Ask Us Anything: How Shaun Crha presents product pricing to clients

Trade Tales

Interior designer Shaun Crha of Wrenstead Interiors shares his approach to handling client requests for detailed product pricing, emphasizin

Key takeaways

• Clients often expect retail-style itemized pricing due to online shopping habits, but interior design is not a retail model.
• Educating clients early about the holistic nature of design services helps manage expectations around pricing transparency.

Main topics

• Client expectations around product pricing
• Transparency vs. confidentiality in design pricing

Notable quotes

"This is not a pick and choose process. This is a we're going to work on things together and create this vision at the end."

Conclusion

Shaun Crha emphasizes that while clients may want full pricing transparency, a successful

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:04) Hi, I'm Caitlin Peterson, the Editor-in-Chief of Business of Home. Welcome to Ask Us Anything, where we're tapping your favorite trade tales gifts to answer all of your questions about building a better design business. Some weeks, we'll be workshopping a crisis. In others, we'll take a step back to talk about the big picture. Things like embracing change, hiring, or how to level up. No question is out of bounds. No question is too large or too small. And we're keeping it confidential so that this is always a safe space to air your frustrations and share your fears. This week, we're hearing from a designer whose clients want to know exactly what she's paying for product. Speaker 2 (0:52) Well, I think clients are often expecting to see itemized pricing on things like furniture, wallpaper, plumbing fixtures, anything like that, because they're used to being able to go to a website or to walk a showroom floor and see at least retail numbers tagged onto things. So they have it in their heads that it should be available to them. This designer Speaker 3 (1:19) gives clients the full rundown when it comes to how she works. And yet, it feels like there's still a disconnect when it comes to pricing. Now, she's wondering how other designers talk about money and send invoices. Speaker 2 (1:34) As a consumer, you know, I certainly appreciate that approach, but this isn't retail. We're not any retail business. So there's a disconnect I see often with clients on the expectations surrounding pricing and specifically itemized pricing. Speaker 3 (1:49) How are you navigating that right now? Or like, what is the friction point? Speaker 2 (1:54) Well, I do try to explain to folks, this is a... more turnkey approach. You know, we are taking a holistic, full service approach to your project, whether that's one room or a whole house. And with that comes a group of things. It's not just one specific item. We're oftentimes marrying furniture and wall coverings and lighting and all kinds of individual pieces that create a package. In that education process, I do my best to clarify this is not a pick and choose process. This is a, we're going to work on things together and create this vision at the end. Usually they're on board, but sometimes they're still shopping. There's still a, let me just see if I can find it online or get something close. There's always that one-off element. Totally. Is it about... Speaker 3 (2:55) Messaging that at the beginning? Is it about kind of course correcting when clients tell you they're going to go look for something on the internet themselves? What feedback would be the most helpful or what insight? Speaker 2 (3:06) Certainly all of the above. There's two components here. It's how the clients are educated even before they reach me, right? There's a disconnect about what... bringing a designer into the project means. You know, HGTV doesn't help and, you know, Reddit blogs don't really do a great job either. There's a component where clients could be better educated on the realities of what it means to have a designer in their court from start to finish on a project and the things that come with that. And then the flip side is I need to do a good job of being able to explain that to clients in terms that they understand and can digest and get on board with. Speaker 3 (3:47) Is there anything else that we haven't talked about that's sort of related to these challenges for you? I Speaker 2 (3:54) think I'd like to know what phrases and what verbiage is used from really well-respected designers in explaining that to people who... are very affluent, can afford whatever it is they want, but just want the information. They just want the knowledge. And having those key phrases and those key words in my back pocket to explain to clients would be really, really helpful. Speaker 3 (4:20) Design firms across the country have embraced the idea of transparency in their businesses, especially over the past decade. But like everything else in this industry, it can mean a lot of different things depending on who you ask. And that ambiguity can easily leave designers wondering how open they really have to be about the cost of goods. Or for another way to think about this conversation, how much information do you truly owe your clients? As we ended our call, I knew just who to connect with. Someone whose approach to pricing transparency comes in the form of an early education on the costs of design. And who leads with empathy for clients who crave that additional visibility into where their money is going. But who also protects his price. All that and more in just a moment. Speaker 3 (5:17) Hey, designers. One of the industry's most beloved brands has a big birthday this fall. That's right. Four Hands is celebrating the big 3-0. That's 30 years of telling elevated design stories and empowering designers like you to tell their own. That's also 30 years of incredible growth. From a small antiques importer in Austin, Texas, to an international brand with a robust in-house design studio and a full lifestyle assortment. And that's 30 years of drive and desire to understand the ever-changing needs of life at home and to keep evolving to meet them. Forehands is a company that's proud to do things differently, with a deep commitment to continually improving and enhancing the designer experience. 