Avoid the pitfalls of indecision and shifting plans with these easy solutions to inspire confidence in your customers.

A renovation project with minimal changes throughout is the dream when it comes to getting things finished on time, on budget and stress-free. However, this can be hard to achieve when clients change their minds halfway through. Read on to find some tried-and-tested strategies from professionals to help avoid constant indecision — and deal with a change of mind when it does arise.

Start Slowly

The best way to avoid a change of mind midway through a project is to take the time to plan thoroughly early on. Make sure to get to know in depth what the clients are trying to achieve — and sometimes why. Then, think through and make particular design decisions, having already borne in mind and discarded other possibilities. Invest a lot of time in the initial stages of a project, working out what it is a client really wants and carefully separating the reality from the images they see online.

This can be a slow process, but it’s well worth it and means everyone is very much on the same page before a project starts. Its important not to dictate design ideas to clients, but instead help draw out of them their preferred aesthetic and direction. Again, this avoids uncertainty further down the line and means they’re truly comfortable with the scheme, which has been carefully pulled together to reflect their personality and lifestyle.

Keep Talking

As a project gets underway, there might be extra decisions that need to be made. The key to ensuring client confidence throughout is to keep communicating. Having regular meetings — whether virtual or in person — is a vital way of ensuring the client has a good grasp of the proposals. This is applicable at the early stages when discussing concepts, but equally at later stages, for example to agree a lighting layout.

Take advantage of the tools that allow you to share daily logs with your clients, as well as schedule regular video meetings. You can also quickly create detailed 3D drawings, moodboards and proposals to help your client visualize their project and make instant decisions when needed.

Provide Plenty of Information

To feel confident in their decisions, clients need to know exactly what those decisions are. You can help this process by ensuring designs are presented clearly. Homeowners often find it difficult to visualize how the proposals will actually look. It’s important to understand that many can’t fully understand plans, section and elevations. We frequently use 3D modelling software to provide 3D visuals and walk-throughs to help provide a greater understanding of the proposals. Really detailed designs based on accurate ‘as existing’ survey drawings are key, so we’ve identified and thought through all aspects of the space before starting on site. A really detailed specification of the building works needed, together with a full, costed second fix list, with the aim that as little as possible is ‘up for grabs’ when work actually starts on site. Often, someone changing their mind mid-project is because they have to make a decision they didn’t know they were going to have to make. Anticipate all of these moments before starting and make sure the full picture is agreed and understood in advance.

Plan for Changes

Its important to be realistic about altered plans during a project. Clients do sometimes change their minds for good reason — more money becoming available, for instance. We must accept that changes can happen and do happen, and often this can be a positive. If this does happen, it’s important to understand when this can happen without causing significant cost increases. Try to help clients understand that making changes when construction has started can be a costly process. Changing minds during a planning application will result in additional cost arising out of additional design fees, even more so at later stages when other consultants — engineers, for example — might need to make amendments, resulting in additional fees.

Design in Flexibility

By being open to clients changing their minds at some point, either during a project or even afterward, you can take positive early action. Try to create flexibility in interior layouts where possible to allow for changes either during construction or even after completion. Allowing for plasterboard walls that are not load-bearing and can be removed easily mid-construction or indeed after construction is sensible. With that in mind, discussing ‘future-proofing’ is also sensible, talking through what changes may or may not be required in advance of any construction to accommodate growing families or changing family dynamics — multigenerational households, for example.