EP 325 | Avoid Overdelivering in Interior Design with Melissa Morris

Listen Now

Are you doing more work than you’re paid for—and calling it “good service”?

In this episode, Kimberley Seldon is joined by Melissa Morris to tackle one of the most common profitability problems in interior design: overdelivering. What often starts as a desire to exceed expectations can quickly turn into unpaid work, scope creep, and burnout.

The root issue isn’t generosity—it’s a lack of clearly defined scope and boundaries. Learn how to protect your time, maintain control of your projects, and run a more profitable design business without sacrificing client satisfaction.

If you’re feeling overworked and underpaid, this episode will help you reset your approach.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How unclear scope leads to overwork, overwhelm, and lost profit
• Why perfectionism often drives overdelivering in design projects
• How to clearly define scope of work to protect your time and margins
• Why the first out-of-scope request is the moment to set boundaries
• How following a process prevents leadership bottlenecks
• Why time tracking is essential for understanding and improving profitability

DESIGN INTERVENTION

Focus on relationships. It wasn’t long ago that all the hype was about blogging, social media posts and Facebook ads – and it’s still often preached. A business coach told me to focus on building relationships and she was right. Long before the internet, word of mouth and referrals was a great way to build a business and that still holds true today. While I definitely blog and post to social media, I put more effort into relationship building than most.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING

When you’ve completed the BOD15 Program within BOD™ Membership, implement Business of Design®’s Flat Fee Method using the BOD™ Flat Fee Contract. Never undercharge or worry about scope creep again.