk to each other on the phone.
00:45:10.871 --> 00:45:14.231
And you wanna like the person that you're working with.
00:45:14.231 --> 00:45:17.150
So it's always gonna be a gamble.
00:45:17.150 --> 00:45:25.771
But the good thing is, and I don't know how everyone works, but the way that we work is there's no sign on fee.
00:45:25.771 --> 00:45:28.371
I know there are others who are doing that.
00:45:28.371 --> 00:45:29.331
We don't do that.
00:45:29.331 --> 00:45:33.411
We're not charging you $400 to get started with us.
00:45:33.411 --> 00:45:37.550
we do a service agreement and then we do a project together.
00:45:37.550 --> 00:45:42.471
If that project goes well and you're happy with the work, then you'll send us another project.
00:45:42.471 --> 00:45:45.215
So think about it like that.
00:45:45.215 --> 00:45:50.255
You know, you, you do a project together and if it goes great, then you found your partner.
00:45:50.255 --> 00:45:54.905
And it doesn't go great, then move on to the next partner.
00:45:55.146 --> 00:45:55.985
Just like dating.
00:45:56.585 --> 00:45:57.485
Exactly.
00:45:58.550 --> 00:46:07.911
I'm wondering if you can think about a time when a rendering or a drawing that you were creating caught a problem before it became an expensive mistake?
00:46:08.610 --> 00:46:10.469
It happens often.
00:46:10.469 --> 00:46:22.900
Yesterday I looked at some drawings where lighting that the architect put in is not centered, the can lights were not centered on the fireplace and the fans were centered on the can lights.
00:46:22.900 --> 00:46:28.545
So the fans were like 10 inches off from the fireplace.
00:46:28.545 --> 00:46:31.719
which is where they were gonna put the sofas.
00:46:31.719 --> 00:46:37.090
So luckily they've not gone to framing yet, so we're just gonna do another electrical plan.
00:46:37.090 --> 00:46:43.239
But we see some wonky lighting in Architecturals quite often.
00:46:43.610 --> 00:47:00.065
Sometimes designers mistakenly think plumbers and electricians are following some sort of standard like, oh, I'll just tell them I need recess lighting, and then there's just one recipe for recess lighting, but that's not how it works at all.
00:47:00.065 --> 00:47:07.144
There are guidelines, but then in addition to, are they following any guidelines and what are those guidelines?
00:47:07.175 --> 00:47:07.594
Yeah,
00:47:07.815 --> 00:47:11.684
Of course there's gonna be a beam, right where you wanna put the light
00:47:12.284 --> 00:47:15.074
Yeah, it's, it's, it's so true.
00:47:15.074 --> 00:47:27.355
Lighting is so specialized and there's definitely a recipe to it, but then a lot of it is just thinking about the furniture and thinking about like, how the space is gonna get used.
00:47:27.355 --> 00:47:30.804
And the architect is not thinking about the furniture.
00:47:31.135 --> 00:47:33.505
I'm not sure architects think furniture even exists.
00:47:33.864 --> 00:47:34.525
No.
00:47:34.525 --> 00:47:38.385
So yes, we update lighting quite a bit.
00:47:38.385 --> 00:47:47.264
The other thing that we see see with Architecturals quite a bit is bathrooms not being laid out in the most optimal way.
00:47:47.264 --> 00:47:58.244
And again, with lighting, like they just put one single J box on the wall above the mirror and I'm like, this was a man, and this man does not wear makeup wear.
00:47:58.244 --> 00:48:02.235
We need some wall sconces in here.
00:48:03.344 --> 00:48:07.635
Are you doing, and I'm assuming I know the answers, but I do not wanna assume anything.
00:48:07.635 --> 00:48:13.375
Are you doing switch plans like this switch controls this light, the dimmer is over here.
00:48:13.375 --> 00:48:14.934
Are you doing all that as part of these drawings?
00:48:15.085 --> 00:48:17.905
We'll do RCPs, we'll do electrical plans.
00:48:17.905 --> 00:48:19.284
We'll lay out the switches.
00:48:19.284 --> 00:48:20.409
We can do all of that with
00:48:20.414 --> 00:48:20.905
rcp.
00:48:20.905 --> 00:48:21.885
Not everybody knows what that means.
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:25.929
So with an RCP, that's reflected ceiling plan.
00:48:25.929 --> 00:48:30.010
And I always say that's like if you laid down on the floor on your back and you looked straight up.
