Virtual Services vs Local, In-Person

Virtual Services vs Local, In-Person

A couple weeks ago I was asked about whether or not we serve projects outside of Hood River. Short answer is YES. But, I wanted to take a minute to share about what things are important when considering working with a virtual designer and things to ponder as you consider your options:

1) Your design team must be comfortable with virtual review meetings and digital communication.

One of the ways we help our clients keep track of their homework, tasks, and deliverables is with a custom client site where we keep track and upload all the important info. This helps the build team and clients know they have the latest information and makes it easy to track versus digging through emails. We also do virtual walkthroughs of our design packages similar to the video below where you can see the designer and hear our voice as we explain things to you.

2) Project coordination & administration is KEY to the success of the project.

Organization is literally essential. Working with a company who can clearly answer what software they use and for what is a good way to check this. We use ClickUp for task management, Slack for team communication, Studio Designer for procurement, and a bunch of other tools to keep us on track and organized. If the answer is google sheets, run. Robust and easy task management systems will really help keep things moving along.

3) Team integration with the builder and stakeholders is even more critical.

Having weekly or bi-monthly team check-in’s are also a great way to keep everyone on the same page and tracking. One of the pain points we experience are decisions being made in the field, on the fly, without consulting the design team to see how it impacts things downstream. The best way to avoid this is to communicate. There is no overcommunicating when you are working with a remote team.

Generally speaking, if you are working with a remote team, there will be a set amount of site visits still worked into your fee to allow the design team to come at specific integral points to see it come to life, in real life.

4) You have to be diligent about Client homework and feedback.

When you are working in different areas and cannot simply meet to discuss design decisions or revisions, you have to be willing to work on these things on your end. We can’t stop by to harass you, so we need to have a good amount of participation and ownership of the things we send to keep us on track.

5) Be sure to ask about the process and make sure you are clear on how it flows.

As a team, we itemized our ‘process’ from onboarding to offboarding a project. It came to 180+ steps. Your design team needs to be able to clearly articulate their process and who is responsible for what tasks as they come. This will keep it clear and easy for you to navigate and take the guesswork out of what is coming next. Our process is all tracked and evaluated in the spreadsheet below.

The last thing I wanted to share is that we are used to working with remote clients who are building in our area, but do not live here yet. This process is the same since we are coordinating much of the project with our clients remotely. We feel so confident about our organization that we knew we could offer this in any market. Really, good work for good people, anywhere.

Got a project you want to tell us about? Let us know!

Any questions? Hope this helped as you go into selecting the right team for you!

Drop a comment below to share feedback!

Cheers!