Doubts

I have been receiving more and more customer leads from my company and so far, all of them have lead to dead ends. I have not been receiving any sort of income for the past 2.5 months since I started work and that is really uneasy, that is why I am giving myself till the end of May to decide if this is really the right career path for me.



I have been surfing Interior Design forums lately and it's always really fascinating/frustrating reading through some forum post written by clueless individuals who think that all Interior Designers are out to cheat homeowners off their hard earned money by charging them exuberant amount for renovation works.




"Your Interior Designer is charging you $9 per square feet for tiling works? That is ridiculous, I was at ABC Tile Shop recently and the tiles only cost $2.50 per square feet on average. This is daylight robbery!"




"How come your painting works so expensive? $1500 for the whole house? How many cans of paint does your Interior Designer think your house need that will amount to $1500? You better be careful, they are trying to charge you extra because you don't know how much a can of paint will cost."




It's like they can't help but spew stupidity.



"Oh tiles are only $2.50 per square feet so you should charge me $5 per square feet max. And that is already being very generous." 


Fuck off!

What about labour cost?

What about cement cost?

What about the Interior Designer's fee?


You assume the Interior Designers are just going to be stationed at your house every other day to overlook your entire renovation project for free?


You think co-coordinating with a dozen different suppliers and scheduling when each item will be delivered for your renovation project is a piece of cake?


 Then go and do it your fucking self!


Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it will be good. The fact that some companies are actually able to quote their renovation works at almost cost price makes me wonder how good their design will be, how low high quality of their carpentry works will  be, and most importantly, how much effort they will actually put into the project that hardly has any profit margin.




I met a client about 4 days ago who had a renovation request that was pretty much impossible to achieve...

"I want to redo all the toilets in the house, I want a completely brand new kitchen, I would like for you to shift the air-con and also to polish the entire condo's flooring.... and I want to move in by the end of April."

... by the end of April, that is only 6 weeks away, and with works that extensive, even if I were to start the renovation right on that day, I still won't be able to hand the new home over to him on time.


Estimated Timeline

1. Sign with Interior Designer - 1 Day (if confirm right on the spot)

2. Discuss and Finalize Design - 2 Month (includes material selection and 3D drawings)

3.Hacking Works - 1 Week

4. Tiling Works - 1 Week

5. Fabricate Carpentry - 2 Weeks

6. Install Carpentry - 1 Week

7. Cleaning & Painting Works - 1 Week


Just from the the Design phase itself, it's already impossible to complete the renovation within 1.5 months, you tell me how to move in by the end of April ?


So I told him it was going to be impossible but he didn't care, it's not his problem, he kept saying...

"Just try."

Just try? You tried going up to a penguin and telling it "Fly. Just Try" and then see it take flight ? No!



He then ask me to do up a quotation for him and normally I will ask for a week to complete the quotation, but since he was rushing for the renovation to be completed by April, he was very insistent and wanted to see the quotation in 2 days. When I said...

"Earliest I will send to you is by Tuesday."

... he goes...

" By Monday. Just try."

Seeing how desperate he was, I thought the chances of him actually signing up with me was very high, that was why I made the effort to actually rush out the quotation for him, I even asked one of my senior designers if he was able to help me run the project so we can split the profit, that was how optimistic I was about this customer and fortunately for him, I was able to complete the quotation by Monday.


Unfortunately for me, he had really atrocious handwriting, so I was unable to decipher the written email address he have given to me, which prompted me to give him a call, asking him what his email address was....

*makes the call and finally gets his email address*

Me: Okay, I will send you the quotation via email now.

Client : Yeah! Send it now! Send it now!

Me : Okay, I will be sending it to you now. Bye

Client : *hangs up*

Not a single word of thanks. And the way he commanded me to send him the quotation was so fucking infuriating.


He hasn't gotten back to me since I have send out the quotation so thanks for wasting my time asshole. Made me rush out a quotation for you within 2 days and don't even drop a single word of thanks, fucking piece of shit.




He probably realized that it is impossible to move in to the new home if he opted to do renovation works, and he shouldn't be thinking about doing renovation works under such a tight schedule.



And for fuck sake, don't ask a contractor friend how much it will cost to renovate your home, and then come to an Interior Design firm and expect them to match that price, that's not how it works.