Problem Finders vs. Problem Solvers: How to double the cost of your new kitchen
My brother recently spent 20 hours working on a kitchen design after extensive feedback from the client (wife side of couple) where they looked at how the kitchen is used (it’s a vacation home and they entertain a lot of visitors), its size limitations (it’s small), budget, materials, appliances etc. As a designer you take this information away, along with detailed measurements, and come back with draft design options. These are shared and discussed and a final version begins to take shape.
This is the point where having a third party jump in can mean significant cost increases and that’s what’s taking place. The spouse, who does not cook, starts to get into the details, after the design process is complete.
There are two kinds of people you typically run into during any kind of design process:
- Problem Finders
- Problem Solvers
Problem finders are critics who see their role as the keeper of the quality and/or the keeper of the vision. Unfortunately they often are only capable of finding problems not solving them. When they are unable to stop you have a problem because an entire design process can come to a screeching halt as more and more issues are ‘uncovered’.
Problem solvers are those who identify a potential problem and offer up potential solutions. Where they differ from the finders is that they can prioritize problems and then solve the real ones and let the other ones go- after all this is not nuclear powerplant design. A poor hardware selection won’t blow the planet up.
In my brother’s case an entire redesign done detail by detail derailed the original budget and timeline significantly as more and more ‘problems’ were found. This is where you start spending money you had not planned on: Hardware is upgraded, materials are found to be insufficiently immortal, appliance specifications become consequential (the refrigerator needs to have its compressor in a remote location- boom, add $4000), etc.
If you suspect this might happen with your project then make sure you engage any potential problem finders from day one so they understand how and why choices are being made. If they come in after the fact you may find yourself back to the drawing board just when you thought you were done.
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