30 years in, Forehands is just getting started. Here's to three decades of design and to everything that comes next. Explore the benefits of shopping with Forehands for your next project at forehands.com slash tradetales. Speaker 3 (6:28) Today, I'm joined by Sean Serha of Rinstead Interiors. As a guest on Trade Tales, he shared how setting boundaries in his work unlocked new opportunities for his firm. He also told me about his first career in banking and how he's folded that comfort with talking about money right into his design business. I thought he'd be the perfect person to answer today's question. Speaker 3 (6:53) Sean, welcome back to the show. Trade Tales guests heard from you in 2022. Speaker 1 (6:59) Wow. Speaker 3 (7:00) What have you been up to since then? Man, Speaker 1 (7:03) what a crazy time in my studio in 2022. I was just getting into my first studio office space, like commercial lease, all that stuff. Grew my team into that space. had like a showroom element to my studio space, you know, being a dealer for a couple lines that I was working on and thought, oh, I'm going to try some direct to consumer stuff. And since then, such a big pivot to realize that so much of my energy is better spent with my design clients and not as much distraction to a retail and consumer. direct-to-consumer audience. Wait, Speaker 3 (7:40) so what is that? Do you still have that office space? And what does it look like today? Speaker 1 (7:44) Yeah, great question. Well, by way of several pivots since then, in 2025, I got divorced, which was such a super good thing. I'm a huge fan of divorces for people who want them. Speaker 3 (7:57) Congratulations. Thank Speaker 1 (7:59) you. Yes, exactly. It was not without its trials and tribulations at all, but it gave me an opportunity to not only get like my personal values in my life aligned, but then my like make my business match those values. And part of it was just where I wanted to spend my time and education to direct to consumer sales and having, you know, public showroom appointments and things was just becoming a distraction from the work that I really love doing. And maybe also realizing like, I just do not want to interact with that many people on a... daily basis. Were Speaker 3 (8:36) you getting just like steady foot traffic all the time that would have to pull you out of your work then? Speaker 1 (8:41) No. And I think that was what made it even more distracting was that it would have so many ebbs and flows that even with support from my team here, it meant that someone was always sort of sacrificing something else they needed to be doing because we really weren't in a place to dedicate like a full-time support person to just... be here at the desk, being the shop person, so to speak. It just wasn't making sense. And then I was also sad to be like, okay, I'm helping someone who is for the first time ever buying a really quality sofa and investing in something that's going to last them 15 or 20 years or more. And that process was draining me from a lot of my design work. And so I threw my whole values and business alignment strategy. I was able to subdivide my office suite during that year. And instead of being in about 1,500 square feet, I'm in about 700, which is perfect amount of size, less showroom space. I still kept pieces here for my design clients to be able to see what we have. It, of course, makes the office look more beautiful to have sort of... It feels like a small studio apartment now, so to speak. Speaker 3 (9:51) And how many of you are in the office? Speaker 1 (9:54) Now it's just me. My help is now all remote. I have a fantastic design assistant who works remotely. And I've got freelancers. And I really have built a lot of my studio work around a better balanced life for myself. My speed, the pace I work at, and the number of clients I can work with. I was moving at a production level on some things back in 2022 that... I don't need to do for myself and for my own well-being and a balance of my life. It's made such better sense to kind of right-size my business to match the type of life I'm building. Speaker 3 (10:33) I think that's one beautiful. I'm so excited for you. Thank you. It is like weirdly such a thesis of so many of the conversations I'm having on Trade Tales in the back half of 2026. I feel like there is a movement of people just saying, wait a minute, I built this business that I'm not in love with or that doesn't give me the life I want. It doesn't give me the life I thought it would give me. And I don't like my job. Speaker 1 (11:01) Yes. Or it's just becoming like, for me, so much of my time was getting taken up by the things I didn't enjoy, which really started to remind me of my corporate career before I got into design. And that felt silly. Like I already did this once to get out of a career choice that I didn't enjoy that wasn't. good for me and didn't let me do the things I wanted to. And then why am I building it again? You know, and that it feels really weird to experience it that way. You're like, wait, I built this myself and I still don't like it. That's, you know, how Speaker 3 (11:36) doubly insulting somehow. Speaker 1 (11:39) And it was me, you know, like the whole time it's that, um, it's that meme of Spider-Man pointing at. different versions of himself, like different multiverses, like the 2020 version, building a business is getting pointed out by the 2022 version of me. And then now in 2026, having so much more clarity, I'm like having so much forgiveness for that version of myself who was, that was just what you thought the best thing at the time was. And now this is the best thing at the time. Speaker 3 (12:09) That's incredible. What are you most excited about now when you walk into work? Speaker 1 (12:15) I am really lucky right now to have clients. Every client I'm working with right now was also with me last year. Whether they were just coming on board or we were already talking with their architect and stuff before that, everyone I'm working with right now, I was working with at that extremely challenging time of my life during my divorce, changing my business. And every single one of them was at my back. the entire time. There's really nothing like being very seen and cared for by someone unexpectedly. And I never really expected that type of care to come back from my clients, the type of care that I pour into their project in their home and thinking about their family and all the steps they're going to live every day there. I'm not used to that same type of care coming back as a reward. which is really healing, honestly. Speaker 3 (13:14) How does that show up for you? Or how did you feel some of that? Speaker 1 (13:18) Part of it was having my clients share some levity and humor in the process. One client last year, when I first told her, I said, hey, my schedule might be a little weird lately. I'm going to have some meetings with attorneys. And by just coincidence, she's also an attorney. And she's like, oh man, divorce, been there, done that. Just like laughing about it and just being like, well, let me know after you get through all the stuff spreadsheets you got to deal with. And, you know, like having someone to kind of laugh at these things and realize that even though for you, they're very normal, you know, this is a very abnormal situation I was going through. For her, she has seen and heard this or been around it for so much of her career and her life that... It made a very easy regularness to it that was like, okay, yes, this is a thing. But also a lot of people go through these. She's laughing at it with me. She's teasing stuff. Having clients who said, hey, let me know if this week looks busy for you. We totally are not in a rush. And knowing that