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Navigating Home Remodeling with Monika Zasada · The iDesign Lab Podcast

• 0:00
  Voice Over: This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design.
• 0:05
  Voice Over: Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles.
• 0:09
  Voice Over: Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends.
• 0:25
  Voice Over: Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite.
• 0:43
  Voice Over: And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design.
• 0:50
  Voice Over: Today on the iDesign Lab podcast, we're joined by Monica Zasada, founder of D-Mazing and a true home renovation curator.
• 0:57
  Voice Over: With a sharp eye for design and decades of experience, monica helps homeowners navigate the chaos of remodeling with clarity, control and confidence, bringing thoughtful design and smart planning to every step of the journey.
• 1:11
  Tiffany Woolley: Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast.
• 1:13
  Tiffany Woolley: Today we are thrilled to have remotely Monica Zosada, who is the home renovation curator, and we look forward to hearing her story because, as most people know who listen to us, the word curation is one of my favorites, or curate.
• 1:32
  Monika Zasada: so welcome, monica, and tell us how you landed as the home renovation curator well, curating, and the word curator happens to be one of my favorite words too, because I think it is indicative of an intentional process.
• 1:51
  Monika Zasada: Oh, I love that how it all.
• 1:54
  Monika Zasada: How I ended in construction is a bit of an oddity, because my life was supposed to be of an academia.
• 2:03
  Monika Zasada: I was supposed to teach American literature.
• 2:06
  Monika Zasada: I majored in American literature.
• 2:09
  Monika Zasada: My master thesis was Transcendentalism and Puritanism revised.
• 2:16
  Monika Zasada: Serendipitous that I ended up in the village of Sac Harbor, where I spent most of my time where Moby Dick and the whaling industry flourished.
• 2:32
  Tiffany Woolley: What a collab right there.
• 2:34
  Monika Zasada: It is, it is so, and I do believe in science.
• 2:37
  Monika Zasada: I don't know if you do, but I do.
• 2:39
  Tiffany Woolley: Everything happens for a reason.
• 2:58
  Monika Zasada: That's right.
• 3:00
  Monika Zasada: And from and having grown in communist Poland, where housing was in tremendous shortage, I grew up in an apartment whose size equals the size, perhaps, of were not allowed to own anything and I was always obsessed and very driven by the desire to own my own home, whether it's an apartment or a house.
• 3:15
  Monika Zasada: And because, you know, I feel very, very viscerally that home is such an important part of my life.
• 3:24
  Monika Zasada: It is my refuge, it is my spa Sometimes I pretend it's a luxurious hotel, it's my kingdom.
• 3:33
  Monika Zasada: I decided about everything that went into my house, how I went about acquiring it, how I went about, you know, renovating it and all of that.
• 3:46
  Monika Zasada: And having practiced in building industry which, by the way, I see as a very broken industry I realized that so many projects that are meant to be joyful and meaningful in our lives, because home is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, investment in our lives.
• 4:10
  Scott Woolley: And most important.
• 4:10
  Monika Zasada: Because, the industry is so broken, it requires curation, it does.
• 4:16
  Scott Woolley: So, before we jump into what you're doing, how did you come from Poland to America and then to Sag Harbor, which is one of our favorite places to go?
• 4:27
  Monika Zasada: Oh, yes, and I can understand why.
• 4:29
  Monika Zasada: So after I was invited by my professor who oversaw the master thesis, he invited me to be one of the one of the staff at the university of poland.
• 4:45
  Monika Zasada: I realized how silly it would be for me to be teaching the literature of the country I never visited.
• 4:52
  Monika Zasada: Wow, and poland at that time was transitioning from a communist country to free market economy country, and the ticket, whose price was like putting a deposit on the ocean front house in the Hamptons, would be unattainable if it weren't for the fact that in the free market economy it was possible to be well paid for something executed very, very quickly.
• 5:23
  Monika Zasada: So I was asked to translate a riveting book from English to Polish, titled how to Live with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
• 5:35
  Monika Zasada: Oh my God, so drinking copious amount of coffee.
• 5:42
  Monika Zasada: In two weeks I managed to translate that riveting book and I got you know a amount of coffee.
• 5:45
  Monika Zasada: In two weeks.
• 5:45
  Monika Zasada: I managed to translate the riveting book and I got you know a lot of money In Poland was a lot of money.
• 5:51
  Monika Zasada: And then, via Vienna, with my international student identification card, I was able to purchase a discounted ticket from Vienna to New York, wow, where I joined my friend who had come here three years earlier and while being here I realized that my position in Poland, while very prestigious you know, academic career I would need seven lifetimes to be able to afford an apartment in the university city of poznan poland so I decided to um, how shall we say it?
• 6:38
  Monika Zasada: to extend my welcome here and and stay until I saved twenty thousand dollars, because that would have been many years ago what I would need to purchase an apartment in Poland.
• 6:54
  Monika Zasada: And in the process, in the process of that, I I realized that I really love the houses.
• 7:06
  Monika Zasada: I really love, you know.
• 7:08
  Monika Zasada: I mean, I always loved architecture.
• 7:09
  Monika Zasada: I was at that time, working for a family whose two children I was supposed to teach Russian.
• 7:17
  Monika Zasada: Coming from Poland, we had no choice but no Russian, and I spoke fluent Russian at the time and the mother's wish who had studied Russian always was for me to teach her sons Russian.
• 7:29
  Monika Zasada: This is how I was introduced to, well, the best apartments, right, you know, in New York City.
• 7:35
  Monika Zasada: And this is how I was introduced to Sack Harbor.
• 7:39
  Monika Zasada: And I will never forget I am literally getting goosebumps remembering the moment when I arrived with the two boys and their parents to Sac Harbor.
• 7:49
  Monika Zasada: They have their second home here and it was just a magical moment.
• 7:54
  Monika Zasada: We came on a blistering cold March evening and we were driving by all those homes, you know, and it seemed to me I entered a sanitary what area of New York was that?
• 8:08
  Monika Zasada: That was Sac Harbor.
• 8:10
  Scott Woolley: Okay, so Sac Harbor okay.
