E T A B E D G I B E TH Getting a skilled mate to help with a house project can save money, but is it worth risking a friendship? Two readers reveal their thoughts
YES ‘We said what we thought and took everything
WORDS ALISON JONES
in good humour’ Bianca Opris (@opris_b_designs) is an interior designer based in Brussels ‘You can work for friends if there is trust and communication. When I started out, working for friends was an obvious way to gain experience and build up my portfolio, and I was prepared to offer mates’ rates in exchange. I made over a young couple’s tired 1980s house. Designed and projectmanaged an apartment update. And oversaw a big extension build for someone I’d met via Facebook. ‘With the young couple I was friends with, we weren’t afraid to voice our (few) disagreements to reach a positive outcome. We communicated regularly, said what we thought worked and what didn’t and took everything in good humour. For my Facebook friend, we became a team and delivered a large residential renovation as if we’d done it for ages. Again, there was communication and mutual respect. I did my utmost for the project and she said she felt supported mentally and emotionally on top of the work itself. ‘With my other friend, I knew her and her family very well but every decision was questioned in the “family forum”. That situation takes careful navigation. Working for a friend changes the relationship dynamic. But we got there in the end. ‘The design process is consultative, that way the agreed plan pleases both parties. I try to be as flexible as possible as I know imposing my ideas won’t work. Not with friends, not with any client.’
‘I didn’t want to make things awkward by complaining so kept silent’ Faith Mitchell (@faithmitchellinteriors) lives with partner Andy in a 1950s threebed semi-detached house in Newcastle ‘Using a friend to help with a renovation makes it hard to complain when something is wrong. It can be awkward. When renovating our house we had a family friend do all of our doors and skirting boards. While he was very cheap and saved us a lot of money, he ended up dinting all of our newly laid floor in the kitchen. I don’t know whether he’d dropped the doors or the pieces of wood, but after he left there were dints all over the floor. We’d paid so much to have it done and now it really needed taking up and doing again. ‘Because he lives next door to my relatives, I didn’t want to make anything awkward for them by complaining so we kept silent and didn’t say anything. In the end I filled them in myself and we have lived with it. ‘I think if you are paying full price for a service, you expect a good result and feel you have more of a comeback if something is wrong. When we had the company in to lay the floor, there were a few areas where I wasn’t happy with the finish. I called them and asked them to come back. ‘But this guy was helping us out, he was retired and he’d done it cheap, so we didn’t really feel we could say anything. And because he lived next door to relatives we didn’t want to be like “You’ve damaged the floor and we are really not happy about it,” then have to see him every time we went over to their house. It made it awkward. ‘Another downside to using friends is having to fit in with their schedule and when they can come and help. Other (paying) jobs take priority, which can be frustrating. If something gets pushed back because of someone else’s job, it has a knock-on effect on when everything else is done.’
If you’re paying full price for a service, you feel you have more of a comeback if something is wrong
NEXT MONTH: WOULD YOU RENOVATE ALL IN ONE GO OR DO IT ROOM BY ROOM?
IS HIRING FRIENDS FOR A RENOVATION A GOOD IDEA?
NO
