How to work with trades/contractors and suppliers: tips for designers
When working as a designer you'll want to build up a network of trades and suppliers that you can rely on and who can help you fulfil your client work.
Use slow periods in your business to build relationships, partnerships and connections as this is hard to fit in when you have lots of work on.
In this post I am sharing some examples of the key trade/supplier relationships you might like to start identifying plus some tips for how to work with trades, contractors and suppliers.
Which trades/suppliers should you approach?
With trades I generally don't recommend providing only single options to clients. Instead I suggest having a small portfolio of businesses and people who you can draw on, depending on the type of project you are doing.
Here are some relationships/partnerships to start building:
Architects and a draftspeople (to help draw up structural projects of different sizes and budgets
a few different joiners/cabinet makers/millworkers at different price points (high end vs simpler/budget projects)
a number of builders/contractors - good builders are normally booked out up to 6-12 months in advance so you'll want a few
at least one handy man - to help with small jobs like hanging pictures, shelves, small odd jobs
Tiling and flooring suppliers
Bathroom and kitchen fixtures and fitting suppliers
Appliance suppliers
Electricians - for odd electrical jobs
Plumbers - for odd plumbing jobs
Painters
Textile/window dressing suppliers
Lighting suppliers
A large collection of go to furniture, art and accessories suppliers
Working with trades and suppliers
When working with suppliers be organised, easy to work with and fast to respond.
If you develop good relationships with suppliers they will go out of their way to help you (e.g. find items out of stock or reduce delivery fees), plus you will find many will refer you work as well.
Take the time to build up relationships with your key suppliers. Don’t just reach out to people with cold emails asking for them to work with you. Build the relationship up slowly.
Referral fees with trades/contractors
A lot of people ask me whether they should take referral fees for sending work to trades/contractors.
This is a personal business decision but I don’t believe this is the best way of managing trade/contractor partnerships.
Here’s why:
❌ I always put myself in the shoes of my clients. If they were to find out that I had been given a referral fee to send them to a particular builder/contractor this would feel like a conflict of interest to me. Are they really the best/cheapest/most well suited contractor for my project or are they just sending me this person because they get paid to do so? Feels icky to me!
❌ I have had situations in the past where I would send one option to a client for a particular trade - joiner/millwork/cabinet maker being one example. In this example that particular joiner, who was recommended by me, ended up taking forever with the project and made a mistake. Although the work of the joiner had nothing to do with me I am the one who had made the referral and as such his poor client management reflected badly on my business. After that experience I stopped making single referrals and instead I would send options to my clients and get them to make the choice themselves. I would also share that experience so they understood why I didn’t like to make specific referrals or recommendations.
How to approach suppliers for discounts
Many new designers aren’t sure how to start getting discounts with suppliers (e.g. furniture, fabric etc. stores). Here’s some tips for that:
there is no need to start “collecting” suppliers as you get started. Many designers think they need to set up accounts with lots of suppliers so they are ready to go when they start getting clients. Generally you’ll have more success getting an account set up with a supplier (when you’re new) if you reach out with a specific project and a specific product you are interested in for your project.
Most suppliers will want your ABN (this is for Australia - your Australian Business Number) and also some trade or supplier references. If you haven’t worked with trades before then this is why the first point is important - as you can say you’re just starting but you have a specific product you’re ready to purchase. Few suppliers are going to turn away a genuine potential sale!
Suppliers will offer different discounts and these vary widely from 5% all the way up to 30-40% or more for some trade only suppliers.
I found it helpful to keep a spreadsheet with my supplier discount relationships - e.g. main contact/rep and email and how much discount they offer. All suppliers have different ways of working - e.g. some have specific website logins for trade platforms, some will give you a code to use - so keeping track of all of this in a spreadsheet (or I would now use Notion for this these days) is helpful and will save you lots of time searching through old emails.
Some suppliers have reps who they will want to send out to show you product ranges and get signed up - this is particularly common for stone companies (e.g. Caeserstone), fabric suppliers and veneer suppliers - but there are others as well. If you work from home and feel worried that your home office doesn’t look professional you can ask to meet the rep at their office or meet in a local coffee shop. But you don’t need to worry if you work at home - lots of people do and they are used to visiting all sorts of office set ups.
Those sorts of reps will generally leave you with one of their sample boxes or sample folders and will want to come and keep that updated with new product ranges regularly.
There is no need to collect samples for products you aren’t using. Your samples will build up quickly and they are annoying to store and take up heaps of room! So only take samples for products you are really using in projects. However, sample boxes or folders for regularly used product ranges - e.g. stone companies - are helpful to have.
In terms of whether or not you should pass your trade discounts on to your clients - this is a whole other topic!
I always passed my trade discount on in full to my clients.
I explain why in this blog post.
Where to find suppliers and trades:
Ask other designers or people in the industry - e.g. tiling suppliers may be able to recommend good tilers in the area, other designers will have architects they have worked with.
Look on Instagram - search hashtags in a strategic way to find people in your local area (use my hashtag strategy for this - as outlined in my lead generation short course).
Network - ask suppliers to recommend others. Ask builders to recommend electricians and vice versa. Having recommendations will be better than building a network from scratch
Houzz - I’m not a massive fan of Houzz but it can be handy for finding architects, joiners/cabinet makers or builders in your local area
Ask for recommendations in Facebook groups - e.g. local FB groups are a great place for this.
Working with trades/suppliers is a partnership!
Overall working with suppliers and trades is a partnership arrangement and you will want to approach it like a partnership.
If you manage the partnership well you will often find you get good sources of leads from these partnerships. You also want to be regularly sending your trade/supplier partners leads as well - that is how the partnership will be most successful.
If you want to learn more about how to get higher quality, consistent leads this is what I teach in my lead generation short course for designers. You’ll learn heaps of lead generation strategies that designers in my community are using right now to get more design clients - including how to find and manage trade partnerships.
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
