Dirty money, filthy lucre; a designer's confession
A lengthy, long term in the past, I labored for a fancy schmancy kitchen layout studio. We labored the very excessive give up of the market and with the help of an entire lot of smoke and mirrors, we had a popularity because the excessive class joint wherein someone with cash to burn ought to visit get a kitchen or a tub straight out of a mag. In fact, plenty of our stuff ended up in magazines. We had a popularity for being an ethical, provider-orientated company peopled with designers who had been absolutely dedicated to their clients' wishes, desires and whims.
I worked there for two years and in those two years I worked on a couple of interesting projects, but most of it was just overpriced exercises in more is more. It was pretty soul-deadening. My big project though, was a home that was under construction for the entire two years that I was at the fancy schmancy studio. It was a grand home; a complete, period-perfect reproduction of a plantation house. We were contracted to design all of the cabinetry and casework in the entire house. It was a tremendous opportunity to learn how to design such things as coffered ceilings and wainscoted walls. It took a year-and-a-half to complete the designs.
Finally, when we priced out all of the cabinetry and casework the first time, the numbers came back at 1.3 million dollars. And no, million is not a typo. Eventually, we edited down the designs in the project and got it to a more palatable but still galling $400,000. A couple of hours before my boss and I were to present that revised proposal to the architects, he and I met to review the numbers one last time. When I was digging through the internal, itemized price sheets I came across an $85,000 charge that didn't have any kind of history or back up. The $85,000 had been folded into the total and since the client never saw the itemized back ups, no one would really know that it was in there. I asked what that charge was and he informed me that it was to pay for the builder's kitchen renovation.
I desired to vomit. I am no longer a naif, I recognize that payola and kick backs cross on all of the time in my industry. But I'd in no way seen so bare a clutch in my existence. What ever admire I had for my boss or the contractor went out the window at that very moment. I swallowed my revulsion and made it thru the meeting. I went together with it and stated not anything. I turned into a junior fashion designer on the task and I told myself that it wasn't my place to make waves approximately the graft I'd stumbled across. I left the company a couple of weeks after that, and I by no means got to peer the completed residence. It didn't depend by means of then. In my thoughts everything changed into tainted and I had a tough sufficient time searching on the plans, seeing the actual thing could have executed me in. Many years later, that scenario nevertheless bothers me.
The payola, the graft, I stumbled across that afternoon wasn't an remoted case. I do not suggest just at that studio either. "Paid referrals" are a common exercise during the enterprise and I react to them now the way I did then. I'm repulsed. I think the exercise is sleazy and unethical. I don't pay for referrals and I might not accept money for one. Take the money you would pay me and charge your purchaser less. What a concept!
I'm hooked right into a network of tradespeople and suppliers I recognise and trust. When I refer my customers to my tile setter, or my electrician, or my lighting provider, I want them to understand that I am regarding the quality man or woman I recognize for the process handy. I need them to know that they may be taken care of. Their task may be finished as promised and they may be charged a fair, though no longer necessarily a low, charge. I need them to recognise too that the truthful fee they are paying would not consist of a relax to me.
I become reminded of that whole scenario this week when I were given a phone name from an interior designer I'd never met. She had customers who wanted to renovate a kitchen however that a kitchen plan became beyond her skill set. As we talked about the task she become featuring, she instructed me that her clients desired some thing great, however they have been pretty price-sensitive. She then advised me that she was inclined to waive her regular 10% referral rate and "simplest" wanted me to tack $1000 onto the activity total for her. Only. This become a sentence or two after she described them as fee-sensitive.
I told her that I'd love to speak to her clients but that I wasn't going to provide her a dime. There changed into a stoney silence on the other cease of the road. "Really?" she asked in a near whisper. "Why is that?"
"Because it's sleazy," I said. "It's unethical and it makes projects cost more than they should. If you're any good at what you do, you should be able to make a living from the fees and commissions you earn. Payola is dirty money, it's a used car salesman move. I'm not a used car salesman. Are you?"
"Ummm," she nearly whispered, "perhaps we are no longer a good healthy."
It changed into the smartest factor she said all through the 3 mins she changed into in my life.