Managing a Project

Grace Interior Designs has recently completed two projects, a residential interior styling project and a commercial office fit out.  Projects are time and money sensitive.  There’s a lot at stake and a lot that can go wrong, here are my top tips to manage and survive an interior design project;

1. Communication is key. From the outset all the stakeholders need to be on the same page, informed, understand the goals and working together for the client.  Therefore, despite the client initiating the project, there needs to be a project manager from the beginning.
2. Timing is everything but never true, this means that it’s good to have a realistic project time frame whilst at the same time understanding that things change and go wrong, therefore it’s likely the project time frame may go over.
3. Have a solutions focus.  There will be problems but there is a solution for every problem and the end result will be the same or better.
4. Flexibility is key.  All the stakeholders (from designer to architect to client) need to be flexible with how the project is delivered.  No one can foresee all the issues that may arise throughout the project from the beginning and some things may just not be possible to deliver.
5. Patience is vital.  It’s important to work hard to deliver the project on time and on budget but as there are so many variables, patience will help you get through a project.

It takes nerves of steel to get through an interior design project intact which means getting the right people involved right from the start is a good way to ensure implementation can proceed as smoothly as possible.  Contact us to discuss your interior design project.