Navigating budgets while designing

By Kryssie Maybay, Kismet Design, APLDWA President-Elect
All Photos courtesy of Kismet Design

Get all the information up front before designing

Plan markups for value engineering/phasing

Budgets are an important and undeniable part of design. The design, no matter how beautiful it is, will never be installed if your client doesn’t have the funds to implement it. One of the biggest challenges as a designer can be to design within a budget. Sometimes the best ideas are the most expensive and knowing what ideas to present and which not to can be tricky.  As we navigate designing within budgets here are the 3 most common mistakes:

1. Not discussing or determining your client’s budget up front

   Before the pencil touches the paper, it is important to have a conversation about what your client's budget is for the project. This will allow you to create a better design and have a smoother process. But what about the client who says they don’t know what their budget is? We've all heard it.  Maybe they haven’t done the math yet, maybe they worry that if they say it, you will spend it all when they could’ve gotten the project cheaper (we all know how unlikely that is). Sometimes the best way to get an idea is to throw out some big numbers to see where their panic point is.

2. Setting realistic expectations on the need for compromise or phasing
   Not every client has a budget that is realistic for their wish list. Having the conversation the moment you realize the mismatch will help alleviate stress, disappointment, and frustration later. I find that a large portion of my clients need to prioritize, phase, and compromise to get their project within their price range. One mistake that can be easily made is not understanding clearly the budget the client expressed as a total budget vs. a per-phase budget. There is a big difference between a 100k project and a 100k per phase project.

3. Not knowing the cost of the elements or materials specified in a design
   Each installer will have a different price for each task and material, especially those materials requiring a specific skillset. Masonry is a great example of a design element that can vary widely depending on who does the work. It is ok to tell your clients this. It is like artwork- some clients are ok with the print they can get at Ikea, others only want an original piece by an artist they follow. Neither is right or wrong- but the mentality informs how they spend their money and the value they place on originality and craftsmanship. Having the conversation with your client about the price differences between using concrete, pavers, or mortar set natural stone for their patio can set the design expectations in the right direction.

Left to right: Mortar-set bluestone $$$, sand-set pavers $$, crushed stone $

When discussing budgets with clients, it helps to convey that you are inquiring out of respect for both their money and their time. We don’t always get it right. We have all had mistakes and misses but the more we educate ourselves and the more we practice the awkward money conversations, the better we get at it.

Now that you know the budget, you’ve discussed the potential need for phases or compromises, and you know what materials might be out of range for the project, how do you design the project to the budget?

Landscape Design Planting Plan

The number one tip for ensuring your designs fits the budget is to use your resources. Fellow designers are a fantastic resource and the range of experience and expertise among fellow designers ranges so widely that it can be very helpful, especially when proposing new materials. Your contractors are going to be the most valuable resource for verifying that your design meets the client’s budget. Your contractor wants your client to be as happy as you do. They have the expertise to look at the design and see where accessibility might dictate material cost hikes you don’t see. They are pricing materials out daily and have a much larger knowledge base on current pricing. This is where each designer's process will vary. Some have pricing ranges that they use to check materials themselves while they design, others start the bidding process while they are still designing, while others may simply send their designs to their contractor to get a quick visual ‘am I in the range’ check.

Information is power. The more information you have, the better you can communicate with your clients and the smoother the transition from design to installation will go.

A budget turns a design from a dream into a plan.