Talking about budgets | FOCUS
Victoria Anderson, showroom category manager at Elliotts Living Spaces in Lymington, is in no doubt it is best to get budgets out of the way early. She says: “We try to gauge the customer’s budget in the first meeting. This helps both of us understand which products they should be looking at. We have set up our product selection in a way that we can offer a ‘good, better and best’ and having the customer’s budget helps us steer them in the right direction. If we don’t get a rough idea of budget, we risk wasting time on a design that is out of reach for the customer.”
Expectations
The danger of wasting a designer’s time is also much on director Johnny Bacigalupo’s mind at Napier Bathrooms in Edinburgh. He says: “It’s vital that boutique, design-led showrooms discover what intended budget a client has before fully engaging with the design project. People are often reluctant to discuss their budget, but this can be removed with careful conversation about the expectations we know our clients have of us, and the need for us to know if the cost of our products and services are acceptable to them.”
Elizabeth Pantling-Jones, MD of Lima Kitchens in Milton Keynes, adds that you can’t deliver your best service without knowing the budget and that “many clients’ expectations can change on budgets, adjusting either how they finance the project or their timescales”.
Sometimes it may require a delicate touch, as Andrew Warnes, man aging director of COD in Altrincham, suggests: “Clients are often reluctant to share this information. We tend to tease bits of information from them. I drop in a couple of figures that a display might cost and watch the reaction.”
May 2021 ·
But some believe it is not the most important thing to discuss when you first sit down with a client. Joanna Geddes, senior designer at Kitchens by JS Geddes in Kilmarnock, says: “I don’t think it is the first thing that should be discussed. If the fixation is on budget, the client does not feel that all their other desires are being appreciated.”
We can get blazé talking about figures like £20k to £30k as if it’s peanuts – but these are huge sums of money and it is important to recognise that
Andy Gilmore, showroom manager at Fineline Interiors in Warrington, agrees: “It’s definitely important, but not the most important factor. We make the initial sit-down about creating desire, understanding needs and wants and pitching an estimate to the customer to see if we are in the right ball park. We say, ‘A kitchen, is very bespoke to you, so you drive the cost rather than us. We just need to know what direction to point you in’.” Working through a questionnaire can help. Darren
Owen Williams, owner, Owen Williams Kitchens, Coalville
the risks that brings. Kristjan Lilley, a director at H Lilley & Co in London, highlights the show- rooming issue, but still believes in being upfront when quoting: “There are those that will hide product codes to prevent the client searching online for a better price. However, I am strongly of the opinion that if someone wants to search online to get something cheaper, they always will.”
Dave Jarvis, MD at Albion Bathrooms, Kitchens, Electricals in Burton-on-Trent, however, takes the opposite view and says he never gives customers individual prices.
Taylor, MD at Searle and Taylor in Winchester, advises: “We have a ‘client brief’, which is a fairly intensive document that we work through with the client, as this asks all the questions we need to know to enable us to design a kitchen. If this is filled out properly, we can give a fairly accurate estimate of what they could be spending.”
We tend to tease bits of information from them. I drop in a couple of figures that a display might cost and watch the reaction
Andrew Warnes, managing director, COD, Altrincham
Gaining trust and being open and honest is also key during these delicate negotiations. Owen Williams, owner of Owen Williams Kitchens in Coalville, says: “Transparency and honesty are key. We have enough experience to be able to give customers a reasonably accurate ball-park figure before we do any design work. We explain what factors influence the price. Many people underestimate just how much appliances and worktops affect budget.” Nick McNally, owner of Kitchens by Nick McNally in Edinburgh, agrees: “Most clients appreciate honesty and it is part of building mutual trust. If the partnership is not the right fit, it is best establishing this early on.” And for some, transparency means full disclosure, despite
But customers always want to feel that they are getting a quality product and good service. A point made by Warnes at COD, who adds: “The client needs to be aware of prices, but also to understand why things are priced so. It is more important that the customer feels they are getting a quality product with a service to match at a fair price, making them feel they are getting value for money.”
Barriers
And mention of value for money also highlights that old bugbear of independent studios being perceived as more expensive. “You have to ask the questions that get to the nub of what the customer’s needs, wants, dreams and desires are,” says Ivan Simpson, MD of Ivan Simpson Kitchens and Bathrooms in Durham. “This builds a rapport and determines how to proceed. This sort of conversation makes people feel more comfortable and the budget barriers disappear.”
The problem is that customers don’t tend to buy a kitchen or bathroom as often as they would, say, a car. As Trevor Scott, chief executive at RFK in Rugby, puts it: “It constantly surprises us how many people are completely clueless as to how much any kitchen, let alone a mid- to mid-upper level kitchen, is likely to cost.” Jarvis at Albion BKE says one client told him “my last bathroom cost £800”. He points out that they may only buy a kitchen or bathroom two or three
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