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PAPERCITY PROMOTION How to Keep Your Design Project on Track — and What to Do if It Goes Sideways Expert Advice from Lloyd Princeton of Dallas-Based Design Management Company S tarting a design project — whether a single room or a whole house — in partnership with a designer is a matter of trust. Even if you've worked with them before, each project is unique. Can this designer bring your vision to life? What will happen when you hit speed bumps? Can they manage timelines, vendors, and supply-chain issues? You're putting your home, your oasis, your haven in the hands of someone else. Lloyd Princeton, founder of Dallas-based Design Management Company, knows the importance of this relationship. With decades of experience and a proven track record, Design Management Company is a leading recruiter and business consultant to the luxury design trade. The best and brightest interior designers, architects, hospitality designers, landscape architects, and home furnishings manufacturers in the industry — award- winning talents who are veritable masters of their craft — rely on Princeton's team to help them hire top talent and provide business advice. He knows what it takes for all parties to sing in harmony and bring a project to life. He also provides expert witness services in interior design and architecture disputes when things don't go to plan. First Things First Make sure all expectations and timelines are captured in the LOA and notes when you start, Princeton says. "Then, as the project evolves, make sure all communications are recorded in one central spot. Record all meetings so you avoid a 'he said, she said" type of disagreement. Things are naturally going to evolve with a project, and those need to be captured. Follow up on everything in writing." Next, you need to be an active client. "People hire a design firm because they expect them to manage everything, but you, as the client, still need to be active," Princeton says. "There's no such thing as a passive client. That's when things can go wrong. You can have someone else work on your behalf, but somebody needs to be checking over everything as the project moves forward so it doesn't all come to a head at the end." The best way to do this is through regularly scheduled (and recorded) meetings, especially during extremely active periods, such as construction. Princeton recommends going through every invoice and understanding exactly why things were billed a certain way, and why things may be on or off-track. "Constantly review, revise, and reset," he says. If the Project Does Go Off-Track Sometimes, despite best efforts, the project or relationship goes off-track. If this happens, have a calm regroup. "Don't be angry and look for problems," Princeton says. "People start to get emotional. Just relax. Something happened and it's not ideal, but don't create a situation where you're putting a lot of bad energy out there. Don't become the client that they're dreading the call from, because you're just going to make the situation snowball — and then it's inevitable that there's going to be a point where more is going to go wrong." The design business isn't about perfection, Princeton says, but about managing issues. "Just because the client hasn't seen the first 100 problems doesn't mean they didn't exist; they just got taken care of by the designer," he says. "Now something has happened that the client has become aware of, and they're starting to think everyone is incompetent. They create an additional 50 problems while becoming aware of things they wouldn't normally be aware of." Princeton and his team can serve as the owner's rep, managing the project team for the homeowner. "Basically, that means we take care of those first 100 problems, keeping an eye on things and validating everything from contracts to invoices," he says. "We're their eyes and ears over the course of the project." If you are a homeowner or design professional who's facing a disagreement, Princeton can step in with his expert witness services and advise on likely outcomes and next steps, including with legal counsel. "It's never too late to help bring in an impartial third party who can act neutrally, dial the tension down, and get everyone back on track," he says. "It's all about resetting expectations." Design Management Company lloyd@designmanagementcompany.com 469.850.6473 Lloyd Princeton JORDAN GEIBEL 99