Do You Need To Provide Elevations in Your Interior Design Files? (Spoiler: YES!)

In this episode  we look at why it's important to include elevations in your residential interior design documents, and how elevations are crucial for ensuring project success. From precise installations to clear communication with contractors, elevations play a pivotal role in bringing your design vision to life. Tune in to learn how to incorporate elevations effectively, streamline your process, and enhance the value of your professional design services. If you're ready to elevate your design game and take your business to new heights, this episode is a must-listen!

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Transcript

MacBook Pro Microphone 0:00

The name of this podcast is Stuff Interior Designers Need to Know. And one of the things we need to know is what to put inside of the design files that we hand off to our clients. Now, depending on your business model, you may or may not need elevations, but I have found in my years of doing this work and in mentoring designers, that most design files will benefit dramatically from having elevations. So let's talk about this.

0:31

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Stuff Interior Designers Need to Know, the podcast where you can learn how to nail your niche, establish clear client expectations, and empower your clients to make the kinds of quick, confident design decisions that keep your projects on time and on track. If you're determined to do whatever it takes to build a remarkable residential interior design firm, And join me on my mission to stop letting celebrity housewives, discount design, and HGTV define our industry, then roll up your sleeves and let's dive in! For those of you who don't know me personally, you might not know that I'm a self-taught designer.

