January 4, 2023

We recently spoke with designer Wendy Glaister of Wendy Glaister Interiors in Modesto, Calif. She shared with us her tips for driving profit in design in our new podcast.

She started by telling us how she takes a different approach to job/project costing and the impetus behind it. Glaister doesn’t want to purchase everything at cost on her end because that means she owns all materials and products. This is a burden she doesn’t want to handle all on her own, and she says California is an especially sticky state when it comes to rules.

Glaister eventually decided to do things a different way, and says she has an advantage because there are local plumbing, lighting, flooring and furniture businesses in her neck of the woods. She had worked with them on previous projects, so she began to source everything for her projects directly from their stores.

The result has been a win/win for both parties, since although this means those businesses “own” those portions of the projects, it also brings them new business. The designer photographs each of her projects, so this serves as a mutual portfolio for them both.

Glaister went into detail about how her approach works with the different parts of her team, including the appliance supplier, furniture retailer, various showrooms and fabricators. She has not found any disadvantages to doing things this way and tells all her clients this is the only way she will work on a project. You might be surprised to hear their reaction to that, but the designer says this has been so rewarding and fun for her personally and professionally.

To hear more about Glaister’s project-costing strategy and her knowledge of driving profit in design, watch the full video above or listen to the podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pandora and other outlets.