A Letter from the Heart
June 2021
I never take for granted your decision to remodel your home and place your trust in me as your interior designer.
I take great pride in providing my expertise to realize your dreams and I am focused on ensuring you of my dedication to you, your design project, and your home. Further, I am acutely aware of the unusual frustrations many of you are experiencing.
Please let me assure you, I, together with my collective team, am doing everything possible to navigate these unprecedented times.
Industry perspective:
- Labor shortages and material delays remain our greatest challenges.
- Transportation capacity is at its lowest.
- Certain rationing of products such as plywood, windows, flooring, electrical supplies.
- Insufficient product availability – vendors ordering from several sources and suppliers to secure job quantities.
- Covid protocols of limited crews and trades on-site hindered progress.
- Specialized trade vendors are either unable to resume business post-Covid or are choosing to retire.
Your perspective:
- Furniture (custom or otherwise) at least a 6-month lead time.
- Manufacturers shifting away from making samples and new product in favor of completing and fulfilling existing orders.
- Other manufacturers and vendors holding new product launches till Fall/Winter 2021.
- Appliance deliveries face indefinite delays – as such, we’ve had no choice but to keep existing appliances for the foreseeable future.
- Unforced errors in an effort to meet delivery times and demand: broken tile deliveries, mismatched colors.
- These are systemic issues we face daily – regardless of the project’s scale and size. Most importantly, custom selections are not sold to other customers. There is no product swapping or substitutions.
Steps we are taking to address each project:
- Team members, builders, contractors, and vendors working 6-7 days a week, 14-hour days; every week for months, and no end in sight.
- Weekend site meetings and project discussions.
- Construction project management timelines and flow analyzed weekly. Evaluating what can be done out of typical order to keep projects moving forward.
- We’ve updated and improved our project database (Builder Trend) to improve on quotes, pricing, scheduling. However, we are reliant on several builders, suppliers and trade partners and delays are inevitable.
These mounting setbacks are not to be misconstrued. Your projects and my collective team’s goal to deliver the highest-quality service and craftsmanship are always at the forefront of our minds.
Together, we are constantly monitoring your projects, timelines and doing our utmost to manage expectations and completion dates. I am saddened that your experience is dampened by these extenuating circumstances. I have grown my business over 25-years and I am proud of my achievements: completed exceptional, one-of-a-kind designs. Further, I continue to be humbled and most grateful for the repeat and referral clients. Thank you for your continued trust. For new clients, I hope you are able to recognize my commitment and see past these obstacles so we can maintain a long-term relationship.
Thank you for your understanding, your patience, your trust, and your patronage.
Sincerely,
Johanna
Johanna G. Seldes, ASID IDC/Interior Design Consulting is a full service, award-winning Tampa Bay interior design firm that works with custom home builders, remodeling companies and individual clients. We provide interior design project management services throughout the entire construction process, including pre-construction design, selections, and installation.
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