Contract Furnishings Inc.

I'm your host, Garrett Anderson, the marketing director for contract furnis With me today is my dear friend, Linda Lberto, with Lberto and Associates. She is an interior designer with only 32 years of industry experience here locally in the Northwest. And she actually has an office right here in Tigard, so contractually you are obligated to join me today. Yes, I am. But I appreciate you being here and taking the time. You have a busy schedule, so we want to fly through t What we want to talk about today is what are the values that a designer brings to any project? Who is a designer right for? How do you find that right connection and ways to just go about and make the most of that experience? So first question is who is the best candidate for a designer? I t If they feel the need and they feel unsure and just don't feel confident about their choices. Yeah, so we're not talking about just the over-rich, multi-million dollar home that's in construction. It can be just a simple kitchen or bathroom remodel and you're bringing multiple there are designers out there that will take on any scale of project. It just depends on the scope of the work and how they're set up to do their business. So there's going to be a designer out there for everyone and any size of project. Most of your work is from arc Yep. Walking through that process. It's basically meeting after the house has been drawn when you get a wish list from your client and they go to the arc Is the king bed going to fit on that wall centered how she wanted it? Does she have current t I make sure all these t Right. And then I just go through the project from foundation to framing to everyt How often are you called in kind of the 11th hour where somebody starts a project, they t It happens. It doesn't happen often to me but it does happen and there are a lot of designers that can come in and help with getting them back on track and back into the construction schedule because time is money when you're doing a construction project and you'll have a construction loan and you're going to want to be sure that you keep up with that contractor and Let's talk about some more of the benefits that you bring to the table. I mean you mentioned that you get to go out on site w Is that just a huge benefit just being able to go out and about and see these t It is a huge benefit. It's a big benefit to a remodel project so if you're doing a remodel you can go out and see the current parts of the home that are going to be untouched and then the new framed in areas that are going to be the addition or whatever it is that they're going to do and you want to make sure that's cohesive with the old. So it's nice to be able to see the old and the new to make sure that the new improvements fit. And also that cohesion between designing a kitchen, designing a bathroom, designing a master bedroom or a living space that don't have different styles for what's in between. So also for the outside of the house you want to always follow the arc So you want to be sure that you're not having a Mediterranean exterior and then they want to put an atomic contemporary in the kitchen. You want to be sure that there's eclectic. They want to keep t And budget has to be a huge point and priority for you, right? Budget is very important. You'll, in a construction project, you always get allowance items from your contractor and CFM is great about helping designers choose t So if you have a list of budget items and you start designing and you can get the contractor's price from any CFM. Right, right. And t No, it's a huge showroom. People walk in. They're always saying, oh my gosh, I'm just so overwhelmed. I mean, where do we even start? Well you start wit So I might walk them over to one carpet row instead of saying, yeah, t You might just end up with just one area that's really wit So it helps them. It doesn't make them feel It helps them realize, oh wow, t What advice would you give anybody who's kind of starting the process or what do you give as homework to your clients as you start? It has to be big. It's huge. You need to just give them some homework and say, gosh, would it be okay if you went on Pinterest or you want to Instagram or started collecting some they just, it tells a story and repeats kind of the same t You'll see it's always a white kitchen or it's always black floors or there's always something repeating in there that gives them confidence that they really do know what they Yeah, knowing what you don't Even on our website has inspiration gallery photos. There are designer idea books and a bunch of different quizzes and t Definitely do your homework. There'so much technology and so many options out there right now that it's got to help give you visuals to help you create their vision. And it helps the client feel engaged. You want them to feel engaged. You don't want to feel Because it's their project. It's their project. A good designer keeps their vision, not imposes Correct. It's their space and you want to make sure they are making it their own. So it's important to be sure you engage with them in a really positive manner. How would you go about finding the right designer? Because I t You've got to make sure it's on budget and that you have a nice working relations I t So there are certain designers that do certain scales of jobs. A lot of designers don't want larger jobs. They just can handle the smaller ones. So CFM has a list of designers that they know ahead of time would be a good fit for you. So it's good to go to CFM and ask them for a list of designers. You can go to the designer associations and look at their websites and they also have recommendations. So I'd say that's good to two good starting points. Yeah. You had talked to referrals also. But I t I mean, those are people that are committed to the industry here locally. When you mentioned we're very fortunate to work with so many great designers and we see them on a regular basis. We can kind of make that warmer lead and pair up more appropriately. Right. And you can make an introduction also, w They're saying, I'm calling to follow. So it's nice that they're just not calling, but cold calling somebody. And times are busy right now. I'm sure you're pretty well booked up, but there's plenty of new and aspiring designers Do you have any advice for them starting out their own companies? I'd say you just really need to have a business plan. You need to figure out what is your direction in design? Are you going to really specialize in construction? Are you going to really specialize in furniture? Are you going to specialize in art and accessories? And if you and just kind of stick to it. It's very, very hard to be really good at everyt So it takes time. I mean, you've been doing t Maybe. Yeah. Yes, a little bit. We all get a little bit better. Well, you learn, So you being on job sites, I'd say if you're going to start in construction and want to be in You also need to just go on site and go on the job sites to learn construction. It's very, it's educational as to how t Right. A lot of it just does take time. It's being exposed to it. I encourage, And a lot of that just is kind of absorbed over time as you go through an experience. And shadow a builder. Find a builder that you can shadow if you're just coming out of school. Network and make connections. Network, meet people. Talk to others. You want to have a go to person across the board, right? Yeah. I mean, your kilometer, your electrician, your lighting. Every builder, when you're being So the builder has a team already and you need to learn to work well with all those different teams because every builder will have their own team. Right. Right. Excellent. Well, great advice. Thank you for taking the time with us t I'm sure you're going to run off to some very important t Yes. But thank you for gracing us with your presence. A ton of great benefits that not only you provide, but designers in general can really, really help your projects. Whether you need them for start to finish or some aspect in between. Or even if you're just, you think you have all the ideas, It's a great option. I know that we're all busy and many of us are working from home and trying to homeschool two kids. So an additional project and making all those decisions can be really difficult right now. So thank you for all that you do. Thank you for being a trusted part of our team. We really appreciate it. And