Thank you for choosing us!
Thank you for expressing interest in Waldron Designs for your design project. We sincerely appreciate it and do everything to ensure that our clients are happy with our services. Our first step in doing this is being transparent and communicative. Design is an extremely complex business structure, and we have so much to tell you that we would hold a series of courses if we could! Therefore, It is very important that all documents provided be read thoroughly to ensure that you are at no point left in the dark.
We recommend bookmarking this page for future reference.
Company Policies (Important read!)
Who we are…
At Waldron Designs, we do not just provide a design for your space. We develop creative solutions, curating designer spaces. Our designs establish a holistic effect, considering every detail in your space while maintaining a focus on healthy, quality, and sustainable results.
Sustainable design is a key aspects of what we do, and we are constantly striving to do better. We are a great fit for you if you are looking to avoid plastic products and off-gassing products, and are looking to reduce your carbon footprint. We are happy to work with you to find substitutes for these commonly used products.
We bring energy and enthusiasm, designing and building with passion for the utmost quality. We will utilize our design skills and passion to create a personalized designer paradise. The services we provide are:
Full-Service Design, from the Foundation to the Finish Decor
Interior Architectural Design
Architecture
Space Planning
Kitchen & Bath Design
Permit Drawings & Application*
Custom Furniture Design, Construction, and Delivery
Stylizing and Accessorizing*
*These services are available in accompaniment of full-service design.
Rates
Principal Designer: $190/hour
Principal Architect: $190/hour
Junior Designer: $90/hour
Fee Schedule for more information
Project Minimums
In order to offer an optimal experience to all parties, we maintain strict criteria in how we choose our clients and projects. Listed below are our project minimums.
Design Fees: 5k minimum
Decoration Project: 20k furniture budget minimum
Check out our budgeting article here.
How we bill
We bill for time and materials, with a deposit required at certain points during the project to initiate services.
Our pre-design services (the kick-off phase), requires a $2,000 deposit. We bill immediately from this deposit and any remaining fee is either credited toward the next phase or is returned.
Once we kick off design, a two-part deposit is required, $5,000 for design and $500 for Construction Administration. $5,000 will be applied at the end of design (when construction documents are delivered), and the $500 deposit is applied toward Construction administration. Both of these deposits are non-refundable and are applied only to their design phase.
Trade Discounts & Sourcing
One of the perks of working with a designer is having access to trade-only vendors and taking advantage of our discounts. Please note the purchasing guidelines below are for decoration projects only. We do not purchase products for construction - we leave this up to you and your installer with the exception of light fixtures!
We require that any items sourced by us must be purchased through us unless specifically noted otherwise.
Waldron Designs carefully curates designer products that are healthy for you and for the environment as well as meeting the high level of quality expected in a designer space. In order to maintain this premium character and maintain excellent relationships with our vendors, we ask that our clients do not seek out alternative showrooms, but instead communicate concerns so that we may remedy them.
All products purchased with a trade discount will come with a procurement fee, per our Fee Schedule. We also bill at our hourly rate. Our hourly rate covers our time to procure, and our procurement fee covers the liability involved in handling, storing, and moving products.
Ready to Schedule Your Site Intake?
Once we’ve had the opportunity to meet and set expectations from both sides, our next step for projects with existing structures is a visit to your site so that we may document your space briefly and discuss the project scope in more detail. If everything on this page looks good, you may help yourself to schedule your site intake below:
FAQ’s
How often do you bill?
We bill twice monthly, approximately the 15th and 30th of each month. Payment is due upon receipt. Any deposits made will be credited to your final invoice.
What increments do you bill in?
Rather than selling a product, we sell our expertise and therefore, our time. All time utilized on a project is billable, including travel time, email correspondence, phone calls, etc.
In order to prevent the overcharging method of “rounding up”, we use time-tracking software and clock in when we start work and clock out when we stop. This means that you will see time charges of 13 minutes or 8 minutes, which feels odd, but is a better deal than the standard method of rounding up to 15 minutes or 10 minutes!
What form of payment do you accept?
We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Apple Pay, or Check.
Can you provide references from past projects?
Our client’s time and privacy are valuable, so rather than provide their personal contact information, we ask each client to review us on Google at the end of each project. Not everyone has the time or energy to do this, but we do have several reviews for you to peruse here. We absolutely have a couple of negative reviews (very few) and we are happy to discuss what happened and how we learned from those experiences!
How do you prefer to communicate with clients?
Email is best with the phone being a close second. We like to track our conversations, to ensure that we are remembering every detail. Our construction crew may share their cell phone numbers for texting and we ask that this be used with discretion for time-sensitive matters.
Our firm is run and operated by parents, so our personal time is highly valuable time spent with our children. We are a strict 9:30 am - 4:30 pm firm, Monday through Thursday. The office is open on Fridays, but we utilize this time for site visits and paperwork.
What can I expect in terms of deliverables during the design process?
This is a complex question with a complex answer, so we took the time to write out some expectations for the design deliverables. The extent of the design deliverables will be defined in your agreement and are typically a summary of that phase with progress drawings and selections for your approval. We do not typically provide sketch work throughout the process and save presenting most work until we meet unless we have hit a challenge that requires discussion. More on this here.
The primary deliverable is our time and expertise. All documentation remains our intellectual property.
Can I make my own purchases/product selections?
Purchases for your project may be made prior to our inclusion or after. We ask that once we begin designing, the shopping stops. Unexpected purchases can put a kink in the design process, creating slowdowns and challenges for us in keeping on budget and on schedule.
We only need a partial design, a concept, can you do this?
After years of providing concept-only projects, being the people pleasers we are, it rarely goes well (once). So, we have discontinued this service.
However, we do offer very specific packages for remote consulting, one-time consultations, and ongoing consulting services per our fee schedule. These consulting services do not include documentation (no drawings, aside from loose sketches). They are primarily verbal and via email.
How long does it take?
MINIMUM Design timeline for a single space is 6 weeks. Some averages below:
Kitchen design: 6-week minimum (8-10 week recommendation)
Bathroom design: 6-week minimum (8-10 week recommendation)
Complete interior renovation design: 15-week minimum (18-24 week recommendation, depending on complexity)
Home addition design: 18-week minimum (24-40 week recommendation)
New home design: 20-week minimum (30-52 week recommendation)
Consider the time of permitting:
Minor interior structural changes: 2-3 weeks for permitting
Major interior structural changes: Allow 8-10 weeks for permitting
Home additions and new construction: Minimum 8 months for permitting (COVID timeline)
There is a pause between design and construction:
Procurement and the proper planning of your project take time. This may take anywhere from one month to three months once all drawings are complete and selections are made for us to coordinate and organize your project, ensuring a smooth flow once started.
Construction timelines:
The time estimates below are typical, but every project varies as does each contractor. Please talk to your contractor about your estimated timeline.
Kitchen remodel: 2-3 months
Bathroom remodel: 2-3 months
Complete interior renovation: 9+ months
Home addition 6+ months
New construction: 12-18+ months
COVID absolutely makes things take longer (yes, still). Ordering products means more email back and forth than would have previously happened in person. Additionally, items are back-ordered and deliveries are backed up. Read more here for more information on COVID delays.