When I started out in my career as an interior designer, I never limited my scope of coverage to Lagos alone, although I started from Lagos. A major lesson I learnt was not to be terrified whenever I am contacted for a job outside Lagos. What works for me is what I will be sharing in today’s blog post.

I will like to take you back to when I was first contacted for a huge project in Kwara State. The truth is, I doubted myself for few hours because various question started popping up in my head: questions like, you are a newbie in interior design, are you sure you can handle this? How will you source for materials in Kwara State? How are you going to handle unprofessional artisans?

While the thoughts crossed my mind, I never felt discouraged. Those questions are not as important as the following questions I will be stating below. These are some of the essential questions you must ask yourself before taking a job that involves travelling.

1.Distance: Are you willing to travel for a long distance, either by road or plane, to execute a job?

   2.What do you require during the project time: hotel, an assistant, meal plan, vehicle to move around, and materials to be moved to mention a few.

3. Days that will be spent in the hotel.
4. Are the materials for the job already provided?

Let’s dive into how you can or should bill your clients for jobs that involve travelling:

1.Include travel time into your basic fee: In a layman understanding this means after your first conversation with your client when sending in your proposal/ quotation, it is advisable to include your travel fee. Failure to do this will lead to you funding yourself throughout the project and it might become challenging to get your client to pay for the traveling expenses. They may see it as a form of extortion.

2. Have a travel policy built into your website: This option remains the best for me and its more presentable and professional. This aid clarity between you and your client because it will all be stated clearly on the website.

3. Charge for your time: This means the fact that you will be travelling may affect the outcome of other jobs, so your proposal should include your traveling expense and also include additional fee for your time. Traveling to a client restricts opportunities to have consultations with other potential customers. Time is money.

I will like to conclude by saying travelling for a job can be fun and cool especially if you are adventurous like me. However, it is also not for everyone. Although it is a perk that comes with the job if you get the right client. For you as a professional interior designer, travelling for you can be educational and also very exciting, that is if you are serious about being an interior designer. One major characteristic of an interior designs is the ability to adapt and have a great communication skill to be able to effectively communicate your requirement to your clients.

Did you find this post helpful? then register to attend Simplinteriors school of interior design and entrepreneurship today. For more info visit  www.simplinteriors.com.