Interior designers have a bad rep on building sites for being demanding, difficult and dis-organised, but is this fair? In their drive for perfection, are interior designers their own worst enemy? Do designers efficiently provide the information needed by builders, or do contractors sometimes wilfully misunderstand their design intentions? What can designers and contractors do to make each other’s lives easier? In this episode, Jeff and Susie are joined by renowned interior designer Joanna Wood, Founder of Joanna Wood Interiors and Paul Fitzgerald, Founder and Managing Director of Hawksmoor Construction to answer these questions and more.

This episode was recorded as part of the Design Talks programme at Decorex 2025. Thanks to Decorex and to our episode partners, Sofas & Stuff for their support.

• (00:00:00) - Interior Designers: Difficult, Diva and Irrit
• (00:01:01) - Interior Design and Construction
• (00:01:48) - Both of the presenters start off with a brief introduction
• (00:03:22) - Do Interior Designers Have a Bad Reputation Among Contractors?
• (00:05:06) - Are Interior Designers Accused of Neglect?
• (00:05:54) - Do Interior Designers Have Prejudices About Their Jobs?
• (00:06:40) - Are Interior Designers Bad For Contractors?
• (00:11:02) - Projects and Construction Contractors
• (00:13:09) - Tender Process
• (00:16:41) - The quality of the Tender Pack
• (00:19:05) - Choosing a contractor
• (00:23:57) - Interior Designers: Do You Need a Contractor?
• (00:26:18) - Paul, have you ever refused to work with an interior designer on
• (00:28:26) - Paul and Joe: The Contractor Relationship
• (00:31:24) - How often do you need to go to site on a project?
• (00:32:59) - What's your biggest bugbear?
• (00:37:12) - Interiors Design: When Problems Occur, Do Designers Let
• (00:38:26) - What's the funniest, maddest thing a designer's
• (00:40:14) - The Worst Contractor Ever Do
• (00:42:26) - Inside The Interior Design Business Podcast

Taking The Strain - How To Be a Safe Pair of Hands. The only things in life more stressful than building or renovating a home are bereavement, divorce, and redundancy. And yet the finished result should be life-changing for the client and worth all the pain of the experience. To assist their clients, interiors designers must act as a safe pair of hands, ready to support and guide through the ups and downs of the design and project process, skilfully managing any unforeseen dramas, problems, or delays enroute. So, how can we best prepare and manage our clients to minimise the stress for them – and for ourselves, and emerge successful and feted at the finish line? Jeff and Susie are joined by two acclaimed interior designers Helen Bygraves, Co-Founder of Hill House Interiors and Christian Bense, Founder of Christian Bense to find out the best strategies behind achieving a stress-free project. This episode was a recorded in front of a live audience of designers at Decorex 2025. Thanks to Decorex and to our episode partners, Sofas & Stuff for their support.

• (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Interior Design Business
• (00:01:40) - Interior Designers
• (00:02:54) - Interior Designers on Vandalising a Home
• (00:04:51) - Having a career change in interior design
• (00:06:50) - Interior Design: The Client's Issues
• (00:09:24) - Does a stressy client affect your fee proposal?
• (00:11:43) - Project budgets and timescales
• (00:18:23) - Clients' emails and WhatsApp
• (00:22:41) - What do you do about clients' fear of making decisions?
• (00:24:51) - How should designers go about managing their clients expectations?
• (00:27:31) - Setting guidelines for the build phase
• (00:29:42) - Projects and the stresses of designing
• (00:32:42) - Interior Design Report
• (00:34:43) - How to Win the Client's Trust
• (00:36:41) - The Interior Design Business

It has often been said that interior design would be a great job if it wasn’t for the clients.

They can be unappreciative, indecisive, and unreasonable even when their project is on track and bellicose, belligerent, and litigious when things go wrong. In fact, the designer-client relationship which often begins as a love affair can sometimes end tragically in the bitterest of divorces.

But is there really such a thing an awkward client, or are any problems just down to poor communications? What can make a good client turn bad? And how can designers effectively manage this most important and sensitive of relationships? Jeff and Susie are joined by Simon Mayhew from Txtured and James Roberts from James Roberts Interiors to answer these and other questions in front of a live audience of designers at the Design Central North West event at Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire.

Thanks to our series partners Naturalmat for their support.

• (00:00:00) - Intro to the Interior Design Business
• (00:00:39) - An awkward Client
• (00:01:41) - Three of the Designers
• (00:03:06) - Getting Off On The Right Foot With Your Clients
• (00:04:53) - How To Lead a Design Team With Age
• (00:08:40) - How To Win A Friend's Over
• (00:09:18) - Are there any client categories that you avoid?
• (00:12:38) - On Working With An Angry Partner
• (00:13:26) - How to manage a big project's budget
• (00:14:12) - The importance of access to the client
• (00:16:37) - How to Talk Budget With the Client
• (00:17:53) - Budgeting in the UK
• (00:20:15) - Projects' length and timings
• (00:23:37) - The Challenges of Leading a Project
• (00:27:29) - The Importance of a Fee Proposal
• (00:31:17) - Interior Design: Natural Mat
• (00:35:43) - A Good Team For Tougher Clients
• (00:38:03) - The Big Picture
• (00:41:34) - Structural engineers: Quality of design and cost
• (00:46:37) - "It's like a funeral..."
• (00:46:53) - How To Read 2-D Plans
• (00:51:49) - How to Deal with Difficult Contractors
• (00:53:19) - The On-Site Blame Game
• (00:58:21) - "When to say enough is enough?"
• (00:59:00) - What Do You Do When a Client Threatens to Sue You?