Should I Go With The Interior Designer My Friend or Property Agent Recommended?

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Key Takeaways

A friend or property agent’s Interior Designer recommendation should still be checked for hidden incentives, credibility, and suitability.
Property agent recommendations may involve referral commissions that can be marked up into renovation costs.
Homeowners should do due diligence, check Facebook reviews and CaseTrust, and meet at least 5 renovators to compare budget fit, needs, vibes, and work ethics.

Tables of Content

The short answer is ‘It depends.’ Here are the 3 things you MUST consider objectively!

1. Does your property agent have a hidden agenda?

While some property agents genuinely want to help their clients settle in smoothly, it’s important to be aware of potential conflicts of interest.

In many cases, agents receive referral commissions from interior designers they recommend.

If they the amount of commissions they receive is significant, it might be "marked-up" into your renovation cost. That means you might end up paying more, or getting less, without even realising it!

It’s not about distrusting your agent, but, about understanding the incentives behind the referral so you can make an informed decision

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2. Your friend's good experience doesn't guarantee yours

When your friend suggests an interior designer, it usually means they trust them. So, working with that designer gives you a sense of reliability.

However, we suggest still doing your due diligence to check if the renovator is truly credible.

Renovation is the industry that receives the most complaints in Singapore – scams, shoddy works, delays, and unprofessionalism are rampant.

Before signing the contract, make sure that that they follow best consumer practices that will protect you before, during, and after the renovation e.g. deposit guarantees, itemised quotations, warranty, fair payment schedule etc.
‍Pro-Tip: Renovators with the CaseTrust mark undergo rigorous assessment which verifies that it has good consumer practices.

‍Check their Facebook reviews‍

Fake Reviews are rampant. Facebook is our preferred source of truth for its neutrality. Plus, you can easily check if reviewers are real people e.g. account activity, no. of friends, profile photo, account creation date etc. Google Reviews comes in 2nd but it is harder to spot fake reviews there.

Other tips for assessing quality include 1) requesting for relevant past projects and 2) asking them how they manage their sub-contractors.

3. What works for your friend might not work for you!

Again it comes down to ‘Suitability.’

We strongly recommend homeowners to meet at least 5 renovators in order to make meaningful and informed comparisons.

What does Suitability mean? What to look out for when comparing?

Budget Range Alignment

Ensure that your Renovator is comfortable with working within your budget range.

Some Renovators have minimum budget requirements while others prefer to work with a smaller budget. This is usually not stated upfront as Renovators may not want to lose the opportunity to work with you.

Having a mismatch of budget range can lead to issues such as ‘ghosting’ or ‘upselling.’

Try our reno cost calculator

Get a detailed renovation cost estimate based on the exact works you need. Backed by "real-world itemised pricing"

Get Cost Estimate

‍Your Specific Needs

Ultimately, it comes down to who is the most capable of understanding your specific needs and translating the ideas into reality.

Avoid the superficialities and focus on:

Lifestyle: Does the proposed renovation features and layout meet your lifestyle needs?
Aesthetics: Are the design concepts aligned with your aesthetic preferences?

Vibes and Work Ethics

Renovation is an intimate process that takes ~6-8 weeks to complete.

You want to make sure that you’re engaging someone vibe and work well with.

Apart from general ‘vibes’ and temperament, also assess them based on their work ethics e.g. how long do they take to respond to your messages and do they proactively update you or do you have to send reminders?

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We can help you find Trusted and Suitable Renovators based on your specific needs:

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