00:48:30.010 --> 00:48:37.059
So we're gonna show, um, we're gonna show lighting, we're gonna show beams, we're gonna show anything decorative.
00:48:37.059 --> 00:48:43.554
But the difference with the electrical plan is, like you said, Rebecca, we're gonna show those switches and circuits.
00:48:43.784 --> 00:48:54.985
Once the selections are made, you are actually showing the real, like Kohler handset to the right scale and where it's supposed to be installed and how high the shower head's supposed to be.
00:48:54.985 --> 00:49:00.295
All of that is to the actual reality of the things that have been specified.
00:49:01.195 --> 00:49:02.724
Yes, absolutely.
00:49:02.724 --> 00:49:10.324
So a lot of times, like with Kohler for example, they'll have a catalog and we can pull the DWG from the catalog.
00:49:10.324 --> 00:49:14.824
Um, but with some lighting and things like that, it's not always available.
00:49:14.824 --> 00:49:21.094
So we'll draw it in AutoCAD and that's one of the things I love about AutoCAD is that you can draw anything.
00:49:22.005 --> 00:49:28.454
Have you ever opened a designer's file and immediately known that it was going to be a difficult project?
00:49:28.454 --> 00:49:30.829
And if so, what are the warning signs?
00:49:31.840 --> 00:49:38.170
Not necessarily opening a drawing and realizing that it's gonna be difficult.
00:49:38.170 --> 00:49:55.059
I would say usually the challenging projects have very little to do with the interior designer and everything to do with the homeowner making a lot of messy changes in the middle of the project that causes us to have to go back and change a lot of things.
00:49:55.059 --> 00:50:07.280
I mean, with construction drawings if you change one wall it changes so many but the challenging projects are sometimes the most fun.
00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:10.610
I'll say that they're, they're the most rewarding, at least.
00:50:11.844 --> 00:50:21.735
And I, as a business coach for interior designers will say that while it can be our clients bringing the chaos, don't feel like you don't have any control over that.
00:50:21.735 --> 00:50:29.135
We have to communicate to our clients like there is a cost for revisions there is a limit on how many rounds of revisions we're going to do.
00:50:29.135 --> 00:50:35.320
And decisions are they not allowed to change without there being some sort of a time or money consequence.
00:50:37.309 --> 00:50:53.239
Hey friends, this seems like a good moment to jump in here and tell you that if you need help setting some smart rules, clear expectations, and bold boundaries in your interior design firm, you might wanna check out my client Onboarding business bootcamp.
00:50:53.239 --> 00:51:04.373
It's a live class taught online in a small cohort setting where you'll refine all your essential client documentation from your client intake form all the way to your design agreement.
00:51:04.373 --> 00:51:13.592
You'll create an onboarding journey that builds your client's trust in you and sets your projects up for profitable success.
00:51:13.592 --> 00:51:19.202
It's called Lead to Launch and you can find all the details@seriouslyhappy.com.
00:51:19.202 --> 00:51:21.235
Now back to the show!
00:51:23.356 --> 00:51:28.496
There's a lot of things that you can do to reduce that chaos coming from the clients.
00:51:29.746 --> 00:51:31.096
Yeah absolutely.
00:51:31.096 --> 00:51:39.315
And you know, I try to give grace to the interior designers because I don't work directly with homeowners and I, I can't relate to that very well.
00:51:39.315 --> 00:51:41.266
So I try to give them some grace.
00:51:41.266 --> 00:51:44.166
But yeah, I think a lot of it probably has to do with boundaries.
00:51:45.195 --> 00:51:45.646
It does.
00:51:45.646 --> 00:51:58.246
In your perspective, if decides that they're gonna outsource part of their job, what do you feel like that's really saving the designers from and allowing them to focus on.
00:51:59.835 --> 00:52:11.505
It is is saving them from having their design intent lost on site because the contractors, like we said, they will make assumptions.
00:52:11.505 --> 00:52:15.565
They are going to do what they've done in the past.
00:52:15.565 --> 00:52:22.900
They're on site working, they're there to finish the job and they're gonna finish the job.
00:52:22.900 --> 00:52:28.331
And if they don't have drawings, they're gonna finish it the way that they think it's supposed to be finished.
00:52:28.331 --> 00:52:30.431
So it's gonna save you from that.
00:52:30.431 --> 00:52:47.320
It's going to save you from having very hard conversations with GCs and not knowing the answers versus sitting down at a page turn and you've got your documentation in front of you and they say.
