Cost Factors

Manufacturer’s representative—The manufacturer’s representative (rep) is a person hired by a company to promote and sell the company’s product line to interior designers and interior design firms. Many times, reps’ territories cover several states. They are responsible for maintaining existing accounts and look for new accounts. They can teach the interior designer about their line and how to sell it. Often the interior designer will contact the rep for special pricing on a job with high volume potential or if the job is complex so the rep can help to confirm the correct specifications. The rep is also the person contacted when there are perceived problems with the product. Workroom—The workroom is the company where the custom items the interior designer imagines and designs are created. This includes window treatments, bedding, furniture, art/stained glass, cabinetry, and so on. Any specifications for

Figure 1.1 Interior designer collaborating with drapery workroom. construction of the product designed (furniture, cabinetry, window treatments, etc.) will be given to the workroom to create. The interior designer and the workroom work as a team discussing the design, where it will be located, and determine the best strategy for it to be made and installed. The end product is a combination of the designer’s vision and the workroom’s construction knowledge (see Figure 1.1). The interior designer gets to know the workroom very well. Although workrooms can be found through a search on the Internet, most interior designers find workrooms from referrals from other interior designers and business colleagues. As with contractors and subcontractors, find out if there are any state laws that pertain to a workroom, and make sure they have the applicable licenses and insurance. Vendor—The vendor is the person or company who sells material, product, and/or services to the interior designer. Usually the vendor requires the interior designer to establish an account and have a sales tax or use tax certificate on file with them. Since the interior designer is normally purchasing at wholesale and is not the end user, the sales/ use tax certificate allows the vendor not to charge sales tax. This keeps the final product from being taxed until it is complete. The interior designer will charge sales tax to the client on most products their client purchases. Showroom—The showroom is normally a “to the trade only” business that is not open to the public. This means that only an interior designer in the trade can use the showroom to find items and materials for their clients. Some showrooms will represent multiple lines of manufacturers; for example, furniture, fabric, trim, and accessory lines will often be found in one showroom. Many interior designers have close working relationships with their showrooms (see Figure 1.2). There is an unwritten rule when using showrooms: product found at a showroom that is then specified for a job needs to either be ordered directly from the showroom or made sure the showroom gets the sales credit for the order. The easiest way to do this is to specify and order from the showroom even if the interior designer has a direct account with

CHAPTER 1 THE BUSINESS OF INTERIOR DESIGN 3