Only Girl On The Jobsite

Today I'm sharing the story of how I built a design business that doesn't just rely on constant marketing, that next inquiry call, or that lucky referral. I don't go looking for new clients, and I haven't had to in years. My next project almost always comes from a client I've already worked with or from one of the contractors, architects, or realtors in my network. So today I'm breaking down exactly how that happens and, more importantly, how you can start building the same kind of stability and predictability in your own firm.

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So you've probably noticed this before: you've noticed that contractors never apologize for their prices. They walk into a meeting, they set their number and paperwork on the table, and then they wait. There are no disclaimers. There's no, I hope this seems reasonable, Mrs. Smith. It's just, this is what it costs. Meanwhile, we as designers are still over-explaining, discounting, or defending what we charge. But here's the question I want you to think about today: What if the difference between how contractors and designers price has absolutely nothing to do with money and everything to do with mindset? Because the truth is, they're not just better at math. They're better at leadership.

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Have you ever wrapped up a project, looked at your hours, your profitability, what you built, what you spent, and figured out that you were actually working at maybe $47 an hour?

You knew the project was beautiful, the clients were thrilled, but somewhere between your proposal and that final invoice, the math just stopped making sense. And the worst part is you knew something was off. You knew you were undercharging, but at the time, it felt reasonable.

That good reason is usually one of the three lies we tell ourselves to make undercharging feel okay. And today, we're going to break it down. What those lies are, why they keep us stuck, and more importantly, what to do instead, so you can finally price your construction projects with confidence and clarity.

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Last week, I talked about invisible work, all of those small, well-intentioned tasks that quietly chip away at your profits. This week, I want to continue that conversation with one simple question: if you've switched to flat fees, are they actually flat enough? Because I see this all the time. Designers move away from hourly billings thinking, finally, no more time tracking, no more nickel and diming, no more surprises. But then the project ends, the designer is exhausted, the profits are thin, and they're wondering where all of their time went. And it's not that your number was wrong, it's that your flat fee wasn't flat enough.

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Today, I want to dive into the invisible work that's eating away at your profits. I think you know what I mean, right? They're the hours that never make it into a proposal, the tiny tasks that keep piling up, the "quick things" that somehow take all day. So if you've ever ended a project feeling like you worked twice as much as you got paid for, you probably did. I have been there many times, and I can tell you exactly where the money is slipping through the cracks.

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