Tips on shortlisting a contractor or an interior designer

This is a Tips on Tuesdays – nadnut pretends to act knowledgable and impart some tips. entry under my themed blog posts! For more info about the themed blog posts, do read the entry here.

You’ve probably read my last few entries about my preparation for my new place. During my journey in searching for a contractor/interior designer, I’ve encountered plenty of hiccups.

While I have yet to commence on my renovation journey (due to the pantangness of the 7th month), here are some tips on shortlisting a contractor or an interior designer!

Hopefully our tips may help lessen your headache when selecting your prospective ~~partner~~ interior designer or a contractor.

For us, we first set up meetings where we share 1) our needs 2) our wants and 3) our floorplan. From there, we used these methods to shortlist our preferred contractors and interior designers.

1. Rapport

This is the number 1 most important rule to me. If you feel like you can’t work with them, forget about them. If you feel that you can’t get along with the potential contractor/interior designer, just don’t bother.

I met a very irritating Interior Designer from T*** S******** who insisted that we did not brief him on a specific item (we had requested for a brick wall in our meeting which was highlighted in the pdf brief that I sent across BEFORE meeting the fella and also recapped in email).

He also seemed very forgetful and just didn’t seem to hit it off with us. So no go!

Another, a contractor from K*** arrived at our house in a foul mood. Not only that, he was late for more than an hour and pretty hard to reach. Alarm bells were ringing in our heads. NEXT!

Remember that you’ll have to work with this individual for at least a month. If he/she ain’t gonna get along with you, it’s gonna hurt working with him/her!

2. Creativeness

For us, we shared our needs and wishes. Any contractor or interior designer can well…. ‘follow the brief’ and do exactly what we requested. But a good contractor/interior designer will recommend alternatives and suggest the best way possible to suit your needs with aesthetic and functional purposes.

But of course, do your research as per our previous post on things to prepare when searching for an interior designer. Know your stuff so that you won’t be agreeing blindly to everything your contractor/interior designer say.

Most of all, gauge how creative (and yet functional) your prospective contractor or interior designer is towards meeting your needs.

3. Cost

In the end, cost would be a huge factor in deciding on your prospective contractor or interior designer. If the initial quote does not meet your budget, talk to them. If they are able to suggest alternatives, it’ll be great.

But in the end, we had to drop a couple of interior designers due to the high costs sadly. Also, do take note that some interior designers are GST registered. This means your cost would likely to go up by 7% more. Do factor that in too.

Here are just some tips to make your search for an Interior Designer or Contractor in Singapore, a little less painful.

Will be sharing more tips once we’ve started on our renovation. Wish us luck!!!! Should you have any recommendations, please comment! We’ll also be sharing on possible places where you can shop for furniture!

Should you’ll like to collaborate, we’ll be more than happy!

Do check out my other entries on #nadskaihome (aka our Punggol BTO) here:

Do check out my other Tips on Tuesdays blog posts here:

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Tips on shortlisting a contractor or an interior designer

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