00:52:47.320 --> 00:52:51.550
How many J boxes are we supposed to install?
00:52:51.550 --> 00:52:56.126
And you flip to your electrical page and you count and you say 12.
00:52:56.126 --> 00:53:03.440
That's gonna feel so good compared to, oh gosh, let me try to figure that out.
00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:07.880
No, you're sitting there, you've got your documentation in front of you and you're ready to answer those questions.
00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:13.460
It's really gonna build that trust and it's really gonna make you look good and feel good on the job site.
00:53:13.460 --> 00:53:21.411
It's also gonna save you from living on the job site and having your phone ringing off the hook during construction.
00:53:21.737 --> 00:53:25.878
Those seem like really positive things to get outta outsourcing.
00:53:27.092 --> 00:53:27.753
Absolutely.
00:53:28.518 --> 00:53:33.347
As we wrap this up, what's something that you might wanna bust as a myth?
00:53:33.347 --> 00:53:39.018
What's something designers think outsourcing will be like, but in reality it's really different from that.
00:53:39.927 --> 00:53:45.007
A myth I would like to bust is that outsourcing costs you money.
00:53:45.007 --> 00:53:51.483
If you are outsourcing correctly, then the client is paying my fee.
00:53:51.483 --> 00:53:57.878
I think that we shouldn't look at it as, oh, technical design is gonna cost me money.
00:53:57.878 --> 00:54:02.318
Technical design should just be part of the process.
00:54:02.318 --> 00:54:06.878
It should be part of what the client is paying for.
00:54:06.878 --> 00:54:10.208
It shouldn't be coming out of the interior designer's pocket.
00:54:10.208 --> 00:54:19.021
If if you have a really good fractional partner, like we strive to be, then we're gonna help you make money.
00:54:19.021 --> 00:54:20.581
We're not gonna cost you money.
00:54:20.581 --> 00:54:22.831
You're gonna be able to take the bigger projects.
00:54:22.831 --> 00:54:28.380
You're gonna evolve from doing kitchens and baths to doing whole home renovations.
00:54:28.380 --> 00:54:32.960
You are gonna be able to get and keep the large new construction projects.
00:54:32.960 --> 00:54:37.070
We're working on two houses right now that are 30,000 square feet.
00:54:37.070 --> 00:54:39.469
30,000 square feet.
00:54:39.469 --> 00:54:47.909
I'm sure that the interior designer did not start out doing 30,000 square foot, but how do you take on a project like that by yourself?
00:54:47.909 --> 00:54:54.298
You don't, having good technical design is going to build trust with the team.
00:54:54.298 --> 00:54:57.208
The GC is gonna recommend you.
00:54:57.208 --> 00:54:59.639
Builders are gonna wanna work with you.
00:54:59.639 --> 00:55:01.498
Developers are gonna wanna work with you.
00:55:01.498 --> 00:55:03.364
They're gonna bring you into their projects.
00:55:03.364 --> 00:55:07.088
We're not here to take money out of your pocket.
00:55:07.088 --> 00:55:10.864
We're here to help you grow and help you make more money.
00:55:10.914 --> 00:55:20.003
By getting good at this or by bringing in the help, it does elevate you beyond being the pillow fluffer that nobody wants to see on a job site.
00:55:20.490 --> 00:55:21.601
Absolutely.
00:55:21.601 --> 00:55:25.041
You don't wanna show up to the job site with a mood board.
00:55:25.041 --> 00:55:25.911
You don't.
00:55:25.911 --> 00:55:46.188
and it happens! If you want to get brought in to these really big projects, if you wanna work with the best GC in your area, the GCs that are getting called on for the three, four, $5 million homes, you better show up with drawings.
00:55:46.188 --> 00:55:51.338
We are a behind the scenes extension of the team.
00:55:51.338 --> 00:55:52.838
Everything's white labeled.
00:55:52.838 --> 00:55:54.757
Your logo is in the title block.
00:55:54.757 --> 00:55:56.797
It looks very professional.
00:55:56.797 --> 00:56:00.217
We turn revisions around really fast.
00:56:00.217 --> 00:56:04.447
We're here to help you grow, help you make more money, and help you succeed.
00:56:04.447 --> 00:56:14.748
I'd like to blow that myth out of the water that outsourcing is so expensive and so time consuming because we're here to save you time and make you more money
00:56:15.592 --> 00:56:19.438
and it will take a couple of test projects to make it feel like it's flowing.
