How to Help a Client Visualise a Project When You Can’t Meet

Inspiration photos, moodboards, 3D models, sample boxes and even drones can help to bridge the gap in remote meetings

Erin Carlyle 7 January 2021

Former Houzz Editorial Staff. Writing about the cost of renovation and what it takes to remodel. Former Forbes real estate reporter. Fascinated by cool homes, watching the bottom line.

Former Houzz Editorial Staff. Writing about the cost of renovation and what it takes... More

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As a design pro, you’re no doubt skilled at visualising what a project will look like when it’s completed – it’s one of the things that makes you good at your work. You’ve probably also found that many of your clients don’t share this talent.

Communicating visual information is challenging enough when you can meet with clients in person, but remote meetings bring additional obstacles. We spoke to design pros to find out how they help clients to visualise a project when meeting remotely. Read on for their tips, then please share your own in the Comments.

Zulufish

Capture the power of photos
The good news is that many of the tools that work to communicate visual information with clients when you meet in person can still be helpful when those meetings are done remotely. Photos, for instance, can be helpful in guiding clients through design choices even in a virtual conversation.

“I use a ton of photos,” US designer Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery of Wor kroom C in California says. On a recent remote project to help her client decide on the details of a bench seat for the home’s mudroom, for example, Carolyn searched for photos of modern mudrooms on Houzz and shared examples with the client over a videoconference call.

The photos helped her client “isolate all of the details in a way she completely understood”, Carolyn says. The designer was able to forward the selected details to the drafter to come up with the bench design.

Photos are helpful not only for communicating design ideas mid-project, but also for demonstrating to a client that you understand their vision and aesthetic and will be able to create a project they’ll love. “Using photos is always huge for us,” Carolyn says. “This is often the way I’ll close on a project.”

Woodhouse and Law

Create a moodboard or concept board
A classic way to convey visual information is, of course, a moodboard, which allows clients to quickly see the overall plan for a room. While some designers still make physical moodboards, there are plenty of ways to do it on a computer and share it with clients digitally.

For the project mentioned earlier, Carolyn created a 30-page PowerPoint presentation with a slide for every room and deck. You can also use Houzz Pro to create moodboards to share with your clients; these boards can also be presented over a video call.

Landscape designer Anna Brooks, of Arcadia Gardens in Michigan, helps clients visualise their projects by creating plant palettes and compiling concept boards (essentially moodboards, but for landscape concepts). She also provides plan view drawings that show the design from above, so her clients can see how the layout will look relative to their overall property.

You might also like How to Use Houzz to Help You Work Remotely.

Jenny Bloom Garden Design

Leverage the possibilities of 3D
When it’s helpful, Anna also uses 3D tools to help her clients visualise a project. “We do use a landscape design software program that simultaneously creates a 3D model as we create the 2D drawings. So, in some instances, we can easily generate a model of what their project will look like if it’s more complicated or changes the exterior appearance of the existing buildings significantly,” she says.

Examples of when 3D would be helpful in her practice include when the design involves adding a trellis, an arbour or a screened porch to an existing residence, or changing siding and veneer colours.

Designer Tiara Holloway, of Vivacious Interior by Tiara in Virginia, has used the 3D tools within Houzz Pro to help her clients understand how to lay out furniture when she can’t be there to oversee installation. One such client was [the owner of] a hair salon, for which Holloway created an e-design.

“A week later, furniture started coming in and she was lost on how to set up,” Tiara says. So the designer quickly created a 3D floorplan using Houzz Pro and shared that with the client to guide her in laying out the furnishings. “She was actually able to set it up,” Tiara says. “It worked out perfectly.”

Architect Jimmy Crisp of Crisp Architects in New York, goes a step beyond digital 3D plans for some clients and makes physical models. “We build them simply and quickly,” he says. “We have a lot of printers and we print out the elevations of the buildings and apply them to foam core with little stick pins. I would say for most clients that’s the most effective way – they love it.” Typically, Jimmy delivers his 3D models to the clients in person, but he’s also posted them across the country.

Another tool Jimmy likes to use to help clients visualise is drones. “I have a couple of drones I use almost every week, where I’m taking site photos of construction and sending them to our clients or, if I’m meeting a new client, I can pick a drone up and show them exactly what the view will be from their second-storey bedroom window.” Jimmy also shares these drone images with clients via email or an online file-sharing program.

Folds Inside Ltd

Send samples
While technology allows the sharing of visual information with clients, some elements of the design and decision-making process aren’t ideal done remotely.

“I have a client who’s trying to select paint colours right now. That’s almost impossible to do remotely,” Carolyn says. “I’ve been sending him colours off the paint [card] and telling him to get [tester pots and try them out on the walls].” But without Carolyn seeing the light in the room in person, the decision-making process becomes more challenging for the client, so she’ll need to visit the site to help him make a final selection.

Similarly, for the project mentioned earlier, Carolyn will eventually need to travel across the country “to ensure correct furniture placement, add accessories, select and place art, and generally finesse the end result and bring it all together”, she says.

For items such as fabric, tiles or flooring, it can be pretty hard for clients to make a decision without seeing the materials in person. “If you can, send a sample box,” Danielle Perkins of Danielle Interior Design & Decor in California suggests. “Physical touch and really getting that emotional connection to the pieces [can help],” she says.

Tell us…
Which of these tips would work best to help your clients visualise a project? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

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Jan Evans

I love the idea of a scaled 3D model where pieces can be moved around to see and feel the space. This would especially help in placing fixed items eg plumbing, gas, electric, and to see how much room there would b when opening doors, loading washers and dishwashers etc. 2D just doesn't give the same feel. Ideally I would like the shell built and THEN decide where everything would go, but as services need to be done in the early stages, this seems impossible - once they're in, they're in.

Like 9 May 2021 at 9:22am