You've heard about the illusive interior design questionnaire, but what is it, how do you use it, and why don't interior design schools teach you about it? In today's post, I'll be sharing all of the answers to your questions, ensuring you know what to put in it and when to use it (which clients not to send it to), and I'll even give you my template for you to use.

But first, we need to start with a bit of history around how the interior design questionnaire came about because it hasn't been around for that long! An interior design questionnaire is not something you're taught to do at interior design schools or in interior design diplomas because they teach one method for running a project, which I call the "traditional" interior design process. In the traditional interior design process, an interior designer runs a project from start to finish. It's usually a process that requires what we call "full-service design", including project oversight and procurement (if you don't know what that means, have a look at this post: Interior Design Project Management Explained

The traditional interior design process is the same process that follows the architectural or build process of a project. For example, concept, detail design, technical design, construction/installation, and styling (in the UK, you would follow the RIBA plan of work stages). In this type of project, you'll likely have a type of room requirements schedule for each space and a pre-qualifying client questionnaire used at the beginning of the project to get the client details. In part, this pre-qualifying client questionnaire was the precursor to the interior design questionnaire, but they are inherently different.

An Interior Design questionnaire is something you send to a client for a small project or an E-Design Project (not a traditional or services project). I invented it as part of my E-Design or Online Design process in 2012 while navigating how to provide digital online services for clients. Back then, selling interior design and architecture online was not like it is today. People would say to me, "How can you design my home without stepping foot into it?"

There was a lot of figuring out, and before I started using welcome questionnaires, I'd miss information or forget to ask my client for important things. I wouldn't have the proper agreement in place as the projects were much smaller than those I was used to working on in a design office, and I struggled to prove what the client requested back in that initial meeting to create the brief for the project.

So the welcome questionnaire became a tool I used for small projects to work more professionally at the start of a small project. It helped me to:

It also became a much more streamlined and profitable way of working because the projects I was taking on were much smaller than the ones I worked on when in design firms, which meant the "traditional" process that every designer was using was overkill.

The most important thing to understand with an interior design welcome questionnaire is that it's not for large, commercial, or projects where you will follow the traditional procurement. For example, a traditional procurement for interior designers usually looks like this: Brief, Concept, Detail/Technical Design, FF&E sourcing, Installation/implementation and turn-key styling. It follows the typical construction process (which you can see here as the RIBA plan of work 2020: RIBA Plan of Work )

That system or process is already worked out, so adding an interior design welcome questionnaire to this system is weird. You don't need to overcomplicate things, and as I mentioned above, you're likely to already have "room requirement schedules" to deal with the in-depth scope of work required with these types of projects. An interior design welcome questionnaire simply wouldn't be comprehensive enough to deal with the requirements of a big, complex project because it was designed to do the opposite!

This is a good question because it depends on a few essential factors, but you can use my process as a checklist. Ask yourself the following questions:

If you answered yes to the above questions, this small project is perfect for using the interior design welcome questionnaire. Alternatively, you can use the tree diagram below:

So now that we've established what an interior design welcome questionnaire is and what type of projects it can be used for, how do you use it, what does it look like, and what goes into it?

The interior design welcome questionnaire is NOT a marketing document! I've seen interior design "templates" advertised all over the internet and on social media, which are sales documents or marketing documents used to secure clients.

We don't send the welcome questionnaires before we have the client unless you're sending it to decipher if the project is a traditional procurement (but usually, you've had client contact at this point, so the only time this really happens is if you've got an automated on-boarding system that automatically sends your client to a welcome questionnaire – which I obviously don't recommend for large, traditional, commercial or luxury projects!)

Every designer will have a slightly different interior design welcome questionnaire because the scope of work they provide will vary. But there are some questions that every single interior design welcome questionnaire should have, and these are:

An welcome questionnaire is NOT a marketing brochure, and it doesn't resemble anything you have seen on the internet masquerading as an interior design welcome questionnaire. There shouldn’t be extensive project information either. The questionnaire’s main purpose is to help the client explain what they want in their own words and to provide all of the project details before you start designing. These questions are what I sent to hundreds and hundreds of clients at the start of my business to create successful and profitable E-Design projects.

This type of interior design welcome questionnaire was the pinnacle in streamlining my onboarding workflow and process to help make my small design projects profitable. It meant that the client did all the leg work and came prepared to our meeting. It also meant that I was able to prepare for our meeting/consultation with background knowledge already in place so that I felt I could deliver the next steps professionally and confidently.

For me, it looked like a word document that I sent to clients that had a photo of me, a short introduction and my design philosophy. It was very simple and I didn’t overcomplicate it because the more complicated – the more likely that my client wouldn’t return it or they would have problems filling it in (e.g. PDF forms or online forms). You are welcome to use this template and copy it for yourself, but please remember that this is only to be used for small projects (projects where a traditional project structure isn't required or projects under $100K in budget).

Download this template here:

Finally, now that you know what it looks like and what you would use it for, how do you use an interior design welcome questionnaire to run your small projects profitably? It will become a crucial part of your onboarding or project workflow. Your workflow will, of course, vary for a large or traditional project, but a small project or E-Design workflow might look like this:

So, you use your welcome questionnaire to send it as part of your welcome pack to your client (not as a first contact to "find out more about the project" – that's only for large or traditional projects!) You'll only send it out once the client has agreed to hire you as the interior designer for their project. This is the critical difference. Those designers who know what they're doing and who are making a profit with E-Design do things this way.

For E-designs or small projects to be profitable, you have a set fee for a set design service that I delivered within a set timeline. Designers design and client procures. That's it. The client already knows what they'll get and how much it costs. That's the beauty of E-Design or small projects. If you want to read more about how to create profitable E-Design services or to learn if E-Design is the right fit for you, have a look at this post: How To Provide Interior E-Design Service

If the client wants you to do everything on the project… well, in that case, they have to raise their fee to accommodate the extra work. That then turns to the traditional design structure that we all know (but use for the wrong projects!).

The interior design welcome questionnaire is necessary for handling small or E-Design projects smoothly and professionally. Unlike the traditional full-service design process you learn about in school, which covers everything from start to finish, this questionnaire is perfect for smaller or simpler projects. It simplifies the onboarding process, ensuring you get all the critical details and requirements from your client immediately and without spending time asking all the questions. It helps clarify what our client wants, sets clear expectations, and gives a solid starting point for the project whilst keeping the onboarding process streamlined and, most importantly, profitable!