Process, Costs & Planning · 9 min read
The Initial Consultation with an Interior Designer: How to Prepare and What We Ask
It is the evening before the call. You sit at the dining table with a blank sheet of paper and a pen that does not move, because you do not know where to begin. Now imagine the call a day later: you talk about your mornings, someone listens, and the blank sheet fills with exactly the points you were worried about forgetting.
Let us call them the H. family. A house in Perchtoldsdorf, built in 1974, lived in for twelve years. The two children are teenagers now, and the house feels both too big and too cramped. The kitchen is closed off, the living room dark, and on the first floor there is a room in which, for years, only cardboard boxes have lived. Mrs H. has booked an initial consultation. What should she prepare? What will she be asked? And what if she does not know exactly what she wants? This article answers precisely these questions.
Contents
- What happens in the initial consultation
- The questions we ask in the initial consultation
- What you should prepare
- Photos and floor plan: how to make them useful
- Talking about budget and timeframe
- The project sheet: what emerges after the initial consultation
- Questions you should ask us
- Frequently asked questions
- What happens next
What happens in the initial consultation
An initial consultation is the first structured conversation between client and interior designer. It clarifies what the project is about, which rooms are affected, which frame is realistic and whether both sides suit one another. It is neither a sales pitch nor planning, but a joint stocktake of the starting point.
At Richard Atelier the initial consultation lasts 30 minutes. It is free and takes place by phone or video, whichever you prefer. Video has the advantage that you can briefly show us a room. The phone has the advantage that you can walk through the flat while talking, without having to watch a screen.
The sequence is simple. In the first few minutes you tell us what you are planning and why. Then we ask questions that help place the project. At the end we discuss the next steps, and you leave with an honest first assessment. How this first appointment fits into the overall project sequence is described in the article Working with an interior designer.
Many people wait until they know exactly what they want. Meanwhile the drawer keeps sticking, the room stays dark and the box room stays full of boxes, a little friction every day that you stop noticing. A conversation costs nothing and clears the fog faster than another year of waiting. So what will we ask you?
The questions we ask in the initial consultation
Our guiding question is not "How should the room look?" but "How would you like to live?" The concrete questions follow from that. These eight come up in almost every initial consultation:
- What is the occasion? A purchase, a move, a new phase of life, or has something simply stopped being right?
- Which rooms are affected? The whole flat, the whole house, or individual areas such as kitchen, bathroom or wardrobes?
- What does not work in daily life? Where do you get in each other's way, where is space lacking, where is light lacking?
- Who lives here, and how? Who cooks, who works from home, who gets home when, how often are guests here?
- What should stay? Furniture, floors, heirlooms, art that should be worked into the planning.
- What timeframe do you have in mind? Is there a fixed date, such as a move-in or the start of the school year?
- What budget frame do you have in mind? Not as an exact figure, but as an order of magnitude.
- What have you already tried or clarified? Are there plans, quotes, conversations with the property management?
Mrs H. was relieved that none of these questions demands a design decision. Nobody asks about fronts or tiles in the initial consultation. It is about her life in the house, and she knows more about that than anyone else. Why this look at daily life comes first is explained in the article A life concept instead of furnishing.
You do not have to know what your home should look like. It is enough to know how you would like to live in it.
What, then, should you have ready?
What you should prepare
Good preparation takes less than an hour. This checklist helps make the conversation as productive as possible:
- Three priorities. What absolutely has to change? If your list is longer, mark the three most important points.
- A list of irritations. Small things that bother you every day: the drawer that sticks, the socket that is missing, the switch in the wrong place.
- A wish list. What would be nice, even if it is not necessary?
- Photos of the rooms concerned. More on this in the next section.
- A floor plan. If you have one, from the purchase contract, the developer or the property management. A hand sketch with dimensions is also helpful.
- Pictures you like. From magazines, hotels, travels. Pictures you do not like are just as valuable.
- An idea of budget and timeframe. More on this below.
For couples and families it is worth making the lists together. It often emerges even then that one person sees the kitchen as the biggest problem and the other the bathroom. That is not a conflict but important information for the planning.
What you do not need to prepare: material decisions, colour ideas, brand wishes or finished floor plans. If you already have ideas on these, do tell us, but nobody expects them in the initial consultation. Nor do you need to be able to answer whether a wall is load-bearing or whether a shower can be level-access. That is exactly what the site survey is for.
Photos and floor plan: how to make them useful
After the initial consultation we ask you for photos and, if you have one, a floor plan. The project sheet is produced from these. To make sure the photos really help, there are a few simple rules.
