JHD’s Full-Service Design Process | Part I
Most people who hire a full-service interior designer for the first time aren't entirely sure what they're signing up for. They know they want the result — a home that works beautifully and feels like them — but the process between the first conversation and installation day is less clear. What actually happens? Who makes which decisions? What does the client do, and what does the designer do?
This post answers those questions, at least for the first half of the project. The design and planning phase — from the initial conversation through the point where construction begins — is where the most important work happens, and it's also the phase most clients understand least before they've been through it.
Part II will cover construction through installation day. But the first half is worth understanding on its own, because it's where a full-service project either gets set up for success or doesn't.
The First Conversation
Before anything is agreed to or signed, we talk. Usually a phone call or video call — thirty minutes, sometimes a little more. I want to understand what you're working with: the home, the scope, what's driving you crazy about the current situation, and what you're hoping the finished project feels like. You're also figuring out whether I'm the right person for this project, which matters as much as whether the project is right for me.
I take twelve projects a year. I'm selective about which ones I take on — not because of budget thresholds, but because the relationship has to work. A full-service project is a long engagement, often a year or more, and it requires trust and honest communication from both sides. The first conversation is where that starts.
If it seems like a good fit, we move toward a proposal.
The Proposal and Agreement
The proposal outlines the scope of the project, the fee structure, and the terms of the engagement. It's specific — not a vague document designed to cover every possible situation, but a clear description of what this project involves and what I'm committing to.
I work on a project-based fee for full-service engagements. The fee covers design development, specification, contractor coordination, procurement management, and installation oversight — everything from the first drawing to the day the furniture arrives. It's paid in phases tied to project milestones rather than in one lump sum upfront.
Once the agreement is signed and the initial deposit is received, we schedule the discovery session and the project begins.
Discovery: Understanding How You Actually Live
The discovery session is the foundation of everything that follows. It's typically two to three hours in your home, and it's not a design meeting — it's a listening session.
I want to know how you actually use the spaces we're working with. Not the aspirational version, the real one. Where does the mail pile up? How does your morning routine work in the primary suite? Does anyone actually use the formal dining room, or does the family eat in the kitchen? Where do kids do homework? Where do you land when you get home?
These questions produce design direction that a mood board can't. They surface the friction points — the places where the current layout fails the life being lived in it — and they establish what the finished home needs to accomplish beyond looking beautiful.
I also ask about what you love that you don't want to lose. The piece of furniture that's been in three houses. The artwork that has to stay. The room that actually works and shouldn't be touched. These anchors shape the design as much as the problems do.
By the end of the discovery session I have enough to begin. You have a sense of what the process feels like. And we're working from a shared understanding of what this project is supposed to become.
Design Development
This is the phase where the project takes shape on paper before anything happens in the real world — which is exactly the point. Every decision made in design development is a decision that doesn't get made under construction pressure, which is where expensive mistakes happen.
Space planning comes first. Before any finish is selected or any furniture is sourced, the layout has to work. Floor plans, furniture layouts, traffic flow, the relationship between spaces — these are resolved at this stage. If there are structural changes involved, this is when I'm reviewing those decisions in concert with the architectural drawings and flagging anything that affects the interior design before the contractor starts work.
The finish schedule follows. Every material in the project gets specified: flooring, tile, countertops, cabinetry, hardware, plumbing fixtures, paint colors, lighting fixtures. Each decision is made in relationship to the others — not selected individually in different showrooms at different times, but developed as a cohesive package that reads as intentional throughout the home.
Finishes are sourced from trade vendors, stone yards, custom fabricators, and specialty suppliers. Not everything is available through retail, and the trade relationships I've built over 24 years produce options and pricing that aren't accessible without a designer.
Millwork and built-in design. Custom cabinetry, built-in shelving, fireplace surrounds, and any other millwork are drawn in detail at this stage. Those drawings go to the cabinet shop, who produces shop drawings for my review and approval before anything is fabricated. The approval step is what ensures what gets built matches what was designed rather than what the cabinet maker interpreted from a sketch.
The design presentation. When design development is complete, I present the full design to you — space plans, finish selections, millwork drawings, furniture plan, and the overall design direction rendered clearly enough that you can visualize the finished result. This isn't a one-way presentation. It's a working meeting where we review, refine, and confirm direction before anything moves into procurement or construction.
Most clients leave the design presentation feeling something they didn't expect: relief. The decisions are made. The vision is clear. What had been a vague and slightly anxious set of possibilities is now a specific, considered plan.
Contractor Coordination and Bid Review
Once the design is approved, the project moves toward construction. If you already have a contractor, I coordinate with them directly — sharing the design documents, reviewing their questions, and aligning on the scope before work begins. If you don't have a contractor yet, I make introductions from the relationships I've built with contractors in Centennial, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, and Castle Pines over years of local work.
The bid process is where having a complete design package pays off most visibly. Contractors bidding from a full set of specifications can price the project accurately. There are no vague line items, no "allowances" that end up being insufficient, no surprises when selections are made. You're comparing real bids for the same scope rather than trying to evaluate proposals that each interpreted the project differently.
I review the bids with you — not to make the decision for you, but to explain what you're looking at and flag anything worth questioning. A bid that's significantly lower than others usually has a reason. A contractor who asks the right questions during the bid process is usually the one who performs best during construction.
Where Part I Ends
By the time the contractor is selected and the contract is signed, the design is complete and the project is ready to build. That's the end of Part I — the phase that determines what gets built.
Part II covers what happens next: construction, site visits, substitution management, procurement, and the installation day that brings everything together. That's where the design becomes real.
But the work that happens before construction starts is what makes everything after it possible.
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