You have just taken over the ownership of a piece of property that you have bought. You love the place and the location but you would like to have changes done to your new house before you shift in. You don’t want to DIY everything all on you’re own, so why not get some help? You haven’t have any experience working with an interior designer and you have no idea how much it will cost you to hire one.

Here are some tips for hiring an interior designer to work on your family home.

• First, talk to your trusted friends about your intention of hiring an interior designer, especially with those who had previous experience working with an interior designer. They may share some helpful tips from their experience and also the process involved. If possible, get a referral to a good interior designer.
• Hiring an interior designer who is understanding, easy to work with, and yet professional is very important. That person has to be helpful in helping you design a home according to your style, requirement, and within your budget. He or she has to be someone reputable, reliable, honest, hardworking, and will deliver what he or she promise. There is no point hiring a person that can’t understand your needs and requirement.
• First, you will need to do some homework. Go over your house and make a list of what you want done for each room, your ideas and your expectation of the final outcome.  Get your family members to contribute their ideas too, after all it is a family home.
• If you don’t have a big budget, you might need to check out the pricing of different items, comparing the quality of the material and the price. By doing so, you will have a rough estimate to set your budget and how much you are willing to spend.
• Do a check on your local interior designers, go online e.g. type Santa Monica interior designer to read the reviews of their customers. You can also check out their work or projects to see their style and capabilities. Most important, the interior designer should be a qualified and trusted one.
• Once you have confirmed on hiring the Interior Designer, it is important to put up and sign a Letter of Agreement or contract between both parties. Specific details, fees and pricing should be spelt out in the contract especially when a lot of money is involved. Insurance coverage should also be included.
• It is important to stress on your budget’s limitation to the interior designer right from the beginning. Make sure that all fees, charges, labour, and material costs, etc. are included. Sometimes, remodelling of a building may need a certain percentage of extra allowance for the unexpected.