Drawings Can Protect the Client from Construction Mistakes
Project: Craftsman Contemporary
Photo: Kate Raines
There’s a saying in the industry—interior design is 20% design and 80% processes.
We spend hours documenting the design we’ve presented, because a contractor can build off of a pretty rendering. Drawings are our way of assessing and investigating potential issues and providing solutions as part of the design. Clear, detailed drawings and spreadsheets protect our clients from miscommunications and mistakes made during construction. The less clarifications a contractor needs from us, the better we’ve done our job.
Business as Usual
Unless you specify otherwise, a contractor is going to build things out the way they’ve always done it. This is regardless of whether or not you like a specific design detail. Most of our clients hire us because they want to reach specific design goals and/or want a space that’s unique, so the usual construction methods aren’t always going to work. If these details aren’t documented and as a result, a change is requested during construction the contractor is likely going to send you an invoice for a change order before addressing the problem.
Most issues during construction could have been avoided with clear documentation. The more information that we can provide about a project in advance, the better. If you’re looking to install shower tile in a herringbone pattern—we don’t just note it, we draw it. That is the clearest way to convey how we want that tile installed. You’d be surprised how often herringbone and chevron patterns are confused. Imagine walking into your new bathroom that was tiled in the wrong pattern!
Drawings are a Form of Insurance
We redesigned an outdated bathroom that involved the design of a custom vanity. The piece was designed so that the top drawer provided as much storage space as possible. The vanity we designed had two large functioning drawers. The only way to make this was to have understanding of plumbing and to specify a specific p-trap that was also shown in the section drawing. A section drawing shows what a room or element would look like if you sliced through it.
During install the craftsman that we hired to construct the vanity went to site to confirm measurements. He let me know that instead of relocating the p-trap as I specified, the contractor kept the p-trap at the same height. I promptly looked through our office project binder, which is identical to the binder that we keep onsite. I reviewed the drawing to make sure I included all the appropriate information. I had. The contractor insisted it was a mistake on our end and the client didn’t want to be charged to move the shift the plumbing. However, I wasn’t worried—our drawings are another form of insurance.
I went to site and reviewed the binder with the contractor. He said he had no idea that the vanity had a top drawer. So I flipped through the drawings and pointed this out (highlighted in red):
Not only did I draw the drawers in section, I also had a note that said “overlay drawer fronts.” Further, we had included this particular p-trap in the plumbing package so the piece was already onsite for install. Since I had these drawings on hand, the contractor had to address this issue without charging my client. And we didn’t need to make any changes to their beautiful custom vanity.
To be clear, this contractor was fantastic and nobody is perfect. But, our drawings saved the client from an unexpected expense during construction.
In fact, our drawings are so detailed that things like this usually don’t happen. One of the reasons we don’t outsource any of our drawings is because we like to be thorough—many interior designers and architects don’t provide the level of detail that we do.
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