• 8:11
  Monika Zasada: Sac Harbor.
• 8:12
  Monika Zasada: Yes, so this is through the family for whom I was the governess teaching Russian.
• 8:19
  Monika Zasada: They introduced me here because we came here on a break I holiday on some spring holiday break and this is where I saw Sack Harbor for the first time and I was just like I said, I was like entering a fairy tale, yes, yes, and then through a, through a um, and I was always talking about my desire to own a home and and such so a friend of mine introduced me to a general contractor who said that, well, he, he was just, you know, he wanted help with with building his, his company, and I was instrumental in transforming his then basement based outfit into a multi-million dollar general contracting company as his as its vice president, wow.
• 9:07
  Monika Zasada: And then recognizing, which I touched upon perhaps earlier with you when we were offline, recognizing that the building industry is broken, I realized that my talents and by then I knew everything that is to know about what is what is to be known about general contracting.
• 9:30
  Monika Zasada: I then also was in the process of renovating this beautiful house beautiful.
• 9:36
  Monika Zasada: I recognized for the need for this niche service of curating.
• 9:41
  Monika Zasada: I, I love it.
• 9:43
  Scott Woolley: So how long ago was it that you started this, that you got involved in the building?
• 9:48
  Monika Zasada: Construction.
• 9:48
  Monika Zasada: Oh, I started working with a general contractor in 97.
• 9:54
  Scott Woolley: So in 97, but you really didn't know a lot about it.
• 9:57
  Monika Zasada: So you basically I knew zero about it.
• 10:01
  Scott Woolley: You started diving in and learning.
• 10:04
  Monika Zasada: Absolutely so.
• 10:06
  Monika Zasada: Yes, from answering the phone to doing you know payroll, to being the project manager and ending up as vice president.
• 10:15
  Monika Zasada: Quite a success story.
• 10:18
  Scott Woolley: All out in the Hamptons.
• 10:20
  Monika Zasada: All out in the Hamptons indeed.
• 10:22
  Monika Zasada: You must have seen so much growth too in that time frame.
• 10:29
  Monika Zasada: Yes, well, I have to tell you it was quite a bumpy road because, as I'm sure you know, construction industry is a very male-dominated field right.
• 10:40
  Voice Over: So here I am.
• 10:41
  Monika Zasada: I'm a woman, I have an accent and, you know, by growing and ascending within the company, I was, you know, in a position of power.
• 10:55
  Monika Zasada: So I was telling men what I needed.
• 10:57
  Monika Zasada: I was telling men, I need your price.
• 11:00
  Monika Zasada: You overlooked, you know, you overlooked one room in this, in this house, yes, and they couldn't understand.
• 11:07
  Monika Zasada: You know how dare I question again a woman with an accent telling them what to do?
• 11:12
  Monika Zasada: So it was very interesting, but, um, but I loved it.
• 11:16
  Monika Zasada: It was.
• 11:17
  Monika Zasada: You know, it is through challenges that we learn the most right it's the.
• 11:22
  Monika Zasada: Success is kind of like makes us complacent, but when you are facing challenges it just makes you better at what you do and forces you to kind of explain to others the reasoning for what you are expecting or asking for.
• 11:42
  Scott Woolley: So somewhere along the line you decided, from what I understand, to kind of go out on your own.
• 11:47
  Scott Woolley: Am I correct in saying?
• 11:49
  Monika Zasada: that and create the amazing that's correct.
• 11:53
  Scott Woolley: So tell us about what is well.
• 11:54
  Scott Woolley: First, what is the amazing?
• 11:55
  Scott Woolley: Is there a meaning behind the name or yes.
• 11:59
  Monika Zasada: So one of my clients, a female, said to me Monica, before I engaged you, I felt with my project as if I were in a maze.
• 12:12
  Monika Zasada: I would turn left and I would bump my head.
• 12:17
  Tiffany Woolley: Oh, my God, that's a great way to explain it.
• 12:20
  Monika Zasada: And I would bump my head.
• 12:22
  Monika Zasada: He says you are like a Sherpa, you are leading me through the maze.
• 12:29
  Monika Zasada: You cracked the code of a maze.
• 12:31
  Monika Zasada: You are.
• 12:32
  Monika Zasada: So you should say Monica, which you are very amazing.
• 12:37
  Monika Zasada: But you are so de-mazing, so I de-maze the maze of construction for my clients.
• 12:46
  Scott Woolley: That's fantastic so tell us what you do and what your company does and how you help homeowners.
• 12:53
  Monika Zasada: So I am sort of a myth buster, in the sense that through practicing in this industry since 1997, I do recognize it's broken and because it's broken it is putting the homeowner, my client, in a very dangerous position.
• 13:16
  Monika Zasada: So the process itself is broken, because how it normally plays out is as follows the client if they are smart enough, they recognize they need help of a design professional team.
• 13:33
  Scott Woolley: Yeah right, I say that yes so this is building a new home or remodeling no matter what either, both exactly Tiffany no matter what, and here is the first mistake people think people make, like most people you know, recognize that.
• 13:52
  Monika Zasada: Oh, if I renovate my kitchen, I will add so much value to my house.
• 13:55
  Monika Zasada: And and the kitchen in the most regular home is actually one of the most complex rooms in your home because it involves every single aspect of construction.
• 14:07
  Monika Zasada: We'll get to it a little later.
• 14:09
  Monika Zasada: So the process is if the client is cognizant enough, they approach a design professional, whether it's if it's just a spruce up or all they need as an interior designer.
• 14:22
  Monika Zasada: If it is a gut renovation, an additional building, a new home, you also need an architect.
• 14:28
  Monika Zasada: Right, and because no one, or extremely rare people, openly talk about money, which absolutely is an idiotic state of affairs right that no one talks about money.
• 14:43
  Monika Zasada: So there is this love affair between a homeowner and a design professional, because it's an aspirational process, oh, but of course I want, you know, a separate makeup table and of course I want Carrie Bradshaw's walk-in closet.
• 15:02
  Monika Zasada: And the husband says and of course I want humidor for my cigars.
