a note from my desk....
The Phase Designers Are Too Quick to Rush Through
I had a conversation with a designer this week about a potential project.
She had walked the project. She understood generally what the client wanted. And naturally, the client wanted to know:
What is this going to cost?
Not just the furnishings or construction.
What are her design fees going to be?
And the answer was...
She didn't know yet.
Not because she didn't know how to price her services.
Because she didn't know enough about the project yet to price them responsibly.
How many spaces would ultimately be included?
What was the realistic investment?
Would the project need to happen in phases?
What existing conditions might affect the design?
How much design development would actually be required?
There were still too many unknowns.
And instead of guessing, we decided to begin with a paid Discovery + Feasibility phase.
I think that's one of the smartest things a designer can do.
Because discovery isn't the part of the project we rush through so we can finally get to the design.
Discovery is part of the design.
Let's dive in! 🌊
This Week Inside the Method
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This Week's Blueprint
📐What Is the Discovery Phase, Anyway?
Discovery is the period where you gather the information necessary to understand the project before you start solving it.
Depending on your services, that might include understanding the client's goals and priorities, documenting existing conditions, preliminary space planning, discussing investment, identifying constraints, establishing scope, determining what needs to happen now versus later, and assessing whether what the client wants is actually feasible.
In other words:
Discovery is where you figure out what problem you're actually being hired to solve.
And yet, it's one of the phases designers are most tempted to rush.
The client is excited.
You want to show value.
Construction may already be looming.
Everyone wants to see the pretty stuff.
So we jump ahead.
We start sourcing.
We start drawing.
We start rendering.
We start talking about finishes.
Sometimes we even quote a full design fee before we truly understand the project we're pricing.
And that's where problems begin.
📐Discovery Protects Your Scope
It's difficult to write a clear scope of work when you don't actually know what the work is yet.
You might think you're designing three rooms.
Then you discover one decision affects cabinetry in another room. The cabinetry affects electrical. Electrical affects lighting. A flooring decision suddenly extends into an adjoining space.
Or the client begins talking about additional rooms that weren't part of the original conversation.
Suddenly, the project you priced isn't the project you're delivering.
Good discovery turns assumptions into information.
And that information allows you to write a much stronger scope and price accordingly.
📐Discovery Protects the Client's Investment
Discovery isn't only about protecting the designer.
It's also about helping the client make an informed decision before they commit significant money to a project.
Can we actually accomplish what they want?
What might it cost?
Are their expectations aligned with their investment?
Should everything happen now?
Would it make more sense to phase the project?
Sometimes the most valuable thing you can give a client at the beginning isn't a beautiful rendering.
It's clarity.
And clarity early in a project can prevent very expensive changes later.
📐 Discovery Creates the Foundation for Everything That Follows
Think about the sequence.
Discovery → Scope → Fee → Concept Design→ Design Development → Documentation → Procurement → Implementation
Every phase relies on the information established in the one before it.
Rush discovery and you may price the wrong scope.
Price the wrong scope and profitability suffers.
Move into design before establishing direction and you create unnecessary revisions.
Begin construction before design decisions are sufficiently developed and suddenly decisions are being made because a trade needs an answer tomorrow.
One rushed phase creates pressure on the next.
And eventually, everyone feels like they're playing catch-up.
The work you do at the beginning determines how smoothly the rest of the project can run.
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This Week's Workshop
🛠️ Audit Your Discovery Phase
Pull out your current discovery process and ask:
What do I need to know before I can responsibly scope and price this project?
Look beyond room count and square footage.
Consider the client's priorities, investment, timeline, decision-making style, existing conditions, construction involvement, procurement expectations, phasing and the level of support they'll require.
Then look at your inquiry form, discovery call and consultation.
Are you actually gathering that information before you write the proposal?
If not, that's the first place I'd strengthen your process.
🛠️ Identify Your “Too Soon” Moments
Think about your last few projects.
Where did you move forward before you had enough information?
Maybe you:
Quoted the fee too soon.
Started sourcing before the budget was established.
Created renderings before the layout was approved.
Allowed construction to begin before selections were complete.
Included a service you later realized required significantly more time.
Or answered a question simply because the client wanted an answer—even though you weren't ready to give one.
Choose one.
Then ask:
What would I need to know, decide or document before reaching this point on my next project?
That's how you begin designing a better process.
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Want Help Designing This in Your Own Business?
This week's conversation actually came directly from the kind of work I do every week with designers.
Sometimes it's helping a designer recognize that she's pricing a project before she understands the scope.
Sometimes we're rebuilding her client journey.
Sometimes we're looking at where she's losing money, where her processes are breaking down, or why she's working far more hours than she ever intended.
And sometimes it's simply having someone beside her who can look at the situation objectively and say:
Here's what's actually happening. And here's what I think you should do next.
That's what we do inside Bring Calm to Chaos, my private 1:1 mentorship for designers.
Over eight weeks, we look at your business as a whole, your client experience, processes, workflows, pricing, profitability, boundaries, capacity and the way you're leading it.
Not to build somebody else's version of a successful design business.
To thoughtfully design one that works for you.
I've opened a limited number of spaces for designers who are ready to begin this fall.
If you've been reading these newsletters each week and thinking, I know what needs attention, but I don't know how to put all the pieces together, this may be the support you've been looking for.
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CEO Reflection
☕Here's the question I want you to sit with this week:
Where am I rushing to provide an answer when my business would be better served by asking more questions first?
Because leadership doesn't mean having an immediate answer to everything.
Sometimes the most professional answer you can give is:
“We're not ready to determine that yet. This is what we need to understand first.”
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📐 Keep Building
One of the things I've learned over the years is that clients often experience progress differently than we do.
A client may feel like progress is seeing a floor plan.
A rendering.
A fabric.
A tile.
A piece of furniture.
Something tangible.
But some of the most important work we do happens before there's anything beautiful to show them.
It's asking questions.
Listening.
Measuring.
Researching.
Understanding constraints.
Running numbers.
Exploring possibilities.
And occasionally discovering that the original idea isn't actually the right one.
That isn't delaying the project.
That's designing it.
And as designers, part of our job is helping our clients understand the value of that work too.
So don't apologize for taking the time you need at the beginning.
Don't rush into design because everyone is eager to see something.
And don't price an entire project simply because someone wants a number before you have enough information to confidently give them one.
Slow down long enough to understand the project you're actually designing.
Because when discovery is done well, everything that comes after it has a stronger foundation.
A thoughtfully designed business isn't built in a weekend. It's built one intentional decision at a time.
I'm grateful you're here.
Until next Friday, 💛
Marsha
Helping interior designers build businesses as thoughtfully designed as the homes they create.
