How Blakely Works With Out-Of-State Clients
Let’s talk about something you may not know is possible: working with us if you’re out-of-state. In this case, “out-of-state” can mean two things:
You’re designing, building, or renovating a home in Rhode Island but your current or primary residence is located in another state.
You’re designing, building, or renovating a home that is in another state, but you want to work with us anyway.
Over the years, we have worked with many clients in both of these scenarios. Some are creating vacation homes for the summer, while others are preparing forever homes where they will raise their family or enjoy retirement. And we absolutely love being part of our clients’ stories in this way! Today, let’s take a moment to look at several advantages of working with an out-of-state designer, including the #1 reason we complete these projects seamlessly.
We worked from a distance on our JERSEY PALM PROJECT, located in (you guessed it) New Jersey.
ADVANTAGES OF WORKING WITH AN OUT-OF-STATE DESIGNER
Work with your perfect aesthetic match. In general, widening your search across state lines will increase your options and your chances of finding the team best aligned with your personal aesthetic. You’ll want to find a designer whose style resonates with you, so explore portfolios online until you find projects that you love and homes you could imagine yourself living in.
Choose a team you trust. Close or far, building or renovating a home requires a deep, trusting relationship with your design team. In addition to designing for your lifestyle, these are the people who will be your biggest supporters and advocates during the project. Looking across state lines gives you the chance to select a team with whom you feel the strongest connection…and will be most likely to see the best results.
Gain a team with all the roles you need. Our out-of-state clients recognize that we are a large firm made up of many different experts, including designers, project managers, and an operations and procurement team. They see that we are capable of executing large, complex projects regardless of the location, and feel confident and at ease putting their homes in our hands.
Leverage experts with important local connections. If you are building a home in another state, it simply makes sense to explore design teams in that area. Strong design firms network with highly skilled local tradespeople, and you and your home will directly benefit from those professional relationships. Many of our out-of-state clients appreciate that we are well-versed in working in coastal New England and have a wide range of valuable connections here.
Get eyes on the ground. If you are building in a different state, choosing a designer who is local to your new home can give you tremendous peace of mind. When distance prevents you from driving by the construction site to check on progress, your designer will be your eyes and ears, visiting your new home, gathering information from the professionals working on it, and keeping you updated each step of the way.
We worked out-of-state on our CAPITAL CRAFTSMAN PROJECT, located in Virginia.
OUR SECRET TO SUCCESS? COMMUNICATION
Effective, regular communication is by far the largest part of a long-distance project’s success, as it is for every project. We stay in close contact throughout your project, following the same rock-solid, proven design processes as we do for our in-state clients. These include:
Design Meetings: Most small meetings or check-ins can be done virtually, but we love when our out-of-state clients can drive or fly in for larger key meetings at our studio. If these more significant meetings have to be held virtually, we will send a package of beautifully labeled samples so you can see and feel the materials as we go through the presentation.
Weekly Updates: Our project managers will be in contact with you on a regular basis, sending you weekly updates about your project’s progress. This will include action happening on-site, in our studio, and any other important developments. Our clients tell us they look forward to these.
On-Site Meetings: In-state projects will see our presence fairly often, especially at key junctures. For our out-of-state projects, we will coordinate our site visits to coincide with milestone events, so we can be present for significant discussions with the other team members actively working on the site.
The bottom line? There is no need to second-guess working with us if you don’t live nearby, as designing for an out-of-state project or client only requires some minor accommodations. After all, working with your dream designer should be exciting! Finding the right designer for your specific, unique home project is far more important than a studio’s location on a map.
If we’re on your list of potential candidates, we’d love to hear from you, no matter where you or your home are. REACH OUT TO US HERE, and let’s see if we’re the right team for you.