• 15:06
  Monika Zasada: So they just go out and they design, you know, 10,000 square foot home, right, and they have very rudimentary sketches and a few pictures.
• 15:17
  Monika Zasada: Yes, then they follow the next myth, which is wow, the smartest thing for you to do is to go out and do competitive bidding with multiple general contractors.
• 15:30
  Monika Zasada: Yep, huge mistake they have.
• 15:34
  Monika Zasada: What for them is essentially a you know dinner napkin.
• 15:39
  Tiffany Woolley: Correct, you're not basing it on apples to apples.
• 15:43
  Tiffany Woolley: I say it all the time too, yeah.
• 15:45
  Monika Zasada: So you totally speak my language.
• 15:47
  Tiffany Woolley: Of course.
• 15:49
  Monika Zasada: So of course yes as an interior designer, you know right.
• 15:52
  Monika Zasada: And so here it is.
• 15:54
  Monika Zasada: So the general contractors know that the most important aspect out of the three aspects of the project, which is budget, quality and schedule, the clients most care about money.
• 16:11
  Monika Zasada: So they take this very rudimentary squigglies on a dinner napkin and they artificially drive the price down as much as possible, because they know that the client mostly cares about the bottom line.
• 16:28
  Monika Zasada: Yes, so here you go.
• 16:30
  Monika Zasada: And then another mistake that people make is they engage the least expensive general contractor, which means that from the very beginning, the financial outlook is completely, completely distorted.
• 16:48
  Monika Zasada: Yeah, and then they proceed, you know, to do the full construction drawings and the general contractor says oh well, I didn't know, you wanted upper cabinets in your kitchen because there was no dotted line on your, on your floor plans.
• 17:05
  Monika Zasada: Right, I don't want to get too technical, right, right?
• 17:07
  Monika Zasada: And here is how the whole horror story begins.
• 17:13
  Tiffany Woolley: Yes, everybody ends up being, you know, at best in this position, when they are always defensive, or at worst, it ends up in court that's so true and like no, what you were saying at the very beginning, like this process should be a great process of something that you look forward to, that you enjoy, that sparks excitement and you know curiosity and creativity turns into a horror story and I just I love what you're saying, so continue.
• 17:47
  Tiffany Woolley: Sorry about that.
• 17:48
  Monika Zasada: Very much so.
• 17:49
  Monika Zasada: So why I decided not to be the general contractor anymore is because I was tired to be perceived as this necessary, very necessary, but very dirty tool.
• 18:01
  Monika Zasada: You know that is like the bus killer.
• 18:04
  Monika Zasada: After this honeymoon of you know, the client being with a design professional, here comes the general contractor and it's just someone who wants to rip you off.
• 18:15
  Monika Zasada: And I wanted to create a project and bring everybody to the project in a very collaborative way.
• 18:24
  Monika Zasada: Yes, because construction itself is so, so, so, so challenging that the people and their interaction and the process should be nothing but pleasurable.
• 18:38
  Monika Zasada: So I am, for instance, speaking to the, to the matters I touched upon, I am very much against competitive bidding.
• 18:47
  Monika Zasada: I am very much for well, first of all, getting to know my client very well and also, um shepherding the client through the process of what I, what I perceive as their responsibility, which is for them to know and be very cognizant as to what design they really like.
• 19:08
  Monika Zasada: And that takes time as well as the program of the house.
• 19:14
  Monika Zasada: So one of my favorite examples of how you can be very mistaken, as, as it is, what you think you want, is a mother of two children wanting to have again carry bread shop, beautiful foyer that that you know that sports a huge vase of flowers right with, with nothing it.
• 19:38
  Monika Zasada: It totally doesn't translate into how the woman how a busy mother of you know two children with a dog where she needs to come.
• 19:44
  Monika Zasada: She needs to have a place where to park the woman, how a busy mother of you know two children with a dog, where she needs to come.
• 19:46
  Monika Zasada: She needs to have a place where to park the strollers.
• 19:50
  Monika Zasada: She needs to have pegs to hang the.
• 19:53
  Monika Zasada: You know the slimy dog leashes right and so no, carry bread show, beautiful, you know, foyer with a vase of flowers is not what this, what this client needs right first is first, is this this shepherding of the process, so that the client knows what they want, right, right, and then engaging an appropriate design professional, because I have clients who have very well developed design proclivities and I just know that they would not work very well with a design professional who has a very specific brand yes, out and who is very open and willing and eager, yes to discover what it is that the client wants and deliver that accordingly.
• 21:00
  Monika Zasada: I also want for the client to choose and engage a design professional or design professionals.
• 21:02
  Monika Zasada: So it is always an architect, and if an architectural firm doesn't provide interior design services, such, as you know, selection of finishes, tile, grout colors, then an interior designer is also needed to be added to the team.
• 21:18
  Monika Zasada: And, at the same time, I agree only I actually encourage the client to engage general contractor, having gone through a very intentional vetting process to have the constant input from the general contractor as to what everything will cost while it's being designed.
• 21:45
  Tiffany Woolley: I agree so you agree, tiffany, right, absolutely, absolutely.
• 21:50
  Tiffany Woolley: You know, and just to chime in on that, sometimes, you know, through my growth in the industry, you get called, you know, once they've met with the contractor, once they've designed this house, and nobody's, you know, really thought it through.
• 22:06
  Tiffany Woolley: Like you said, a young mother with a vase in the foyer, like nobody really thinks the lifestyle part through, like a designer or an interior designer, and nobody really thinks of the layout, of the furniture, planning and you know, just uses of space until it's too late and they're knee deep into it.
• 22:29
  Tiffany Woolley: I couldn't agree and support what you're saying more, that the design team needs to be as first and foremost absolutely, absolutely, it's all, it's.
• 22:41
  Monika Zasada: Nothing exists in a vacuum.
• 22:42
  Monika Zasada: Right, it's a very, it's a very organic happening at the same time process.
• 22:49
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, I even tell clients like when it is a renovation project.
• 22:54
  Tiffany Woolley: You know, when they call me they're like I don't know if we need to bring you in yet we're just, you know, getting every.
