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Behind The Design: The Procurement Process

Updated: Nov 22, 2022

Our full service interior design package means we do it all. We take your project from an idea and use that as a jumping off point to create a vision that you can be proud of. Then we dive even deeper into the design to source all the products that will go into your home. Once we have received your approval, we order and track all of your products until they arrive at our warehouse.  Your product is then unwrapped, inspected using a thorough checklist, and then carefully re-packaged and put away until your installation day. As you can see, there are many steps to the procurement process… But let’s back up and discuss these steps in detail, starting with how we source products for you.


Sourcing


Sourcing is the process of us researching the best-suited products for your project. We source both online and in-store for products from our trusted artists, vendors, wholesalers, and retailers.


The time that this in-depth process takes depends on: 

  1. Amount of and types of products we are sourcing

  2. Particular requests our clients may have (locally sourced, natural products only, etc.) 

  3. The availability of the products (which has been a topic of pain for many designers since the pandemic began).

We try to keep this sourcing as open as we can and use it as a sort of discovery mission before narrowing down choices that best compliment your space and our vision.

Quoting


Once we have put together a complete and cohesive picture of all the sourced  furniture and decor, we get to work on obtaining detailed quotes on the specific pieces. This involves creating comprehensive work orders and reaching out to vendors, wholesalers and retailers for pricing. If we are procuring a custom piece, this can often be more involved  than other products as we need to go through each detail  to ensure we have the most accurate price to share with you.


Presentation


At this point, clients are usually getting pretty excited to see their design plan. While we are often asked for sneak peeks or a ballpark price prior to our presentation, we prefer to present all the including pricing, samples and pictures as a cohesive package. Pictures do not always do these products justice – especially when it comes to soft finishes.

We prefer to sit down with our clients and go through the proposal, line by line, sharing each sample and price so that they can get a full picture of the design plan and how all the products work together to meet your needs. By just sharing the cost of a couch or a picture of some artwork we sourced, the client wouldn’t get this full picture and thus decisions made could be misinformed.


We are always happy to re-select a product if our client feels something is not quite right.  We take this feedback and re-source these items. We will then present these replacement products to you. Once everything has been approved by you, we get to ordering your products!

Ordering, Tracking And Storing Products



Our team moves quickly to order products from our vendors in order to ensure the best stock and prices. Supply chain issues are becoming more frequent and we receive many backorder notifications. We handle these by keeping the communication open with our clients and we continually follow up with the vendors to ensure we are receiving the products we have ordered in a timely fashion.


Once your items are shipped out, we will track the items until they arrive in our warehouse, at which point a member of our team inspects the products. Having products delivered directly to us means that we can deal with any possible issues. More demand, decreased staff, and long wait times have all combined to make deficiencies and damages a more frequent occurrence during the pandemic.


These problems can be corrected quickly if we receive products and have them inspected promptly. This also means that any subsequent delays for re-shipping take less time than if we wait and unpackage everything on installation day.


Installation


That final reveal at the end is what we LIVE FOR.  We always aim to deliver all items together so we can create that amazing  ‘WOW” moment for our clients! We absolutely love to see our clients happy faces when they walk in and see their new space we have completed for them.


Final Thoughts


While the interior design process can be a little unconventional, we try to provide practical information through these articles that can assist clients and future clients in understanding our process and why we do things the way we do them!If you have a question about working with us as your interior design firm that you would like to see answered, please email info@amrdesign.ca.

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