FAQ

The Discovery Call is how every project begins! We discuss your project and learn a little more about your lifestyle before delving into the services LP & Co. offers that work in your particular situation.

It is an opportunity for us to interview each other and decide whether or not to proceed with the interior design consultation.

The first step is scheduling a complementary 15-minute Discovery Call.

We are located in Potomac, MD and service the DMV-area. If you’re outside the DMV, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We have the capability to take on projects outside of our local area.

At LP & Co. our clients are busy professionals who don’t have the bandwidth to take on yet another project.

Our residential clients don’t have the time or the energy to deal with the headaches of scheduling contractors, browsing the endless options for finishes and furniture, or being home for deliveries. They would rather spend their downtime focusing on their career, their hobbies, or their children.

For our commercial office clients, the story is similar. Our clients are C-suite executives who don’t need another job on top of their job. LP & Co. steps in to not only provide a beautiful result for their office, but also to project manage the architect, contractor, building management, furniture vendors, and tech teams.

LP & Co. offers full-service interior design for residential properties and commercial office spaces. For residential design, we work on new builds, renovations, and furnishing-only projects. We handle the entire project from initial concept to installation and work closely with contractors and trades(wo)men to bring the vision to life.

For commercial office design, we take on the role of project manager, overseeing architects and contractors (where necessary), along with furniture and art vendors, building management, and tech teams. Looking for something a little different? Don’t hesitate to schedule a 15-minute Discovery Call to see how we might be able to work together.

LP & Co. does not offer free consultations. Our initial in-home or in-office consultations are 1 to 2 hours and are scheduled after a complementary 15-minute Discovery Call. During a consultation, I will walk the home or office with you, learn more about you and your needs, and finally, I offer advice throughout the entire meeting.

This meeting helps us to determine the scope of work (SOW) on which your proposal and associated fees will be based.

It helps to have all decision-makers present at the interior design consultation. We want to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard so we can deliver an amazing experience and final result.

Other than that, you simply need to bring an open mind and a list of your project’s needs.

Every project begins with a 15-minute Discovery Call. From there, if we determine we’re a good fit, we schedule an in-home or in-office interior design consultation to provide you with some initial advice and determine an accurate scope of work (SOW) on which we will base our proposal and associated fees.

Once we are officially engaged on your project, we start with the Conceptual Design to determine design direction, feasibility, and concrete investment numbers. We then move forward into Detailed Design where you will be shown the furniture and decor selections along with 3D renderings (photorealistic images of your designed space) where applicable.

After your approval, we then move into procurement where we order your furniture and decor and manage shipping, receiving, and installation, ensuring we work with all trades on punch list items to bring your project to the finish line!

Typically, we work on multi-room projects, renovations, new home builds, or commercial office renovations and/or design. That said, we always encourage potential clients to schedule a complementary 15-minute Discovery Call to determine if we might be a good fit.

It’s up to you! Typically, our clients are busy professionals: CEOs, Presidents, Partners, business-owners, etc. and prefer to be relatively hands-off when it comes to the design process.

We want you to trust LP & Co. to handle your project from start to finish, efficiently and with as little headache as possible. That said, we always welcome and encourage our client’s input and want to make sure you love your results!

At LP & Co., we take a three-pronged approach to determining your style. First, we visit your home during the interior design consultation to get a sense of the items you already have and love.

Second, once your project begins, we ask that you fill out a brief questionnaire that will help us to determine your design style.

Third, we create a private Pinterest board where we encourage you to pin homes you love, art that inspires you, or even travel locations that speak to you. We then take all of this information and distill it into a design direction that we present to you during the Conceptual Design meeting to confirm that we are on the right track.

We promise we get you!

Design fees vary from project to project and are based on the scope of work (SOW) which we determine during the interior design consultation.

While we don’t have minimum design fees, we do use a minimum expenditure model.

For all residential interior design projects, a minimum expenditure is applied. The minimum expenditure is essentially an agreed-upon investment amount that you will spend with LP & Co. to complete your project. It is separate from the design fee and encompasses purchases made on finishes, furniture, and decor.

There is no standard minimum expenditure, it is based only on your specific project and is always lower than your recommended investment amount. As you may know, almost all interior designers make a small markup on furniture and decor.

The minimum expenditure is a part of the LP & Co. business model; it allows us to project our revenue so that we can say “no” to future projects and provide you with the best service possible.

LP & Co. has established relationships with to-the-trade furniture and decor manufacturers and therefore has pricing flexibility.

While we have to abide by each manufacturer’s rules around pricing, we always “shop” ourselves to ensure we are competitive in the market and are almost always lower than what you pay retail.

At LP & Co. we call it an investment. Included in every residential proposal is a furnishing estimate so you have a transparent view into what it will cost to complete your project. We use flat design fees, minimum expenditures and include freight, tax and installation so you know what to expect.

Once we have officially started your project, you will also receive more concrete investment numbers after we have had a chance to meet with contractors and trades(wo)men. We know you work incredibly hard for your money and we take your investment seriously. You will always be alerted to potential overages and allowed the opportunity to make decisions as we proceed.

To-the-trade furniture and decor refers to manufacturers that only sell to interior designers or retailers, not to the end consumer. Many of these companies supply the pieces that you see in the big box retailers like Arhaus, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, etc.

LP & Co. almost exclusively sources furniture and decor from to-the-trade manufacturers; by doing so we have more options, particularly when it comes to customization, than a mass-market retailer will have.

By sourcing through to-the-trade manufacturers, LP & Co. also has flexibility when it comes to pricing and we are able to meet or beat retail. Conversely, while we do find retail to have nice options when it comes to decor or smaller pieces, there is less customization and no flexibility on pricing.

LP & Co. visits High Point Market each year to learn about the latest and greatest trends and furniture lines so that we can bring the best in quality and style to your home or office. Because of this, we do not take our clients shopping, we bring the shopping experience to them!

We have researched and understand the construction of all the items we source, so we can speak to quality and comfort and ask that you trust our expertise.

Absolutely! We encourage our clients to keep quality pieces, especially those with sentimental value. We happily work them into the design, even if it means refinishing or reupholstering or providing them with a new place in the home.

Of course! As long as your contractor is willing to work with us, we’re happy to work with someone you trust! If you don’t know a contractor, we are also happy to recommend a few to you.

LP & Co. takes pride in being the liaison between the contractors and subcontractors involved in your design project.

We want to make the entire process as seamless and efficient as possible for our clients. We communicate our design intent and specifications with all parties involved and are available to check up on them on-site to ensure the vision is being carried out.

While LP & Co. is happy to recommend contractors and trades, we legally cannot handle contracts and payments to them. You, the client, will contract directly with them and all payments will go through you.

That depends on the complexity of your project. For example, if you are doing a renovation along with furnishings, we have to take into account the time it takes for the construction to be finished as well as the time it takes for furniture to arrive.

For furnishings-only projects, the timeline is typically quicker, but with supply chain issues and lead time challenges, we cannot make promises. What we can control, however, is the time it takes for LP & Co. to develop your design presentations.

For a typical project, the first part of the process, Conceptual Design, takes approximately four weeks and the second part, Detailed Design, takes approximately six weeks.

If the project is particularly large or requires extensive renovation, the timeline might expand.