• 22:59
  Tiffany Woolley: I said I'm really the first person you should be coming to.
• 23:03
  Tiffany Woolley: Let's design this house.
• 23:05
  Tiffany Woolley: We can get the architect involved.
• 23:07
  Tiffany Woolley: I know, if it's a historic house, I would use this architect.
• 23:10
  Tiffany Woolley: If it's this kind of house, we would use this architect.
• 23:14
  Tiffany Woolley: But at the end of the day, let's design this house before we go get a builder.
• 23:19
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, tiffany is very much about the contractor bring them in last.
• 23:23
  Scott Woolley: And then she's also of the same mindset with the fact of getting multiple bids.
• 23:28
  Scott Woolley: Let's find the right contractor that fits this project as well.
• 23:33
  Monika Zasada: So you see, I wouldn't do again.
• 23:35
  Monika Zasada: I wouldn't.
• 23:36
  Monika Zasada: So I totally agree with Tiffany right, you need a support of a design professional so that they can think of an overall shape and program of your home that supports your lifestyle.
• 23:55
  Monika Zasada: Right, so busy, mother of two children, no huge vase of flowers that can topple and harm your children, right?
• 24:02
  Monika Zasada: And then at the same time, to choose a general contractor, but not scarred as a process of competitive bidding, but rather a very intentional vetting process.
• 24:15
  Scott Woolley: Correct.
• 24:17
  Monika Zasada: With you having been very open about your budget.
• 24:22
  Monika Zasada: Very so.
• 24:22
  Monika Zasada: If your budget, let's just say and again my blueprint of this curating of a project is applicable to you know, to a kitchen, from kitchen renovation to an island development project, because this is the span of how my services have come to play it is through this intentional vetting process that you choose the contractor, saying again, if your budget is $100,000, then you tell your team your budget is $100,000, then you tell your team your budget is $75,000.
• 24:58
  Monika Zasada: Okay, and you ask your team, both an interior designer, slash architect, and your contractor, to design a house that fits within your budget.
• 25:09
  Monika Zasada: So again, it's a very collaborative process and the general contractor, once he's engaged and completely committed to your project, not artificially driving the prices down on your behalf, is going to competitively bid every aspect for your project.
• 25:30
  Monika Zasada: They will bid your electrical scope of work with three electricians.
• 25:33
  Monika Zasada: They will bid your electrical scope of work with three electricians.
• 25:36
  Monika Zasada: They will bid your plumbing scope of work with three plumbers.
• 25:40
  Tiffany Woolley: That's where competitive bidding comes to play and makes sense.
• 25:46
  Scott Woolley: So question for you.
• 25:47
  Scott Woolley: My question that I wanted to ask you is the biggest thing that I see or that we've seen.
• 25:54
  Scott Woolley: I'm wondering how you overcome this is that you're talking about budget.
• 25:59
  Scott Woolley: A lot of clients don't want to express or tell us, or tell their designer what their budget is, because they feel as though if I tell the budget, they're going to spend every nickel and dime of that.
• 26:11
  Scott Woolley: Do you run across that?
• 26:12
  Scott Woolley: Because it's something that we've talked about on this podcast, how important it is for a client to be open and honest with either your decorator or designer so they really can work within the restraints of what the budget is.
• 26:25
  Scott Woolley: But have you run across this?
• 26:27
  Scott Woolley: I'm guessing you have.
• 26:29
  Monika Zasada: All the time.
• 26:30
  Monika Zasada: But I also know, having practiced right, and so I, I, I consult literally all over the world right and and the curatorship from the a to z and from the a is from this aha moment for an idea of a project in a client's mind to the housewarming party right.
• 26:50
  Monika Zasada: I very much know here, I very much know the prices, I know what, what you know what things cost.
• 26:58
  Monika Zasada: If my client tells me in the hamptons.
• 27:00
  Tiffany Woolley: That's a huge like benefit to know that you're you do understand the costs I I've and again because you see, I, I bring very unique perspective.
• 27:11
  Monika Zasada: Yeah, I used to be a general contractor.
• 27:13
  Monika Zasada: Yes, I I am.
• 27:15
  Monika Zasada: I was my own client as a homeowner right and I had to actually take talk sense to myself because I got on a tangent right.
• 27:24
  Monika Zasada: Oh, oh, I want handmade style, but I I had to face the reality of the fact that the main focus of my project was the budget.
• 27:37
  Monika Zasada: And one of the myths is you cannot have it all.
• 27:41
  Monika Zasada: You cannot have budget and quality and schedule.
• 27:44
  Monika Zasada: Because budget was my organizing component and it had to be my focus, I myself quickly realized that my aspirations are too ambitious.
• 27:57
  Monika Zasada: No, I cannot have hand-mean tile where one piece costs more than three feet of some other tile that I could find.
• 28:05
  Monika Zasada: But you know I, so I kind of I course corrected.
• 28:09
  Monika Zasada: I took more time, because if the budget is your focus, you need to understand that you need to spend more time dedicating yourself to your project.
• 28:19
  Monika Zasada: So I waited for going out of business, sales and clearances and I went to antique shows and I just pre-bought certain items at a very discounted price because I did want quality.
• 28:37
  Monika Zasada: I did want quality.
• 28:39
  Monika Zasada: So I led with a budget.
• 28:41
  Monika Zasada: I understood it will take much more time and I insisted on quality.
• 28:46
  Monika Zasada: So, also, I decided not to add to my house.
• 28:51
  Monika Zasada: Rather, I stayed within the footprint of my house, but I added the second floor.
• 28:57
  Monika Zasada: So these were all decisions, but again, someone I had been by that time.
• 29:02
  Monika Zasada: I had been in the industry for years and yet I had to myself talk myself out of the nonsense that I was, you know, going towards.
• 29:14
  Monika Zasada: So can you imagine a regular homeowner who has never done that, hasn't been, and what do we see?
• 29:23
  Monika Zasada: we see, you know, 48 hour, uh, extreme home you know, makeovers and we think we can ourselves demolish our kitchen on the laundry break and then have a complete redo of the kitchen for $5,000.