00:56:19.438 --> 00:56:25.677
But that shouldn't be an obstacle to keep you from the success if that's where dreams are heading.
00:56:26.538 --> 00:56:27.438
Absolutely.
00:56:27.438 --> 00:56:33.378
We signed a new client in January and we just did our sixth project with her.
00:56:33.378 --> 00:56:43.367
Once you get that first one or two under your belt, it's gonna be so easy to just shoot them over and be able to work with your technical partner.
00:56:44.148 --> 00:56:46.878
Is there anything you wanna leave our listeners with today?
00:56:47.427 --> 00:56:53.061
I just wanna leave listeners with: if you're afraid of technical design, don't be.
00:56:53.061 --> 00:57:04.731
If you find the right technical design partner, and maybe that's blue sky creative, then your technical design partner is going to educate you and teach you the things that you need to know.
00:57:04.731 --> 00:57:07.342
I mean, that's part of the work that we do.
00:57:07.342 --> 00:57:10.952
and if they're passionate about it, they're gonna want to share that passion with you.
00:57:10.952 --> 00:57:12.692
There's nothing to be afraid of.
00:57:12.692 --> 00:57:19.559
I'll also say, don't feel like because you weren't formally trained that you can't do this work.
00:57:19.559 --> 00:57:21.148
You absolutely can.
00:57:21.148 --> 00:57:23.009
You're here for a reason.
00:57:23.009 --> 00:57:24.329
You are talented.
00:57:24.329 --> 00:57:33.748
There are many, many interior designers that have four year degrees and master's degrees, and they don't wanna open AutoCAD and they don't wanna do technical design.
00:57:33.748 --> 00:57:35.969
So you're here for a reason.
00:57:35.969 --> 00:57:41.338
If there's a part of your business that you don't enjoy, they're someone that does enjoy it and they're gonna do a really great job.
00:57:43.021 --> 00:57:43.438
Fantastic.
00:57:43.438 --> 00:57:48.309
And if people would like to find you, reach out to you, ask you questions, where are the best places
00:57:49.748 --> 00:57:56.679
I think the best places our website, which is blue ky creative.com.
00:57:56.679 --> 00:58:01.298
There's a contact form for new clients in there that you can fill out.
00:58:01.298 --> 00:58:09.489
And then I'll reach out immediately with a Calendly link and we can hop on an intro call and I will walk you through a construction document package.
00:58:09.489 --> 00:58:20.809
The other way is through Instagram and so, um, Instagram hates hyphens for some reason, so it's blue underscore sky creative.
00:58:20.809 --> 00:58:23.778
We would love to see you over on Instagram.
00:58:24.228 --> 00:58:26.148
That's one of my favorite playgrounds as well.
00:58:26.148 --> 00:58:34.128
If somebody isn't sure about if their drawings are adequate, do you ever help somebody review their own drawings to go.
00:58:34.128 --> 00:58:36.909
Here's the gaps I'm seeing or, yeah, these are great.
00:58:38.253 --> 00:58:45.213
Yeah, we can definitely do a little consulting session where we sit down and look over those drawings together.
00:58:45.213 --> 00:58:54.023
If you know there's something missing, but you just don't know what it is, we can totally look through those together on maybe a one hour call and figure that out.
00:58:54.414 --> 00:58:55.164
I think that's great.
00:58:55.164 --> 00:59:00.503
'cause sometimes we don't know where we're at on the path and that's one of the first things we need to figure out before we can smart
00:59:01.614 --> 00:59:02.483
Absolutely.
00:59:02.934 --> 00:59:13.289
Thank you so much for giving us all this insight into your fractional world and I'm hoping that it helps people out there make some really savvy business decisions as they grow their
00:59:15.353 --> 00:59:15.864
Me too.
00:59:15.864 --> 00:59:17.693
Thank you so much for having me.
00:59:19.181 --> 00:59:20.012
Hey friends.
00:59:20.012 --> 00:59:29.146
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jessica, and it gave you insight into what it might look like to outsource your drawings by bringing on a fractional technical designer.
00:59:30.177 --> 00:59:36.717
And remember, if your clients are bringing too much chaos to the table, there is something you can do about it.
00:59:36.717 --> 00:59:48.507
Let's have a placement chat and see if the lead to Launch Bootcamp might be just what your business needs to calm the chaos and make it possible to reach your goals as a designer and studio owner.
00:59:48.896 --> 00:59:56.067
I may be living in France, but I'm always just a Zoom call away at seriouslyhappy.com! Till next time.