MacBook Pro Microphone 1:17

I had my own residential interior design firm for 15 years, but I started it without any professional training in interior design. My background was in geology, community planning, and teaching ballroom dance. So completely unrelated over the years I hired a lot of designers and obviously I've mentored a lot of designers And I have found that being self taught is not actually an indication of whether or not you are talented Good at your job somebody that somebody should hire and trust What is the distinguisher is how seriously you take this job from a professional perspective. The challenge when we don't go to school first is that we don't learn a lot of the standardized documentation that comes along with being a designer. And when the general public and a lot of brand new designers think about this industry, We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that it's all just colors and shiny things and throw pillows. And it's, yes, it's those things. And even if we're talking about hard surface rooms like kitchens and bathrooms, it's the delight of choosing tile and the fun of picking a fixture. I don't want to diminish those things, but they are a tiny part of the responsibility we have to our clients. And if we, as colleagues, are going to counter this feeling that people have about interior designers that we're all fluff, we have to make sure that we are bringing our very best game to the table. So that in this conversation today means elevations. Why are elevations important? So first, let's talk about what they are. Elevations are a view of a wall, any wall, as if you were standing straight in front of it, looking directly at it. It is a flat drawing. There is no perspective to it. So what an elevation is really good at doing is telling an installer exactly how high and where on a wall to install something. So that could be an outlet, that could be where to hang a piece of art, how high to hang some curtains, or how tall a certain section of counter is going to be. Because while there of course are standards in our industry, like kitchen counters are typically 36 inches above the ground, There are plenty of times when we want, we might want to offer a custom solution, like for a client that is shorter or taller than average, or maybe wants a baking station, which we would typically set at a lower level. Now, a lot of kitchen and bath designers know that obviously they have to include elevations. I say a lot rather than all, because not all of them seem to realize how powerful a tool this is. If you're in that camp, keep listening, because by providing elevations, you are more than doubling the power. The chance of success of things being installed the way you want them to be installed. And when it comes down to those tiny details, this is really where the rubber meets the road. And if you leave it to your electricians to decide where the outlet or the, you know, the floor heating thermostat is going to be, I guarantee you they're going to put it right where you wanted to put that towel hook or that piece of art or whatever. Because they're not thinking aesthetically. They're thinking, well, this is easy to reach. This seems like a good spot. I'll slap it right here. We have to be specific if we want to get specific outcomes. Now let me talk about that for a quick second as a side note here. The way we put our design files together at Seriously Happy Homes Yes, we were very, very specific, but what we were specific with was the outcome that we were looking for, not necessarily how the contractor would install whatever we were talking about. We made it very clear to everybody involved that we were not contractors. We were not installers, we're designers. So our job was to use our design file, this final concrete deliverable, to express the outcome and results we expected to see. So when it comes to, for example, the tile layout on a shower wall, we want to make sure that the outcome is clear because we understand that there's going to be site decisions that every installer has to make in the moment because the, you know, thing was built a little bigger or a little smaller. than your drawings. So even if we get very, very specific with there will be a three inch sliver of tile on the right and left sides, in real life that sliver might be a four inch sliver. So we have to give enough information that our installer can then be a thinking human, a thinking adult, and get us the outcome we were expecting. Because I'm guessing that if you wanted nice symmetrical three inch slices on both ends of that shower wall, that you would be just as happy with symmetrical four inch slices rather than, you know, cause they're not going to change the size of the shower. They have to come up with a solution. And if you. Indicate that the outcome you want is a symmetrical installation. Then you avoid the situation where they might put three inches on one side and then five inches on the other, trying to follow your very specific instruction. So we have to be very specific, but with the outcome and results specified, not necessarily down to the quarter inch of how big that final piece of tile is going to be. Other examples, outcomes that we're trying to indicate, things that drive me crazy, are like when an outlet spans partly into the backsplash tile, like behind a bathroom vanity, and partly out of that backsplash tile. Because now we've got to decide what surface that outlet cover is going to sit on. Is it sitting flush against the sheetrock wall, or is it sitting on top of the tile surface? If it's on top of the tile surface, how are you filling the gap now between the cover And the wall, and if it's on the wall surface, how are you cleaning those cut edges of tile that surround the cover, the outlet cover? So as designers, first we have to think ahead about that problem at all, and then we have to find a way to communicate that to the installers so that we don't have a problem we have to solve later that never had to be a problem in the first place. So an elevation, of course, is the perfect way to do that because rather than having words telling them what to do, which would be impossible for the scope of a whole project, they can, at a glance, see what you want the result to look like. Now do you have to have an elevation for absolutely every single wall in your project? Not necessarily. Not necessarily. The whole point of any design file is to communicate what needs to be communicated and nothing more. We want to make sure that we aren't over communicating because if there's extraneous information, and this is true when we present information to our clients as well, if we give them information they don't need, then that can crowd out the information they do need and make it more complicated to get the key information that they need to follow. So while, generally speaking, if we were doing a bathroom design, for example, at Seriously Happy Homes, we definitely did an elevation for every single wall. If we were doing a living room, there might be only a few rooms that we actually chose to do, excuse me, a few walls that we chose to do elevations for. So, the way we did our electrical plans is we actually didn't do electrical plans. We offered lighting plans, and that gave very, very specific switch locations. We did indicate which ones would be three way switches or dimmer switches. And we did indicate, both through our Lighting plans and through our elevations where any specialty or special request outlets were going to be, for example, next to the toilet for a bidet or because they wanted to be able to charge their toothbrush underneath the vanity, those outlets we indicated. But beyond that, we said on our design file, please place all remaining outlets per code. So we didn't have to say for this, you know, big blank living room wall that just has a couple of outlets placed on it per code, that wasn't necessarily a wall that we needed to do an elevation for. Unless that wall also had, for example, window treatments or art to place on it, and then yeah, the main contractor, the general contractor may not need that particular elevation, but whoever is going to install the window treatments and hang the art, whether that's the client or another installer, they definitely need that information. So while elevations take ridiculously a long time to create, they are a very, very, very powerful communication tool. Now they don't always have to be perfect and precisely to scale. We did most of our elevations in Chief Architect's Home Designer Pro and that worked fantastically. But occasionally we were able to just hand sketch something really quickly to communicate the idea that we needed to get across. So, remember, it doesn't always have to be this perfect drawing. It's always about what do we need to communicate and what is the most effective way to communicate that. And effective should both take into account making sure that there's all the information presented but also that it's done in the most efficient way possible so that you're, you are staying as profitable as you can be as a business. While being able to charge as little as you have to, to your clients, because you're not producing work that doesn't need to be produced. Now, some of the designers that I work with, they really like to be on site during the installation and construction part of the process. Now at Seriously Happy Homes, we were a design only firm. So it was essential. That we actually had all of this documented because at the end of our work with our clients We actually handed off that file and said have fun with this. Please let us know when it's done We'd love to celebrate the results with you But aside from that we told them you don't need our permission if you decide to make changes along the way But if you get stuck, please reach out to us. We're here for you The point of that is, those files had to be completely executable and