• 29:40
  Tiffany Woolley: I know it's such a misguided vision, isn't it?
• 29:43
  Tiffany Woolley: And that's what's the mainstream.
• 29:45
  Tiffany Woolley: Everybody thinks it shouldn't cost.
• 29:48
  Tiffany Woolley: You know X, y or Z, they think it's.
• 29:50
  Tiffany Woolley: You know they've got these preconceived notions in their head on time and money.
• 29:55
  Monika Zasada: Very much so.
• 29:56
  Monika Zasada: So, yes, of course the clients always fight me about the money.
• 30:01
  Monika Zasada: But I ask OK, how big of a house do you want, Right?
• 30:05
  Monika Zasada: And then I can immediately say your house is going to be the minimum of this per square foot and the maximum you decide on.
• 30:14
  Monika Zasada: Yes, and I am always right.
• 30:18
  Monika Zasada: It feels good so yes, it is a fight.
• 30:19
  Monika Zasada: It is a fight and of course I always tell client listen, you can either choose to let me do my job, based on a quarter of a century of my practice in this industry, or we can go your way, but then I take no responsibility for the horror story that I assure you will unfold, Right?
• 30:46
  Scott Woolley: So you're being hired by your clients and you're assisting them in bringing the team together, bringing the interior designer, the architect, the contractor, and then are you kind of staying through the project till the end, making sure all parties.
• 31:02
  Tiffany Woolley: Are you considered like an owner's rep?
• 31:04
  Tiffany Woolley: Would you say yes?
• 31:08
  Monika Zasada: So, generically speaking, I am the closest to the owner's rep.
• 31:12
  Monika Zasada: Speaking, I am the closest to the owner's rep.
• 31:18
  Monika Zasada: But usually the owner's rep again in my practice are hired at the start of construction when it is already too late and the horror story is way on its way.
• 31:24
  Monika Zasada: So I insist on being from this aha moment moment when the first idea you know just the lodges itself in in client's mind.
• 31:36
  Monika Zasada: So yes, scott, very much, I am staying from the a to the housewarming party.
• 31:43
  Monika Zasada: I really I I make everyone accountable for their share, or because everybody has a very specific job and I boss everyone around in the process.
• 31:57
  Tiffany Woolley: So you explained your process on how that team comes together.
• 32:01
  Tiffany Woolley: What does it look like once you're well underway in construction?
• 32:05
  Tiffany Woolley: What is your day-to-day with involvement, since you have many projects?
• 32:11
  Tiffany Woolley: What's your team look like and and how does that timeframe evolve?
• 32:18
  Monika Zasada: So always, I insist on weekly meetings and because I am the ultimate overseer, right, all the communication goes through me, so I am cc'd on all the emails.
• 32:32
  Monika Zasada: But then again, everybody knows their role right, so I oversee it.
• 32:39
  Monika Zasada: And then we all have weekly meetings.
• 32:41
  Monika Zasada: The entire team has weekly meetings.
• 32:44
  Monika Zasada: When we are saying are we on track?
• 32:48
  Monika Zasada: What decisions must be made now, in a very timely manner, if we are to meet our milestones and ultimately complete the house at an agreed upon date?
• 32:59
  Monika Zasada: Right, I also oversee all requisitions of payments.
• 33:03
  Monika Zasada: I help client negotiate contracts with both interior designer and an architect and a general contractor.
• 33:13
  Monika Zasada: Again, the insanity of our industry is that an architect signs the contract with the client yes, with very specific things that he's supposed to do, or she mostly, mostly the I have worked mostly with men in all um, in all um architecture, in all these architecture, yes, and then the contractor is signing a separate contract without knowing what the client agreed with the architect even though it is completely, they're all overlapping.
• 33:46
  Tiffany Woolley: It happens with the design too.
• 33:48
  Tiffany Woolley: We get projects where they've already got their builder and he's doing the kitchen.
• 33:52
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm like what do you mean?
• 33:53
  Tiffany Woolley: He's doing the kitchen?
• 33:54
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm like who's going to every meeting?
• 33:57
  Tiffany Woolley: Who's designing the kitchen?
• 33:59
  Tiffany Woolley: Who's picking the slabs?
• 34:00
  Tiffany Woolley: Who's picking the plumbing?
• 34:02
  Tiffany Woolley: You're installing those items.
• 34:04
  Tiffany Woolley: For me, I always have a hard time understanding why the builder is so involved with kitchens and bathrooms.
• 34:12
  Scott Woolley: Well, I think it's because people don't know better.
• 34:15
  Monika Zasada: They think a builder builds and a builder will do all that.
• 34:19
  Monika Zasada: Very much so.
• 34:20
  Monika Zasada: And again, here is an interesting because also you know who is providing what is also very blurry, very blurry.
• 34:30
  Monika Zasada: Why?
• 34:31
  Monika Zasada: Again, because I was a contractor, so I know the pain and misery of being a contractor.
• 34:48
  Monika Zasada: Very blurry provides.
• 34:49
  Monika Zasada: So why the contractor is involved in the kitchen.
• 34:54
  Monika Zasada: It is again, and here is also something on which I absolutely insist.
• 35:00
  Monika Zasada: So I do insist on the client revealing their budget and then I insist on the general contractor being engaged not through stipulated sum contract but cost plus contract, because the latter gives complete financial transparency.
• 35:22
  Monika Zasada: The contractor, when they prepare their invoice, needs to present to the client every single copy of every single bill, whether it's a screw for 57 cents or whether it is appliance for $45,000.
• 35:41
  Monika Zasada: So the client sees everything.
• 35:43
  Monika Zasada: And because I oversee and manage the budget every month, the contractor has to update the budget to reflect the current phase of the project.
• 35:59
  Monika Zasada: And for instance, if the tile was X and we see that the client exceeded the budget for the tile, it is timely to then say well, perhaps you won't be able to have the special high gloss paint Right To recuperate some money Right.
• 36:17
  Monika Zasada: Or if the client says I still want high gloss paint and I understand it will cost me X.
• 36:23
  Monika Zasada: Then the budget remains an open book, right?
