Turbocharged with passion and integrity, DreamCreations Interior is made up of a team of fun-loving and creative designers and consultants who seek to come up with aesthetically pleasing designs while keeping the costs down. That way, homeowners can get more of what they want without bursting their budget.
We sat down for a chat with the founders of DreamCreations Interior, Darren and Christina, who share with us about the philosophy of their firm and why they don’t believe in renovation packages.
Qanvast: Tell us about the origins of DreamCreations Interior.
Darren (D): Christina and I were from two renowned design firms, when we decided to open our own design firm as we felt that the high overhead costs caused the selling price of these firm’s interior design services to be very high. We believe that our firm would be able to lower our selling price so that more homeowners would be encouraged to enlist our services.
Qanvast: So would you say that your unique selling point is the affordable prices of your home renovation services?
C: While we do offer affordable renovation services, we can’t say that we offer the cheapest renovation prices as we don’t compromise on quality to keep the costs down. I would say that our selling point is the chemistry that we have with our homeowners. We believe that a lot of homeowners sign with us because they feel comfortable with us and they trust us to get the job done. In fact, most of our former clients are now our friends.
Qanvast: Just to get a sense of your rates, how much would you quote for a basic renovation of a 4-room BTO flat?
C: We would charge about $10,000 to $20,000 for a basic renovation which includes built-in kitchen cabinets, a TV feature wall, lighting, and plumbing. Of course this depends on the amount of carpentry works and the overall design.
Qanvast: How do keep renovation affordable for homeowners with a tight budget?
C: We look closely into homeowners’ needs and wants when coming out with designs for them. We encourage homeowners to focus more on their needs and not to spend unnecessary money on things that they want.
For instance, if homeowners don’t cook or spend much time in the kitchen, we will suggest that they do a basic renovation for the kitchen. The kitchen is often always the most expensive part of the house to renovate and the money saved on renovating the kitchen can be used for other parts of the home.
Qanvast: We heard that you don’t believe in renovation packages. Tell us why.
C: We don’t recommend renovation packages to our clients as we believe that packages contain a lot of hidden costs. Some homeowners have shared with us their experiences with renovation packages that other interior designers offered them. To sum it up: if you don’t want an item in the package, you might get a discount of a few hundred dollars but if you want to add an additional item that is not originally in the package, you might have to pay a few thousand dollars extra. There’s no reason to take a renovation package if you end up paying more than what you would pay for these items on their own.
We believe in giving homeowners the choice to decide what they want for their renovation and not to limit their choices by offering them a renovation package.
Qanvast: How did you overcome the challenges when your firm started?
C: We had quite a number of referrals from our former clients because of the aftersales service that we provide them. When we left our previous firms, we made sure to communicate to our former clients that they can reach out to us if they have any problems and we would be glad to serve them as and when they need us. I think it’s because of the relationships that we have cultivated with our former clients that makes them want to come back to us and recommend to their friends.
Qanvast: If homeowners are interested in engaging your services, would you recommend a face to face meetup?
C: Yes. We always recommend that homeowners come by our office so that we can show them the various materials for the renovation. We have quite a large variety of materials in our office – such as laminates from ten different companies and a variety of tabletop surfaces – that we encourage homeowners to take a look at.
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