So, you’re looking for a designer for your surgery – you’ve selected a couple of companies to compare costs and expertise. All of them have come back with a similar price and reasonable experience in surgery design. How do you make your final decision?
The Company Vs Actual Person. Where possible, speak to a couple of the designers previous clients to find out their experiences. Find out who they worked with in that particular design company. Chances are you might not have met the person that will be actually working on your project. You may have spoken to the director of the company, or their sales and marketing representative. It is unlikely that either of these people will be working directly on your project. It’s important to find out how many staff the company has and the experience of each of their designers.
Manage Vs Design. In all likelihood the person that you’re speaking to initially will assure you that all designs are overseen by the senior designer and/or the director of the company. From experience as both an employee and an employer, I know this doesn’t happen as much as people would like it to. Senior people in larger companies get pulled away by being onsite inspecting construction, talking to trades, following up leads AND running the business.
Experience Counts. I’m sure that even the most junior designer wouldn’t be working there if they didn’t have talent, but this doesn’t balance out the lack of experience. My advice is: be sure you know who will be likely to be looking after your project BEFORE you make you final decision on who you are going to work with. You need to meet this person and feel comfortable talking to them. If you have a comfortable working relationship with an experienced person chances are you will end up with the sort of result you are looking for. If you have found a designer to work with – tell us about how you made that choice and what advice you would give to others still in the hunt?
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