• 36:27
  Monika Zasada: It's not that someone wakes up six months later and it's like how did we get here?
• 36:31
  Monika Zasada: How did we get here?
• 36:32
  Monika Zasada: And let's go to court.
• 36:33
  Monika Zasada: I'm suing you, and I'm suing you, and this country is also so litigious.
• 36:40
  Tiffany Woolley: It's also ridiculous.
• 36:40
  Tiffany Woolley: That had to be a quite eye-opening thing as you moved over here.
• 36:43
  Tiffany Woolley: Yes, yeah, it's so true, it is so true.
• 36:48
  Tiffany Woolley: So what are a few things that you know in your experience are where things go off the rails.
• 36:54
  Tiffany Woolley: I know we just mentioned one, but where do you think is a biggie that from your experience?
• 37:02
  Monika Zasada: Well, it's all.
• 37:03
  Monika Zasada: I think that the problem while the industry is a broken industry, so you kind of have this problem and the double whammy is the client right Not being cognizant of the process and how much time things take.
• 37:20
  Monika Zasada: The other one, the other myth or mistake, is thinking that you can have it all budget quality and the third one is that you can do things yourself.
• 37:32
  Tiffany Woolley: That's one we tend to fight.
• 37:34
  Tiffany Woolley: A lot is the do-it-yourself.
• 37:38
  Scott Woolley: I mean go on, scott.
• 37:41
  Scott Woolley: Yes, but at the end of the day, someone hiring like yourself maybe they'll spend a little bit more, but at the end of the day, they're actually going to save a lot more.
• 37:52
  Scott Woolley: And their project is going to be so much smoother, you know, with less headache, less aggravation and, most likely, a lot of cost savings and less mistakes.
• 38:03
  Monika Zasada: Very much so and in fact my project that I finished before the summer season.
• 38:09
  Monika Zasada: The client I explained to him how I work and he thought it was ridiculous amount of money to engage me in a pre-construction right and I said well, of course I can't really, you know, force your hand.
• 38:28
  Monika Zasada: so if you want to lead the whole pre-construction process, by all means.
• 38:34
  Monika Zasada: And then he said but, monica, I will definitely engage you in construction.
• 38:38
  Monika Zasada: So the whole process was botched, the wrong contractor was chosen, and here I am coming into a huge crisis, right.
• 38:49
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 38:49
  Monika Zasada: So this client wrote me the best possible, you know he wrote your business plan, basically Right, I mean yeah.
• 38:58
  Monika Zasada: Yeah, he said.
• 39:00
  Monika Zasada: You know, do not make the stupidest mistake in your project which is not engaging Monica, from the moment you have an idea for your project.
• 39:10
  Monika Zasada: I couldn't agree and support more.
• 39:13
  Tiffany Woolley: You know, I feel like one of the reasons I wanted to start this podcast.
• 39:17
  Tiffany Woolley: And this industry I say it a lot still has so much growth and untapped resources, you know, at our fingertips, coming up all the time.
• 39:26
  Tiffany Woolley: How do you, you know, set the tone to really let this service be out there?
• 39:34
  Tiffany Woolley: People know that this is of value.
• 39:39
  Monika Zasada: So most of my curatorship project and again you know it's, yes, my service is is well by many people again who don't really know what I provide or what value.
• 39:53
  Monika Zasada: I bring people again who don't really know what I provide or what value I bring, because there is so much misinformation about this.
• 40:00
  Monika Zasada: Right, I mean, you are experiencing it, I am experiencing it for a quarter of the century.
• 40:03
  Monika Zasada: So the industry is broken.
• 40:06
  Monika Zasada: The client is totally unaware of the process, right?
• 40:12
  Monika Zasada: So, um, so my, my curatorship projects are essentially word of mouth, one client from the next, yeah, or it is a designer.
• 40:24
  Monika Zasada: So recently I was invited to a crazy, crazy project, um, in Mantoc, uh, where the designer, who had worked with me on two other projects, said monica, I beg you, I cannot do this project without you.
• 40:42
  Monika Zasada: And we got renovated a villa in nine weeks, wow, with with totally custom things I mean, we had handmade especially for this bathroom with 17 tile, you know, to be curved in the where the ceiling meets the wall, and you know.
• 41:01
  Monika Zasada: And 10, you know, diamond shaped black tiles.
• 41:05
  Monika Zasada: And the special it was, it was this was my.
• 41:13
  Monika Zasada: Everyone was so happy that I was part of the process, even though originally people thought what is Monica here for?
• 41:22
  Monika Zasada: I mean, we have a general contractor, we have a, you know, we have an architect.
• 41:26
  Monika Zasada: What is Monica here for?
• 41:27
  Monika Zasada: And then everybody, you know, ended up totally understanding with the first meeting, because I insisted on those weekly meetings.
• 41:36
  Scott Woolley: Do you know what that decorator saw that she realized she needed to reach out to you?
• 41:41
  Scott Woolley: Did she experience something or see something that alarmed her, that made her reach out to you right away?
• 41:49
  Monika Zasada: It was a he.
• 41:50
  Monika Zasada: It was a he and it was someone with whom I had worked on two other projects, so they knew how I, you know how I work and and how I am absolutely um, indispensable, especially in the project of that magnitude, with this with, with this intensity of schedule right, with the insistent on, on the, on the quality, the quality.
• 42:13
  Monika Zasada: So what I so, while my you know, while my services right would not make economical sense in a kitchen renovation of the budget of 75 000 right yeah, that's, this is what.
• 42:29
  Monika Zasada: This is what propelled me to create another way of working with me.
• 42:35
  Monika Zasada: So that is a free masterclass, which is, I believe, 52 minutes to be exact, and then I am inviting students to a four-week online course, which is currently offered at a special price of $497.
• 42:53
  Monika Zasada: So for four weeks, we have a weekly Zoom calls and people have direct access to me, and then they have access to the materials educational materials for a lifetime.
• 43:08
  Monika Zasada: It never expires.
• 43:10
  Scott Woolley: So what are you teaching in this class?
• 43:12
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, and is this your course?
