“When a G.C. asked the clients to absorb the costs for the mistakes he/she made, that is a crime.” A millwork shop guy told me that when he observed what was going on at the job site for 2 months. The feeling was like when a person saw ghosts and asked people around him “did you see that?” and everyone said no, but finally, a person said “yes, I saw it, too.”
Interior Design Job Site Supervision Mentality
One thing that always amuses me when I deal with the general contractors, vendors, AV consultants, or millwork shops throughout the years is that those who always blamed me of “pointing fingers” are the ones always made mistakes. Nowadays, many people do not have the sense of responsibility, when they failed to execute the requested tasks, they always acted defensive and blamed me for “finger pointing” when I sent them the emails to remind them what they have forgotten, but when I sent the similar type of emails to those who always did their jobs correctly, they just considered my emails as friendly reminders.
The sad part of interior design business
The marketing instructor said “You guys must be wondering how can some of the ugliest interior design projects be published on the magazines? how did that happene?! Well, those designers might not be talented about the design, but they are marketing genius, and they are the ones making all the money out there.” That is so true, people nowadays only care about the packaging outside, not substances inside.
The characteristic of a good contractor
A good contractor should have the ability not only to resolve the problems when they occur but to forecast the problems before they occur. My GC forgot to place the order on a door which has long lead time even though I have reminded him many times. Now the millwork on both sides of the door is under installation. I asked him where is the door? he said it is still under production, and I asked, how about the door jamb? Still under production, he replied, then he told me it won’t be a big deal since the millwork guys still can install the millwork, so it won’t delay the installation. So, I asked the contractor that without the door jamb, where you think the millwork guys should end their wood panels? He answered, well, they can leave the wall panels at the approximate locations but slightly longer so when the door is installed, the millwork guys can come back to this area and cut the wall panels shorter in order to fit in the door jamb. Well, I asked the millwork guys how long that will take? they said it will be about 3 – 4 hours of work, then I looked at the GC and asked, those millwork guys will have to leave other work behind in another room and come back to this area to finish up the wall panels, who will pay for those hours lost on the other millwork in another room? The GC was quiet. That door was supposed to be ordered more than a year ago and I kept reminding him because I could foresee such delays. I wish the GC could foresee this issue a year ago so the millwork guys can have much smoother installation flow without any delay. You might think 3-4 hours delay is not a big deal, but imagine 3-4 hrs here, 30 min there, 1 hour here, they all added up, no wonder this 2007 project is still under construction NOW. Rediculous!
Nature Selection in design field
I always thought this economy downturn will wipe out those companies that have bad reputation, well, what I see is many of those good companies are gone and bad ones still there, now I know why. There is a metal shop I used to work with, the owner was a very skilled metal smith who was extremely artistic and skilled, but the reality is that creative and artistic people usually are not business savvy, their artist mind just can’t compete with their competitors who are more business minded but not skilled or artistic. So, now, those true craftsmen are all gone but those un-skilled, non creative businessmen all survived. That is sad.
Free service or worthless service?
When I attended a CE class called Social Media Marketing talking about putting up a website for business, and the instructor told us it would not need to cost a lot of money on it just by finding a teenager to do your website. Well, a lot of folks out there have the exact same mentality towards interior design service, they think we should provide our expertise and consultation for free. Have you designers met any client who came to you and just acted like he/she was interested in hiring you and asked you bunches of questions, and when he/she got the answers, they just hired a contractor to do the work without hiring you, the designer? Yep! we all went through those kinds of crap and learned the lessons. So, if we do not want the clients to think our service or expertise is free, then we should not think a website designer’s service is worthless and should be free.
Disrespectful Practice in Interior Design
Displaying Buddha’s chopped off heads is just very disrespectful towards Buddha and Buddhists. If I display Jesus’s head like that in any of my project, I would have gotten so much criticism already. That is just so wrong and I will never select any sculpture or artwork like this.
A true artist
I recently discovered an artist Eileen Fogg and found her art style is extremely unique and full of creativities. I think her art movement is Surrealism. She uses vivid colors and abstract forms of figures, objects, buildings, creatures to create the wonderlands of imagination. I have been enjoying her artwork very much.
Dawen Huang Interior Design 