Photograph each room from at least two corners, so that all walls are visible. Capture details that might matter: radiators, windows, sockets, connections in kitchen and bathroom, ceiling lights, transitions between rooms. Photograph in daylight and switch the lights on anyway, so that the existing lighting can be seen.
For the floor plan a simple drawing is often enough. If you do not have one, sketch the rooms roughly and measure the most important lengths with a tape measure or a laser. Accuracy is not decisive at this stage; we take the exact measurements during the site survey. The H. family had found the original plan of the house from 1974 in the cellar, with pencil notes from the grandfather. For us it was a small treasure. And the part many people avoid?
Talking about budget and timeframe
Many people hesitate to talk about money in the initial consultation. The worry is understandable: whoever names a figure fears that it will be used up. In practice it is the other way round. Without a frame, no sensible proposals can be made. A concept that costs twice the possible budget helps nobody.
An order of magnitude is enough. What a bathroom, a kitchen or a complete concept costs depends on floor area, depth of intervention, fixtures and materials, and a reliable estimate emerges in the initial consultation. The article What does a complete interior concept cost? explains the connections in more detail.
It is similar with the timeframe. If there is a fixed date, say so straight away. Then we can assess whether it is realistic and which decisions have to be made early. How long a renovation actually takes from idea to moving in is described in the article on the realistic timeline. What do you take away from the call?
The project sheet: what emerges after the initial consultation
The project sheet is a compact summary of the project based on the initial consultation, your photos and the floor plan. It records what we have understood and is the shared basis for all further steps.
| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| Starting point | Property, location, size, condition, rooms concerned |
| Occasion and goals | Why now, what should change, priorities |
| Daily life | Who lives here, how, what does not work |
| Frame | Order of magnitude for budget, timeframe, fixed dates |
| Open questions | Structural engineering, pipework, consents, existing fabric |
| Next steps | Site survey, documents needed |
The project sheet is non-binding. You can read it at your leisure, discuss it with your family and correct it if something is not right. For the H. family, the open questions included, for instance, whether the wall between kitchen and living room is load-bearing and whether the box room could become a study with a guest bed. Both were clarified during the site survey. How things go on after the project sheet is told in the story From the first line to moving in.
The project sheet is the moment when a conversation becomes a shared understanding.
Questions you should ask us
An initial consultation is not a one-way street. You should find out whether we suit your project. These questions are helpful for that:
- Who is my point of contact during the project?
- Who carries out the work, and who coordinates the tradespeople?
- How are budget and deadlines managed and communicated?
- Which similar projects have you already completed?
- What happens if something unexpected turns up on site?
At Richard Atelier the answer to the first two questions is: one point of contact from the first line to handover, and the bespoke built-ins are made and installed by the joinery Tischlerkultur, founded in 1935 and now run by the third generation. What this means is explained in the article Planning and execution from a single source. You will find selected projects under References, and the people behind them on the Team page.
If a house like the H. family's is to be rethought after the children have moved out, the article The children have moved out is also worth reading beforehand. And anyone who wants to redesign a whole house will find the sequence at a glance in the article Redesigning a whole house.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the initial consultation take and what does it cost?
At Richard Atelier the initial consultation lasts 30 minutes and is free of charge. It takes place by phone or video. Afterwards, on the basis of your photos and the floor plan, you receive a project sheet with the starting point and next steps.
Do I have to know exactly what I want?
No. It is enough to know what does not work in daily life and what matters to you. Translating that into floor plan, lighting and materials is the job of the planning. Many clients have only a vague idea before the initial consultation, and that is perfectly fine.
What should I prepare for the initial consultation?
Helpful are three priorities, a list of the things that bother you in daily life, photos of the rooms concerned, a floor plan or sketch, and an idea of budget and timeframe. Pictures you like or dislike are a good addition. Nothing more is needed, and if something is missing, we work with what you have.
Why should I talk about my budget in the initial consultation?
Because sensible proposals can only be made with a frame. An order of magnitude is enough, not an exact figure. That way both sides avoid plans that cannot be carried out later, and nothing you say is held against you.
What is a project sheet?
The project sheet is a compact summary of your project after the initial consultation. It contains the starting point, goals, daily life, frame, open questions and the next steps. It is non-binding and serves as a shared basis for further collaboration.
Is the initial consultation binding?
No. The initial consultation and the project sheet commit you to nothing. Afterwards you decide at your leisure whether you wish to continue with the site survey.
