How to plan your Kitchen Design Projects like a pro!

To me, the holy grail of a project plan is a perfectly laid out, week-by-week plan telling me what I need to get done each week and how much time I have to do it so I can plan my time and make sure I’m not overloading my calendar.  

When you have  a good project plan:

• You can control your calendar instead of your calendar controlling you.
• You can show up to work each week knowing exactly what to work on to keep your project on track.
• You can set up the client’s expectations for when things will happen so they’re not stressing you out asking you for things when you’re not ready.
• Your assistant or sub-contractors can work more independently, knowing the next thing that needs to be done and when.  

Sounds good, doesn’t it?  Don’t worry, it’s not as hard as you think if you have a guide, so today I’m going to walk you through it step by step.  I even created a handy FREE worksheet that you can print out and use to plan out your next design project!  Easy peasy! Let’s get started!

PRO TIP: Your project plan can become a process you use over and over for every new design project - no need to reinvent the wheel!  Do the work now and save yourself countless hours in the future.  

Step 1: Define your design phases and the goal of each phase.   

Think of design phases much like you would think of work zones in a kitchen.  They’re the big buckets that help you get everything organized and break down an overwhelming design process into manageable chunks.  A typical design process has 5 Phases: Programming (Discovery), Schematic Design (concepts), Design Development, Construction Documents, Construction Administration.

The great news is that, as a self-employed designer, you get to decide what your phases will be and what they’ll be called.  Just decide and make your buckets - it will make everything easier to organize and plan!  

Step 2: List out everything that needs to happen for each design phase.  

This includes your work, presentations, deliverables, meetings, errands, client homework etc.   Place all of the items in order, by phase.    

Step 3: Create time estimates

Go through each item on your list and write out how much time it’s going to take.  Add up the total time for each design phase, and the total overall for the project.  

Step 4:  Identify your milestones

Milestones are the meetings, presentations or deliverables on a project.  They’re the mini-goals you’re working toward each week.  Milestones are like the rocks in the river that everything else flows around.  Go back to your task list and highlight what your milestones are for each phase and plan them out week by week.  Are you going to present each week, or every two weeks?  What’s a good rhythm for your project, based on how many hours it’s going to take to complete each milestone?   

Step 5: Create a weekly schedule

Now you’re ready to create your weekly schedule.  With your milestones in hand, you can list out, week-by-week, what your weekly goals are going to be, and the hours needed to complete the work. 

It’s so fantastic to have a project plan like this that lets you know exactly what needs to get done each week.  It takes the guesswork out of planning your time so you can just get down to work and focus your energy and creativity on the actual design part!  It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to complete your design projects on time and on budget, and follow through on your commitments to  your clients, looking like the true professional you are. 

Remove the guesswork and download my FREE project plan worksheet here.  

And if you feel like you just can’t get enough of this project planning magic, don’t forget I’ve created a whole online course where you can learn my Design Roadmap System - the project management system I created to manage all of my projects for my own business, Brandenburg Studios.  The Design Roadmap System gives you everything you need to plan out all of your projects into one Master Calendar, so you can truly take control of your work and your time.  There’s nothing else like it. 

Learn More about the Design Roadmap System Here