What is the difference between an interior designer and a contractor?

What is the difference between an interior designer and a contractor?

Interior Designers (ID) will conceptualise your home from the very start, down to every last detail including the furniture and even frames. If you want to have a hand in choosing the design and how the final work will look like, you are better off with a contractor to carry out the works and advise you on the feasibility of what you want done. There are Pros and Cons with both, and the Pros and Cons don’t outweigh each other.

Most of the Interior Designers in the industry are actually loosely using the term ‘ID’. Many cannot even explain the specifications of the carpentry to you. And most don’t conceptualize your home before the renovation starts.

Interior Designers come with Design fees for every project. This is on top of the renovation costs for the project. Those that do not charge this design fees, are not really interior designers or they have included the fees in the costs for the project.

To put it simply, most of the IDs are actually just contractors. Even when engaging a contractor, you cannot take it for granted that all of them will understand the renovation process. Many don’t, and you cannot engage these contractors based on price only. Do some fact finding, and ask difficult questions when choosing your ID or contractor. Ask them about the waterproofing process. Ask them about raising the height of your balcony, what are the guidelines and processes in place.

Gauge them by how they answer these questions. Choose them based on their experience and also content online that they always share. Reviews are not always reliable. So be sure to look out for those fake ones!

Reach out to us if you need further details on how to choose interior designers or contractors. We also provide consultations and fact finding services for customers before they start to plan for their renovation works. At a fee, of course. On a side note, we are also general contractors in the Singapore Renovation Industry.

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What Our Customers Say

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Ismail was moving over into a bigger place from his existing. And he is a family friend. His project was just after covid, where we were still in the midst of restrictions. Having a great team helps with delivering projects on time.

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Newlyweds Kaysen & Nadia, had just bought their 3 room BTO resale, and we revamped the whole house for them. From hacking, combining their dining, kitchen and service yard. Tiling for their toilets and whole house vinyl flooring. This project was a little emotional for us as one of them had gone through a renovation nightmare before, when his parents renovated recently. We had assured him that we were not a fly by night contractor, and our Project Manager had personally committed to an undertaking to complete the project within the agreed timeline.

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Khairil is an old friend. We've known each other since primary school. When he wanted to spruce up his place for last raya, he reached out to us for a quote. Initially he wanted to change to a new kitchen as well, but decided against it as it was too near to Raya. So we proceeded for hacking of existing laminate flooring for the whole house, painting, and herringbone vinyl flooring for the whole house. This was done while the place is full up to the brim with furniture. And we managed to pull this off in 1 week through a tightly managed project schedule. Reach out to us and see how you can benefit from our expertise.

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Jolene's husband, Kumar had contacted us through Facebook. We discussed a little bit about their needed renovation, and arranged to meet at the unit to finalize the works. Kumar had put his trust in us since the beginning, as he had sensed we were sharing truthfully about the renovation even when the contract was not awarded to us yet. He appreciated us for this, and we completed his resale EA in Jurong West within the agreed timeline even though there were delays caused by their vanity supplier. They were a very pleasant couple to work with, and we are very happy to have helped them realise their dream home.

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Lennie was a mentor when we joined BNI Champions. Coincidentally, his in laws needed to spruce up their unit for rental. We started by clearing the space out, revamping the whole kitchen, rewiring the unit and finishing it off with a fresh coat of paint. Happy and grateful that this had helped them get a very good price for their rental. Not forgetting of course, the agent that was tasked to find the perfect tenants did an amazing job marketing the unit.

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Puan Liza was helping her aunt to search for a renovation contractor. Her aunt needed to update her Ikea kitchen that is already failing. The project was nearing end of the year period, and we helped them to create the quote within 24hrs. They were decisive and we scheduled for the work. In the midst of the project, her aunt decided to also add flooring works for her kitchen. And everything was done within 1mth 1wk, with additional glass backing works as well. Another happy handover achieved.

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