• 43:14
  Tiffany Woolley: Nailed it.
• 43:15
  Monika Zasada: Yes, it's my course, Nailed it, and I essentially share my entire blueprint of how the process unfold, what the homeowner must know before they even approach an interior designer, what they need to know so that it is productive and the interior designer then can go and productively provide value for the client.
• 43:42
  Monika Zasada: How to find, how to vet trustworthy contractor.
• 43:48
  Monika Zasada: I give the entire breakdown of the cost, which also some people in the industry have no idea that there are 16 construction costs and and there can be 15 subcategories of these 16 categories.
• 44:05
  Monika Zasada: I mean I have projects that have 312 cost line items.
• 44:11
  Scott Woolley: Right, how many?
• 44:12
  Scott Woolley: How many classes are in?
• 44:15
  Voice Over: or how many sessions.
• 44:17
  Scott Woolley: Once a week is an hour or two hours.
• 44:21
  Monika Zasada: So how it works, scott is.
• 44:24
  Monika Zasada: I divided this nail course in four weeks so that they are reflective of four phases of each project, which is design, pre-construction, construction and closeout.
• 44:41
  Monika Zasada: Most people think that in construction process there is one phase, which is construction.
• 44:47
  Scott Woolley: Right.
• 44:48
  Monika Zasada: There are four phases to your project, so true, and then, and then the um, the weekly calls, are an hour when people, when the students, can come with questions, and then it is up to them how much time they need to to digest the material.
• 45:09
  Monika Zasada: But I give them, like it's, a blueprint it's from A to B to C to D, and I explain it in a very conversational, storytelling manner because I understand I am not teaching the homeowner to become a tile installer or to become a contractor or to become an interior designer.
• 45:31
  Monika Zasada: I am teaching them how to be an educated, empowered homeowner so that they can engage those professionals for their project to be.
• 45:43
  Monika Zasada: You know, not to be a horror story.
• 45:45
  Scott Woolley: So what type of people are signing up and taking the course?
• 45:49
  Scott Woolley: Is it people in the industry, interior decorators, contractors, homeowners?
• 45:54
  Scott Woolley: What does the typical student look like?
• 45:57
  Scott Woolley: Because?
• 45:58
  Monika Zasada: they were intrigued with the title.
• 46:01
  Monika Zasada: It were, who took my course was also a real estate agent.
• 46:04
  Monika Zasada: Okay, who also didn't?
• 46:17
  Monika Zasada: He said, Monica, I had no idea.
• 46:20
  Monika Zasada: Yeah, nobody did Because you see, real estate agents, which also is the part of the problem, right With the broken industry and the clients who are not educated and aware enough of the process.
• 46:35
  Monika Zasada: It's the problem oftentimes starts with a real estate agent who, understandably wanting to make a sale right, While seeing the floor that's like that and seeing pocket doors that don't close, is trying to tell the client oh, all you need to do is, you know, send the floors and it will be fine.
• 46:58
  Tiffany Woolley: It's so true they think they have so much information on this part too.
• 47:03
  Scott Woolley: How does a person who's listening find you to take the course?
• 47:07
  Scott Woolley: If they're interested find you to take the course if they're interested.
• 47:10
  Monika Zasada: So you can go on my website, de-mazingcom, and there are three, four ways of how you can get in touch with me.
• 47:22
  Monika Zasada: There is an invitation to the free masterclass.
• 47:25
  Monika Zasada: If you feel you want to get to know me better, there is an invitation to a 15 minute free tulip chat, because all I need really is 15 minutes of asking very pointed question to anybody who is minded to do a course, to really know how I can be of you know, of better value, of best value, whether it is for them to take my course or whether it is for them to engage me as their curator.
• 47:55
  Scott Woolley: And then there's the course, the course itself correct.
• 47:58
  Monika Zasada: And then there is the course itself.
• 48:00
  Scott Woolley: yes, so when does the next course start, or does it start at the beginning of every month?
• 48:06
  Scott Woolley: It's an evergreen.
• 48:07
  Monika Zasada: It's an evergreen, so it's in constant rotation.
• 48:11
  Monika Zasada: It's a loop.
• 48:12
  Scott Woolley: It's a loop.
• 48:13
  Scott Woolley: Yes, I need to take it, I know, so it is very convenient really.
• 48:16
  Scott Woolley: Scott, I'm going to take it I think we all need to take it.
• 48:20
  Monika Zasada: You've been doing this for 20 years.
• 48:21
  Monika Zasada: It would be fantastic, absolutely.
• 48:23
  Monika Zasada: I guess, I'll to you, so I don't know what we can call.
• 48:28
  Tiffany Woolley: No, I do think it's just because we do, you know this podcast and we add some little tidbits that we try to keep, like these types of little hints of information, that we've learned to give people feedback Because, as you say, the industry's broken I agree and it's so untapped Like you know, interior designers had a bad rap that it's just too expensive and nobody can afford it.
• 48:53
  Tiffany Woolley: And you know you can do it yourself and you know you get called in, like you said, at the horror story, at the horror time, where they're already money well spent in a bad way, and it's so much about just education to just your next door neighbor, I mean, or a friend that really who.
• 49:15
  Tiffany Woolley: if you're taking on this part journey in your life, it's you need help and you need support, and it has a timeline.
• 49:24
  Monika Zasada: Absolutely.
• 49:25
  Monika Zasada: And it all starts again.
• 49:26
  Monika Zasada: It all starts with the homeowner right.
• 49:29
  Monika Zasada: Yep, absolutely.
• 49:29
  Monika Zasada: And it all starts again.
• 49:30
  Monika Zasada: It all starts with the homeowner right, yep, if the homeowner doesn't know about the complexity, they will fight you.
• 49:38
  Monika Zasada: You know every step of the way and, like you say right, you enter into a horror story.
• 49:40
  Monika Zasada: Everybody is, you know, is just, you know, hating everything.
• 49:45
  Monika Zasada: Everybody is distrustful of the other, you know, of the other partner, and it's such such a pity because, you know, do you want to in your, in your, if you survive it, right, if you survive it.
