Why One Client Has Hired Us Four Times (And Brings Her Sisters Every Time)

This was the fourth job I've done for this client, and by now it's a bit of a routine: she calls, we talk through the room, and on install day her sisters show up too, to weigh in, to see the fabric in real light, sometimes just to visit. I've come to genuinely look forward to those mornings.

I bring this up in a post about cost because it says something numbers alone can't: custom work isn't a one-time purchase for most of my repeat clients. It's a relationship they keep coming back to, room by room, because the first room turned out right.

What You're Actually Paying For

Custom drapery over a wood venetian blind, like the layered look in her most recent room, costs more than either piece alone would off a shelf. You're paying for the fabric selection, the rod and hardware sized to that exact window, and installation from someone who's already measured three other rooms in your house and knows how they should all feel together.

The Real Return

A fair way to think about the cost: what's it worth to not have to think about your windows again for the next fifteen or twenty years? Custom pieces, properly installed, aren't disposable. That's part of why a client comes back a fourth time instead of shopping around, she already knows what she's getting.

Getting Started

If cost is the thing holding you back from going custom, let's talk honestly about it, room by room, if that's easier on the budget.