Team Spirit
As an experienced builder of high-end residential homes, Dominick understands the value of selecting your team members and coordinating all phases of the design before the shovel hits the ground. His approach to a project is: “Begin with the end in mind”. When building a new home, many people begin with an architect and a builder. Often, it isn’t until the drywall is put up that the Interior Designer is brought on board. Usually there is already a crisis forming as the client suddenly realizes that the only place left to install the towel bars are five feet away from the shower (I am not exaggerating).
When I look back on the most successful projects that I’ve worked on, the one thing they all had in common was that they were client driven. That means that the client hired the team at the beginning of the project. The architect, builder, interior designer (that’s me), landscape architect, home electronic and security specialists were all hired before the pencil hit the paper. The second key ingredient to success was that we all worked in the spirit of collaboration and mutual respect. Before the construction began, we had merged the layers into one set of completely detailed drawings.
Dominick shared many quotes with us, this one I especially liked: “Documentation is the formal transference of knowledge” – Rick Thoman
subscribe to blog
follow on twitter
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Karen Hill and I (Hansen + Hill INTERIORS) also attended Dominick’s presentation, which was very timely and “dead on”. Robin’s blog on this subject was succinct and superb. I love her writing style! As Dominick indicated, “It is the rare client that understands the importance of the team players. Everyone’s opinion is important…Put the project first…Talk to the Process, not to the Egos.” This valuable presentation strengthens how we “live” our design projects.
Robin,
Your article was well written. I applaud you for taking the time and effort to “spread the word”. For if more design professionals understood the process and more clients had trust in their team, so many of the headaches could be averted.
I am available anytime you need or want my perspective on this topic