What I Really Do: Drawings Edition

Sure, you need drawings for a renovation (or maybe you didn’t know that?), but what are they really?

Ok, so I’m going to risk telling you the secret in the beginning, but here it is:

Drawings are basically an opportunity to try out the design and work out the kinks before it’s built.

There I said it. Shortest blog ever! (Definitely anything written by me- I know how verbose I am, but I have important things to say)

Ok, ok, so maybe you have some follow up questions to that. Let’s address the ones that didn’t know you needed drawings to do a renovation (assuming you don’t need a permit- because we’re not going to entertain the idea that you’re passing up the opportunity to protect your biggest investment- for some of you literally- to save a bit of time or money). “But my brother did a renovation and his contractor did the renovation without hiring a designer and it worked out fine.”

Let me ask you some follow up questions for your brother: Did everything come out right the first time? Did it come out exactly as he had expected? Even better one: How many times did he get a call from the contractor to make a decision or come show them how he wanted something done?

Hm. So maybe didn’t come out as well as we’d all like? This is NOT THE CONTRACTORS FAULT. Read that over again please. They are not clairvoyant, nor are they typically trained in any way to be a decorator or designer or interior designer. This means someone needs to tell them how they want things, and if no one writes any of that down, it needs to ALL be conveyed in person, which is a LOT of time. But I don’t need to tell you that if you’ve ever done a renovation without a designer or decorator of some kind to help.

So maybe these drawing things are starting to make more sense (hopefully some of you are amused by this point and wondering when I’ll get to something useful for you- high five!). I can tell the best contractors immediately when I meet them and we discuss construction drawings and how we do them at Sanura Design (and how a Registered Interior Designer is trained to do them, period). We usually bond over having to construct something with no drawings and some gestures, or being asked to help design a space with the clients when it isn’t what they signed up for. (We also bond over some unfortunate practices amongst Architects- please stop trying to put everything on one drawing, guys! Spread out the information so the lay person can read it!)

So what’s our special sauce? It’s actually really simple, if a lot of hard work.

We document everything. I’m not exagerating in the least- a master bathroom might have 7 drawings attached to it. That sounds like a lot, but it’s amazing for the contractor (and honestly if I wanted to spend most of my day on a job site, I would have become a contractor)- he knows exactly what tiles we’re putting in where, how they’re laid out, where the plumbing fixtures are going, where to install the bathroom accessories, all the details of the custom millwork, where to hang the mirror, what lighting fixtures are going in and exactly where to install them, and the list goes on!).

Imagine how easy it is to price a project when you know exactly what’s going in- and typically this means better pricing for the homeowner. You know exactly how much your project will cost before anything is ordered and anything is demolished or constructed.

Remember when I said drawings allow Interior Designers to test out ideas and work our the kinks in advance? They also allow us to change the scope of work/design to suit your budget better without wasting time and money during the construction process. Drawings also allow us to collaborate with contractors during the design process to get budgetary feedback and their expertise.

So hopefully you’re coming around. Congratulations! Now you’re well informed enough to decide if you need to hire an interior designer or if you’re happier doing this yourself. That’s always my goal!

And if you just decided you’d rather not take on the full time job of managing and designing your own renovation, you know where to find us!