Contractors Vs Interior Designers

[scarletpica 0]

Sorry, a noob here. Don't know if this is the right forum section to ask, but here goes..

What is the difference between a contractor & a interior designer?

Is their job scope different?

Am i right to say that a contractor is useful if the owner already has an idea or layout of what to do with the flat? Whilst the ID is useful if the owner does not have any idea, thus needing the ideas of the ID?

In this case, owner have to pay for consultation/ "idea" services of the ID? If go direct to a contractor, can save such costs?

[applefreak 1]

yes you have basicaly summed it up

contractors basically just carry out what you want e.g. 10ft of bottom kitchen cabinet, install lights etc although most experienced contractors are able to give some ideas. dun expect drawings though

ID on the other hand provides consultation on everything from what kind of lights for where, what kind of furniture fits your theme and how best to maximise limited space.

personal view, for those who are getting a new place and plan to get everything new, ID would be a good choice esp if you have a specific theme e.g. resort or modern as a good ID will be able to advice accordingly. however, if like me you are shifting from a old place to a new one and will not be getting much furnitures, then a contractor should be good enough coz most prob the old furnitures are of different style anyway

[artintarch 0]

hi scarletpica,

i believe if u have an idea of your own house and knows how to run a project like getting the sub contractors to do for u, then its good juz to engage your own contractor. that will save u alot of money. this way u can do ur own project management urself and coordinate it coz contractors will do watever they will be asked nothing more nothing less but some experience contractors can actually give u advice but of coz the advice may not suit ur design intention coz contractors are laymen in design and will advice u based on the eyes, not to consider the praticality or the ergonomic function of the desire intention. if ur unlucky enough then they will start to advice u to use certain materials coz u noes wat their intention - based on experience, i had contractors insist to use a certain floor tiles by saying that its nice and watesoever but the fact that somehow or rather, the tiles they want to use are those stock clearence tiles and they could get it cheap but yet sell at retail price.same goes for other products. some products they can get higher commission so they will tend to focus that product. so, here we could see that the focus is making money on us house owner rather than making it beautiful.

the other firm is the contractor cum design firm. there are alot of these firm nowadays. these are actually contractor firm because they are run by contractors but they have an id as their employee. so again the overall design is control by the contractors.so again, somehow or rather u will receive something like the above praragraph that i explain but for this case, since an id did the design, u can get a better design house coz i believe , designing need knowledge and understanding in all expect about human relation towards the interiors if its an interior design. its more that about mix and match things inside an interior. thats why u could find dramatic interior homes in an id magazine - like formz, interior design , trends , architectural record and architectural review, a+d design and so on.

the last firm is the id firm or a consultancy firm. these are the most expensive firm among the 3. these firm are run by designers or architecs. these firms will actually run the whole project for u. they are the project management. that means, they will design for and and then source out all the contractors for u. they will have a few contractors with quotations for u to choose and they will advise u which one is better. it turns out that not the cheapest contractors are the best and not the most expensive contractors is the best, its about the workmanship and the professionalism. id firm are focus on the design and whatpeople dun realise is the id scope. they not only run the whole project like planning the time schedule, coordination, selection of furniture, they are the one whole actually even design the construction. u have to understand that to achieve a certain design, the id id have to understand the construction behind it. thats when the desire design could be produce and these are real id where they not onlie draw nice things but knows how to construct it. with this, it help to when doing coordination and instructing the contractors how to do it so that the desire design could be achieved. an id firm is an extension of u. its like giving ur house to them and making it theirs for a period of time and returning it back to u after the making it ur dream home. thats why if u realise when u engage and liase with an id, there are alot of interviewing and drawings before the actual work is done. this is done so that an id could understand what is ur dream home is like. then, from there, they will start to create a dream home for u. u must understand also, designing an interior is more that juz make it look nice from the eyes, its about human relation towards the space physically and mentally. to achieve that, the person doing it must have all the knowledge.

anyway this is my opinion from my experience. its up to individuals. try to differentiate between contractor , contractor with an id and an id firm in the website. look at the portfolio and u will see the difference.

[GnM 0]

i was also asking that question during my renovation search

like what artintarch said, if you have a clear idea exactly what you want, then it doesn't really matter... the bottomline is cost and workmanship

check out my blog, have detailed write up there

[MsPetite 0]

I was having the same inquiries too. Thanks guys for sharing. It's really helpful.