Working With a Designer When You Already Have a Builder

A common question from Yakima Valley homeowners who have already signed with a contractor is whether it's too late to bring in a designer. It isn't. Builders are experts at framing, systems and schedule. Finishes are a different job: choosing flooring, countertops, tile and window treatments, and keeping those choices on time, within budget and consistent from room to room. Plenty of good projects pair a builder with a design team that handles that second job.

The question the studio asks first

The new client questionnaire at M.B. Designs includes a simple line: are you working with a contractor, or will M.B. Designs be the General? The studio puts its position plainly. It works with many contractors, each builder runs a business differently, and it's glad to work with clients whether they already have a builder or need to hire one. So the answer to your question shapes how the project is organized, but it doesn't change the fact that you're welcome.

What a designer takes off your plate

On a project with its own builder, the design team typically takes the finishes. M.B. Designs describes this work as interior design finishes, covering flooring, countertops and window treatments, along with project management for new construction finishes, remodels and budget planning. For you, that means one team helping you choose, check and order the materials, instead of you visiting a dozen suppliers on weekends.

Why selection deadlines matter

Here's something general to every remodel and new build: the schedule runs on decisions. A builder can't set a tub, hang cabinets or lay tile until the materials have been chosen, ordered and delivered. When selections lag, the whole job waits, and late changes tend to cost real money. A designer who knows the builder's sequence can work backward from it, so the choices are made when they're needed rather than after the crew is standing around.

That's why communication between the design team and the contractor is more than a courtesy. M.B. Designs says it holds weekly team meetings and keeps constant communication with contractors so everyone stays informed. In a Google review, Greg and Anita describe their designer spending time on site and working directly with the subcontractors to make sure the details were right. That kind of hands-on coordination is what keeps a design from getting lost in translation.

Settle roles before work begins

The most common friction in a builder-and-designer arrangement isn't personality, it's unclear responsibility. Agree early on a few things, in writing where you can:

• Who orders each material, and who receives and inspects it when it arrives.
• Who checks measurements and details before cutting or installing.
• How changes are requested, priced and approved, so a decision in the field doesn't surprise you later.
• Who you call first when something looks wrong on site.
• How and how often the builder and designer talk to each other.

None of this has to be heavy. A short conversation among the three of you at the start, with the plans on the table, prevents most of the misunderstandings that make people regret a remodel. It also gives your builder a clear point of contact for finish questions, which most contractors appreciate, since it keeps them focused on the work they're best at.

Interiors and exteriors can share one vision

Sometimes a design team's role extends beyond the inside of the house. For the 2019 Tour of Homes with Perry Technical Institute, M.B. Designs says it provided and installed the interior finishes and also wrote the specifications for the exterior finishes supplied by others. The studio's team uses AutoCAD and Chief Architect for plans and 3D renderings, which helps a builder and an owner look at the same picture before anything is built.

When the designer is also the general

If you don't have a builder yet, or you'd rather have one team manage everything, the questionnaire's other option is for M.B. Designs to act as the General. One of the studio's best-known projects is a foreclosed home in Selah that the team remodeled and entered in the 2023 Tour of Homes, work that earned Melissa Brewer the Central Washington Home Builders Association's 2023 Remodeler of the Year award. Either structure can work. What matters is that someone owns the coordination, and that you know who it is. If you're unsure which suits your project, talk it through with the studio before you sign anything, since the right answer depends on the size of the job and how involved you want to be.

If you already have a contractor and aren't sure where a designer fits, the easiest way to find out is to ask. Call M.B. Designs at 509-823-4600 to schedule a studio appointment, and bring your plans and your builder's name.