actionable. They had to be easy to read. Some of my designer clients choose to be on site, and therefore they choose to leave those drawings kind of loose. Because yes, you can absolutely do some arm waving and some conversations with the electrician, and you can grab a sharpie and you can write right on the wall where you want this outlet or that thing. But, number one, that traps you into having to be on site. What's going to happen if you get a cold, or really want to be on vacation and had a vacation planned, but the project has gone over time, and now you're supposed to be in Bali while they're expecting answers from you about the electrical. So you're trapping yourself into a situation if you don't allow the documentation to be the Bible that you refer to for all this information, and instead that is all in your head. In addition, it's really, really easy for there to be miscommunications and if those things are not in writing, it is really hard to stop the finger pointing because there is not going to be anything in writing that says what was supposed to happen. And so the electrician's going to be like, I'll do it again, but you have to pay me. And whether they're right or wrong, you've put yourself into yet another very challenging situation that nobody wants to be in. So, by having these things in writing, especially in a graphic picture format, when they, you notice I just said when, when they install it wrong, because it will happen. They're humans and they're trying to build an entire house or an entire kitchen. So when it gets installed wrong, you can very kindly say. Gosh, I'm sorry that happened. You can see our intent was to have this thermostat over here, and I will need you to move that. And because it was in writing, there doesn't have to be a battle. It can simply be taken care of, and you guys can move forward. The nice thing about all of this work is that you can Be paid for it. Like some of my designer clients feel like they have to do more work than they're already doing. And they're feeling really stretched thin already. And they're not making enough money or not getting enough clients already. And then they're like, you expect me to do all this additional work on top of those problems? And I'm like, well, yeah, but I also expect you to be paid for it. And the key to that is we have to understand the value of the work that we're doing for our clients, and ideally communicate that value to our clients. Now I'm not saying that the clients need to understand the nuance of elevations, but the way I described the results of our work at Seriously Happy Homes gave them a sense of what they were going to get in my deliverables, and it elevated the value of what I was bringing to them, what they were paying me for in the first place. So when I described the work we would do with them, it was not just come up with a great design recipe for the outcome that they wanted, but it was also to have a executable design file that they could hand off to their contractor or DIY themselves and get and feel very confident that they would get the results they expected to get without having to have me micromanage it and pay those additional design fees. So they did pay additional for these very, very clear and detailed files because it does take hours upon hours to create a really great design file that a contractor can follow and wants to read. But everybody benefit benefited from that work. Me, because I was able to charge professional design fees and the client because not only did they get a great result in terms of the file, but that file keeps their project on track. It keeps them on budget, and it keeps them from having to make decisions during the de the demo and construction process. I always told my clients the only decision you should have to make after demolition. is when you open a wall and you have a surprise, because we know those can happen. But by saving their energy for just dealing with those surprise issues that we always have to come across in construction, I don't know why, we can save their energy for those challenges, and they don't have to put any energy into choosing their cabinet hardware once they've actually gotten into construction. So going back to the value of this, you have to charge for the work you're going to do, but you also have to communicate to your clients that they're getting a lot more value as compared to a designer who doesn't offer this level of detail in their design files. Now this does relate to how you price your design services. At Seriously Happy Homes we were a flat fee design company. So after we'd had our initial consultation with our clients we were able to give them the price of their project when it came to the design fees. That meant that not only the Was the sale much easier, which I talk about in other episodes, talking about pricing, but also that over time we got rewarded for getting better and better at our job. So you can, you can definitely charge hourly for all of this extra work of creating these very detailed elevations. Or you can wrap that into a flat fee process. The nice thing about a flat fee process, like I just said, is that as you get faster at it, you will get rewarded for being more efficient. You can still charge the same price because the value is still there for the clients, but you actually keep a little bit more of the profits because you got faster and better at your job. If you charge hourly, then if the same work that used to take you three hours now takes you two hours because you got more efficient and better at your job, then you're kind of losing out on money. So it's something to consider as you're thinking about both the level of detail and value that you're providing to your clients and how you're going to become better at that over time. You want to make sure that that goes hand in hand with a business structure that will reward you for how you do your work and how you deliver it. Now a couple more notes about the elevations themselves. You've got the graphical drawing, so picture a wall with two windows and a door and some outlets and then there's cabinets and there's the backsplash and there's, um, where the outlets are relative to the backsplash, right? So you've got this beautiful elevation drawing. I'm assuming that on that drawing you have measurements. Measurements that go from the floor to the ceiling as an overall measurement. And then measurements that break out all of those heights that you need to communicate to your contractors and installers. So, for example, the height of the kitchen counter, the height of the backsplash, the height where the um, We want to include all of those measurements on the file. We want to include them consistently, so always in inches and feet, or always in inches. Contractors have preferences around those two numbers, but the most important thing is to be consistent in however you do it. And please do not do the thing that I find that architects do way too often, which is give like three measurements. and then hope that you'll be able to whip out your fancy ruler and figure out the rest of the measurements. Your contractors are busy and they are just trying to get this work done. So make it easy for them to capture any of the measurements that they need, ideally without doing any math. And then the final thing is after you've got the pretty picture and then all of those great measurements, you also probably need to add some notes. Notes are a very important part of elevations. So for example, how are they going to finish that cut edge of tile around the backsplash? Anybody can go choose a beautiful tile for the backsplash, but it's these details that where the designer really earns their keep. So if you're going to have them use a certain kind of schluder in a certain kind of finish, you can add that note right on the elevation. Finish all cut edges of tile with bronze jolly schluder. Get that right there on that graphic file instead of buried in some paragraph of text or some materials list later, and you're a lot more likely to get the results you were looking for. Because that schluder has to be there. to be installed before the tile. So you want to make sure that everything that the tile installer needs to know is ideally in one place. So they're not flipping through a file. You can even use your elevations and have one just for the electrical guy and one just for the tile person. It's all about clear communication and making sure that the person has the information they need to give the outcome you expect. Other notes might be things they need to be aware of. So, for example, if there is a certain vent that can't be covered and you have a really clever solution for how they're going to route that air around some furniture legs underneath of the cabinetry. Those are great notes to put right there on that elevation as well as probably on the floor plan. Remember that information is good to repeat across different pages of your design file, but the point of today's conversation is what should be on those elevations. So make sure that the images are great, ideally to scale. Make sure that you've got those measurements on there in a consistent manner and that you're not making the contractor do math. In the field and make sure that you include any important notes so that you do get the outcomes that you expect.

22:04

Mhm.

MacBook Pro Microphone 22:06

Hopefully this helps you be even better at your job as an interior designer. I'd love to know if you actually already do elevations and if any of these. I hope these comments that I just made give you some ideas that can help you level up the value of your work and charge a little bit more money for your professional design services so that you're even more profitable and you're of even more benefit to your clients. That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed this episode of Stuff Interior Designers Need to Know. Until next time!