Business of Home

Summer 2021 | Issue 20

Project management: It’s not the reason most designers got into the industry, but it’s essential to their success. In the third installment of BOH’s Business Accelerator series, we’re unpacking the unsung aspects of running a design firm, from assembling the right team and keeping purchase orders in order to rethinking how you charge and helping clients past budget fatigue mid-project. In pursuit of a better design business, it’s your systems that will put you ahead. How do yours stack up?

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Features

Work it better: How to fine-tune the details and deliver on your vision

In the third installment of our four-part guide to building a better design business, we’re celebrating at the systems that will truly put you ahead.

BY Kaitlin Petersen

Here’s how to find your next great subcontractor

To execute a complete vision, you need to bring in other people. But finding the right people—that’s the tricky part.

BY Haley Chouinard

We asked contractors and architects what they look for in designers. Their answers might surprise you

8 designers share their procurement secrets

In the process of specifying, ordering and tracking all of the pieces for a project, a design firm must make thousands of decisions and manage thousands more tiny details. In short, there’s plenty of room for error (not to mention a lot of pressure to get it just right). We asked eight designers about how they keep all of that information straight—and their craziest moments when it all went awry.

BY Kaitlin Petersen

The best way to handle procurement (for a firm of any size)

Once the design has been approved, it’s time to start placing orders and tracking their arrival. When navigating the process (and pitfalls) of procurement, what’s the best approach?

BY Marina Felix

How to shift your procurement process as your firm grows

Are markups disappearing?

An investigation into the design industry’s tortured relationship with product markups and whether they can withstand the age of the internet.

BY Fred Nicolaus

What’s the best way to explain markups to clients?

It’s one of the trickiest subjects in interior design pricing: the markup on product. Although there’s endless hand-wringing about what that percentage should be, how you talk about your markup matters far more than what that number actually is.

BY Fred Nicolaus

Great receivers can make a project. How do you find one?

When it comes to deciding which warehouses will be the best fit, designers often go by word of mouth or proximity. In the absence of widespread resources for reviews, industry professionals are largely left in the dark. Here, a step-by-step guide to vetting your receiver.

BY Caroline Bourque

Here’s how 3 designers deal with broken product

With hundreds of orders at play for most projects, there’s no question that some items will arrive shattered or scuffed. Three designers tell us the steps they take to handle damaged items throughout the design process.

BY Caroline Bourque

Budget fatigue is real. Here’s what to do about it

How designer Victoria Sass reignites her clients’ passion for the big-picture vision when spending fatigue sets in.

BY Kaitlin Petersen

Design Dispatch

magazine

This watercolorist is bringing a delicate touch to floral wallpaper

A former elementary school teacher is translating her talent for watercolors into a debut collection of wallpaper and textiles.

magazine

What’s the most important clause in your letter of agreement?

Twelve stars of BOH’s 50 States Project weigh in on the most crucial clause in their letters of agreement.

magazine

3 designers dish on the products they can’t quit

Who says newer is better? Three celebrated designers share the beloved designs they turn to again and again.

magazine

This season’s debuts signal a new age of abundance

The latest debuts on display at High Point Market abounded with lush shapes and bold patterns. Say hello to the new era of decadence.

magazine

Want to grow your firm? Read this book

Designer Stephanie Sabbe purchased dozens of business books, but never came across one that she could actually get through. Then she found Eli Altman’s Run Studio Run.

designers debate

Table read: Windsor Smith and Jeff Andrews on how to specify dining chairs

It’s a battle between eclecticism and coordination: Pull up a seat as two Los Angeles–based designers face off on how to specify dining chairs. Is the magic in the mix or the match?

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