Transcription
And welcome to my channel. My name is Sandra, and I am the owner and creative director of Sandra Jessica Interiors. In this video, I'm going to show you a breakdown of my design proposal. So, if you are an interior designer looking to start your own business or firm, design firm, whatever it is, you may want to stick around and learn what a proposal is because I feel like that is an absolute staple to have in your structure and for your clients.
In case you're wondering what a design proposal is, it's basically a type document written by you, the designer, to show the client all your ideas and intentions are for the space or spaces you will be designing. There's no right or wrong way to make a proposal. What I'm showing you guys is what works for me, so it may not work for you guys. Um, just to let you guys know that beforehand. Also, if you're looking at the proposal and it doesn't make sense, this is not for any specific client. I just kind of put in some images and wording together to show you the general outline.
Alright, so let's just get started. This is my cover photo. Nothing too crazy. I just have an image I got from Pinterest. I have my logo, business, you know, like SJI design proposal, and this is where I will have the client project name.
Moving on to the scope of work. This is what I feel like every design proposal should have is at least a brief description about what you guys talked about during the consultation and what the plan of action is, what your ideas are. So I like to make things a little bit more personalized by including like a, like a cute little paragraph. Um, and then just kind of highlighting some of the main components, components that we talked about during the consultation. Again, this is not a real design proposal, so it doesn't make sense, but you could do like a mixture of both. You could do whatever works for you. And I like to include like a nice little inspo photo just to get them a little bit more excited. Remember, this is your perfect opportunity to list out all your ideas and actions, just to make sure that you and your client are on the same page. You don't have to sit and think about every little detail, but I think you should have enough information so the client gets the hint on what you guys are going to do.
So for this next slide, it's not absolutely necessary. This is something extra I just started doing. It's, um, like a preliminary vision study slash vision board, just to get them even more excited about working with me. So you can include like maybe some hand sketches, maybe some photos of like inspiration materials. I think it's, it's a nice way to just get them, you know, kind of really excited about this whole process because hiring a designer is very scary, I feel like for some people.
Which leads me on to the next thing, which is design hours. Many people that have hired me have never hired a designer before. So what I like to do is just be clear right off the bat about my fees and make them understand where their money is going and how my time is being spent. You don't have to get as detailed as me, or you can even get more detailed, but I like to list out the different phases of the project. So my consultations are complementary. I have design phase, and this is where I will like, kind of note what is going to be included in the design phase and then estimate, you know, 20 to 30 hours. I don't charge $15 an hour if you guys are wondering. This is just like a random number I put in there to give you, um, a better understanding or idea. But there are designers who charge $50 an hour. Just know that. Presentation meeting, revisions, admin duties, final instant installation. So the design hours will of course vary based on the project, the scope of work, and all that detail. Um, and then this is like the overall, quote-unquote, estimated overall design hours.
Now, this is really, really important to note. In this page is to include some type of disclaimer. Like, for example, here I have, "Please keep in mind the design, the hours may fluctuate or increase depending on the scope of work." So if your client is adding on to the scope of work during the process, of course, like the design hours and the fee is going to increase. And sometimes they forget that. So I just want to let you guys know that it's super important to note this in your proposal from the very beginning because you don't want them to come back around and be like, "Hey, this is not what you originally told me." However, you need to like word this that works best for you and your clients. Just make sure to note that because I've had, um, had some instances where they, uh, come back and be like, "Hey, this is not the price you told me," and I have to explain to them, "Well, this happened, and this happened, and this happened." So unfortunately, unexpected changes happen. So again, please, please put a disclaimer on your design hours unless you are charging a flat fee. Oh, one thing I want to note is I created this using Google Excel, and this is something I just brought in into the InDesign document. So there's no fancy software. Let me see. Yeah, so I just want to know how I create things.
Moving on, we have project timeline. Again, many people don't have experience hiring designers and they don't know or understand the workflow. So just to give them a better understanding of the different phases, I like to kind of create this visual image to help them understand the flow. You can even include dates on here if you want to be more specific, but again, just make sure to add a disclaimer, say, "Dates are subject to change" because you never know what could happen during the project timeline. So I actually created this timeline using Canva, and I'm not sure if you guys have heard me talked about Canva before, but it is absolutely the best thing ever. It's super simple to kind of navigate and create awesome things. So that's how I created this, and I just imported it as a PNG or JPEG. Another way you can show your timeline is do a calendar format. It might be much easier for you to do a calendar format if it works for you. I think this is also very visually, like visually this helps a lot for them to be like, "Okay, so this is when they're gonna start the mood board. This is where they're gonna do the design phase. This is a presentation day." So yeah, whatever visual works for you and your clients, I say give it a shot.
So moving on to the final budget breakdown. This is going to showcase the cost of all the furniture, the design fees, the taxes, everything. So it helps to know what their budget is right off the bat. And sometimes clients don't know what their limit is, and this is where you step in as a professional to guide them in the right direction. For this, you basically have to do some brainstorming, basically listing all the items you anticipate using for the space, the quantity, and the cost for them. For those that are new to creating proposals, this is going to require some research on your end because you do not want to list unrealistic cheap budget, nor something way too high. So you pretty much have to do some preliminary design thinking about the space. So in this case, this family room, I'm kind of brainstorming what am I going to include in this family room? Just kind of listen the basics like a sectional, rug, coffee table. And in this instance, we talked about a custom fireplace cabinet. So you have to add that in here and kind of, um, guess what the cost would be. Now, you can call up some vendors before creating this proposal and ask them, "Hey, what is like some average prices for a custom cabinet or something else that you're thinking about doing custom for the project?" And I would aim higher for custom built items because they always tend up to be a little bit more expensive than what you expect. Now, keep in mind that if the room is really big, of course, you're gonna need like bigger items or more quantity, so the budget will fluctuate. So just make sure to take that into consideration when you are creating this proposal. Yeah, basically, this is the project breakdown. You don't want to aim too low on the items, and you don't want to go like way overboard because you don't want to scare the client off. So this is definitely going to take some research. I know it took me some time and some research to get some numbers right. Um, and then you have to like find out what the sales tax is for the area, estimated shipping and handling. I always like to estimate a little bit higher for the shipping handling because you just, you just never know. Estimated handyman labor at $75 an hour. Again, that is, you know, that can fluctuate depending on where the project is located and how many pieces you anticipate the, the handyman to assemble. So it takes a lot of critical thinking for this part of the proposal. And this is, uh, something I created using Google Excel as well.
That is all the things that I include in my proposal. You don't have to go way overboard. Um, I just think that these are like the basics and general things that you should include that will be beneficial for your client to know and understand. So that is basically it on creating a design proposal. The more information you can provide on there, the better. And also, just remember, this is a time to set some clear expectations for your clients regarding your fees, your timeline, your design ideas, anything else. And again, there's no right or wrong way to create a proposal. This is my version. It works for me. May not work for you. Um, and yeah, that is it. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video and found it helpful, I would appreciate a thumbs up to keep the channel growing. Which we are almost at 10,000 subscribers, guys. Insane. Thank you for all the love and support, and I hope to catch you on the next video. Peace.