There’s no need for you to sift through interviewing contractors and hoping the team you put together works well together.

Our greatest resource is our team of designers, project managers, vendors, makers, craftspeople, artisans, installers, and contractors. We manage the entire design and renovation process; from conceptualizing the design, to project managing the renovation, down to placing the last pillow. This assures that our design is executed with the utmost quality and efficiency.

Our team is extremely talented. You’ll see.

However, if you already have a Contractor or Architect that you feel more comfortable with or have already started working with, we will do our best to ensure your project is handled with the utmost care.

A home equity or construction loan would be a great way to finance your dream project. This allows you to complete your project now, while paying for it over time. You only make payments on what you actually borrow, not the entire loan.

If there is a large construction project happening, the bank will use the plans and budget for the home appraisal. They will base the loan amount on the future value, not the current home value. This allows you to use the future value of the home to pay for those improvements now.

Helpful resources:

5 Basic Types of Mortgage Loans

What Are Residential Home Loans?

As every project is different, Heather will meet with you and assess the scope of work and determine the design fee accordingly. Full-service interior design is a flat design fee per project. You and Heather will work together to determine the appropriate investment amount for your project based on the quality of furnishings and historical purchasing amounts.

All purchasing and execution goes through us.

Your purchase of interior design items (i.e. furniture, tile, fixtures, fabrics and other design materials) through us will serve as payment for our services during the Purchasing and Execution Phase. We charge commercially reasonable “retail” prices.

We have developed and refined our process and are not willing to deviate from it. We do not offer options in design presentations, as we find that when we provide options, we end up with a very “vanilla” design. Meaning, everything has to be interchangeable, which is not how we develop layered, thoughtful, and detailed designs. Our true value is in putting together the mix. Options greatly detract from that.

In addition, full-service interior design features to-the-trade pieces purchased through Heather Picinich Interiors. Although it may seem obvious in hindsight to swap out a few items for less expensive options, that isn’t how full-service interior design works. Our agreement is that we set a investment estimate together, then furnishings are purchased through Heather Picinich Interiors. This is the business model that we have to stick to make our flat fees functional as a business.

We require 100% deposit on all orders for many reasons. One of our favorite responses (loosely quoted by Tobi Fairley) is: “If, after placing an order, you decide you don’t want that sofa, I can assure you that I don’t want it either.”

Once a custom order is placed, it is non-refundable.

We’ve had clients go through tough times that pulled them away from the project. While it is completely understandable that someone dealing with a personal crisis can’t focus on the design project, the custom orders already set into motion cannot be paused or cancelled, which means production will conclude and balances will be due. Basically, we’re a design firm, not a bank.

Those examples aside, there are many benefits to paying 100% up front:

• It cuts paperwork in half (instead of billing for a deposit and final invoice).

• Since we do turn-key project installations (where we do one delivery after all of the orders are in at our local receiver’s warehouse), you would still be required to pay for items in full prior to receiving them.

• Projects move more quickly this way, as it makes the entire order process more efficient and allows us to complete your project quicker.

Here’s an example to illustrate our point:
 Our vendors won’t ship your items until they are paid in full, so in the case of a 50% deposit, we would then pay our vendors 50%. They would send us an invoice when the item is ready to ship. We then send you a balance-due invoice. We process your payment, then pay our vendor. Some vendors still send paper invoices and only take checks, so this can add a week or two to the lead time.

Depending on the scope of your project, you can expect to receive the conceptual design presentation within 4-8 weeks after our initial consultation. This is where the overall design direction for the project starts to take shape. We will provide to-scale floor plans, inspiration boards, initial selections, and an updated investment estimate for approval and ensure that we are on the right track before finalizing all the details.