• 49:59
  Monika Zasada: Once you survive it, you are so broken and bruised.
• 50:02
  Monika Zasada: And then, every corner, you look oh here, I had a fight with my plumber and in the.
• 50:07
  Monika Zasada: I was screaming at my contractor.
• 50:10
  Monika Zasada: Are you out of your mind?
• 50:11
  Monika Zasada: How did this come to be?
• 50:14
  Tiffany Woolley: I thought it was X and it was Y.
• 50:16
  Tiffany Woolley: I know, I know, and we opened the podcast with a hint of that and I always tell clients when they come in and I'm starting, I'm like this is so much fun Because I do.
• 50:27
  Tiffany Woolley: I do this because I love it.
• 50:29
  Tiffany Woolley: I love the relationship, I love the curation of the project and the evolution.
• 50:35
  Tiffany Woolley: I love the camaraderie of the team of the site visits.
• 50:40
  Tiffany Woolley: It really should be such a joyful experience.
• 50:44
  Tiffany Woolley: You're creating something so monumental for families, for people, and yet, like you said, the industry's broken because it's consumed with horror stories and legal fees.
• 51:00
  Monika Zasada: Totally, and it would be so much better if the money was spent on something beautiful right, so I like to say to my prospective clients that listen.
• 51:10
  Monika Zasada: Most likely you will end up, you know, with a horror story of your hands.
• 51:14
  Monika Zasada: I am promising you a good action movie.
• 51:18
  Monika Zasada: It will not be perfect.
• 51:19
  Monika Zasada: It will not be perfect.
• 51:24
  Tiffany Woolley: There will be glitches.
• 51:25
  Monika Zasada: No, life is not, but it will be worth it Even with the best intentions, there will be misunderstandings, but if you have a team where all members like one another, trust one another trust is huge understand their respective responsibilities.
• 51:43
  Monika Zasada: Right, yeah, we are just going to handle it.
• 51:45
  Monika Zasada: It will be like a great action movie sometimes it will be a cliffhanger sometimes we will have a tea party so so.
• 51:53
  Scott Woolley: So you have a lot of projects and you're helping a lot of homeowners in the states, but you're also doing a lot of projects outside of the united states is the process is the process or anything different when you're doing it?
• 52:06
  Monika Zasada: outside of the.
• 52:07
  Scott Woolley: United States.
• 52:09
  Monika Zasada: So again, my process and blueprint and the division of the phases, the responsibilities are the same.
• 52:17
  Tiffany Woolley: I was going to say the only thing that's different?
• 52:20
  Monika Zasada: the only thing that's different is the building codes.
• 52:23
  Monika Zasada: But then no worries, because your general contractor will take care of that.
• 52:30
  Monika Zasada: Correct, right, yeah?
• 52:31
  Monika Zasada: So that's the only difference.
• 52:33
  Monika Zasada: And sometimes the building methods, but again, no worries, the architect of a specific geographical region is going to know about those.
• 52:43
  Monika Zasada: So the process is always the same.
• 52:45
  Monika Zasada: The process as I outlined.
• 52:49
  Monika Zasada: It is always the same.
• 52:50
  Scott Woolley: The process as I outlined it is always the same.
• 52:52
  Scott Woolley: What's the number one piece of advice that you would give a homeowner who's about to build a house or remodel?
• 53:00
  Monika Zasada: Educate yourself.
• 53:01
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, I was going to say take the nail it course, take the nail it course yes, yes, shamelessly, I'll tell you take the nail it course.
• 53:08
  Monika Zasada: That's yes, shamelessly, I'll tell you take the nail it course.
• 53:11
  Tiffany Woolley: That's a perfect way to wrap it up, because I really have so appreciate your value and I and I want to be a huge part of being able to explain what nail it can be for so many people who necessarily don't think their budget would allow for you know you yourself, but to know that your expertise is at everybody's disposal.
• 53:40
  Scott Woolley: You would have been a perfect piece.
• 53:42
  Scott Woolley: Tiffany had a project a couple years ago maybe three or four in Bridgehampton and it was a nice big house.
• 53:49
  Scott Woolley: You would have been because we're in Florida and Tiffany wasn't traveling that much there, but that particular client could have really used your help.
• 54:00
  Tiffany Woolley: Well, I look forward to that in the future though.
• 54:03
  Voice Over: A future opportunity to collaborate right, absolutely Well.
• 54:07
  Tiffany Woolley: thank you so much.
• 54:09
  Tiffany Woolley: What a wealth of information that you brought to us today, and I'm so grateful for it continue with your success.
• 54:16
  Monika Zasada: Thank you for thank you so much.
• 54:19
  Monika Zasada: I appreciate being a guest and, again, I am very passionate about you know, spreading, spreading the word yes and making this industry better so that it is just you know, it's a joy.
• 54:31
  Tiffany Woolley: It's a joy to create your home.
• 54:32
  Tiffany Woolley: It really is, and I couldn't agree with you more.
• 54:35
  Scott Woolley: And I'll be coming on as a student in the next couple of weeks.
• 54:38
  Scott Woolley: We're traveling a little, but I'll be joining and learning.
• 54:41
  Monika Zasada: Let me know.
• 54:42
  Monika Zasada: Let me know Because Mercedes made me aware yesterday that some links on my website don't work.
• 54:48
  Monika Zasada: I am yet to hear from my VA.
• 54:50
  Monika Zasada: So let me know and then I'll just send you you know, a separate link because I was taking a little break this summer.
• 54:57
  Monika Zasada: But let me know when you are ready and we will make it happen.
• 55:01
  Scott Woolley: Sounds good.
• 55:02
  Scott Woolley: Thank you for joining us today.
• 55:03
  Scott Woolley: Thank you so much, Monica.
• 55:03
  Monika Zasada: Fantastic, thank you.
• 55:05
  Monika Zasada: You're welcome, and thank you again for having me as your guest.
• 55:08
  Tiffany Woolley: Thank you, you're welcome, and thank you again for having me as your guest.
• 55:09
  Tiffany Woolley: Absolutely, thank you all for listening to iDesign.