To-The-Trade Episode Summary
On this episode of the To-The-Trade, Laurie Laizure sits down with designer and entrepreneur Sarah Brohm, founder of UA Designs, to talk real process, pricing clarity, and the operations that carry a project from concept to completion. Sarah’s path began in nursing, a background that sharpened her skills in systems, communication, and bedside care, and she has now moved to the client-side. Those same instincts power her design firm’s client experience today.
Sarah explains why the middle 80% of any project is about process. Her team stays ahead of contractors’ questions with selection lists, trackers, and job-site codes, reducing back-and-forth and shielding clients from minutiae. Their target market is busy professionals, so the firm anticipates their needs and removes friction at every stage.
Volume-wise, UA Designs completes about 15 whole homes a year, with additional renovations layered in. The workflow aims for designs to be complete by framing walkthroughs to keep builds moving, then smoothly transitions into furnishing and window treatments.
On pricing, Sarah shares an approach designers can adapt. She avoids retainers because creative discovery is variable. Instead, the team estimates project hours, multiplies them by the design rate, and includes an initial presentation and two revisions in the flat design fee, with additional revisions billed if needed. Fit checks happen up front, so budget and trust align before the deep work begins.
For profitability, the firm runs on EOS, the Entrepreneurs Operating System. The leadership team reviews invoicing, budgets, and margins weekly, then adjusts as tools like CAD, SketchUp, Enscape, and Revit expand scope. Periodic time studies recalibrate hours to keep the flat fee healthy. This is practical business for interior design pros who like their numbers as tidy as their floor plans.
Client experience gets the same rigor. UA Designs issues a certificate of completion, sets price-transparency expectations, and stands behind work. The goal, Sarah says, is camaraderie, the sense that designer and client are genuinely on the same team.
The firm’s kitchens and cabinetry division is a key differentiator. By owning layouts and casework alongside furnishings, UA Designs gives clients a single visionary shepherding surfaces, storage, lighting, and seating into one cohesive whole, which also shortens the vendor rodeo many homeowners dread. It is an on-ramp that often expands into a full-home scope.
How does the team stay fresh? Trade shows and continuing education. The studio hosts lunch-and-learns, attends High Point and KBIS, and is exploring Salone del Mobile in Milan to spark new thinking across divisions. Internally, weekly “what we learned” blasts turn mistakes into shared insight.
When it comes to technology and innovation, Sarah is candid. Designers will not be replaced by AI, but designers who use AI well will set the pace. She wants tooling that syncs changes across CAD, Revit, SketchUp, and render engines, reducing duplication so designers spend time designing, not re-drawing. That, plus practical use of AI for marketing and operations, is where she sees leverage for creative entrepreneurs.
Looking ahead three to five years, Sarah envisions fewer projects, more depth, and even tighter installs, down to the plates and towels. She is eyeing a larger studio and, eventually, a fully integrated design-build model with architecture and construction in-house, all to elevate execution and the client journey.
Episode Timestamp Guide
00:01, Welcome and setup with Interior Design Community and guest intro.
00:21, Sarah’s path from nursing to design, early flips, transferable skills.
03:09, Building and evolving process, contractor-first comms, busy-pro client focus.
04:43, Capacity and scope, roughly 15 whole homes per year.
05:33, Designing to framing, then rolling into furnishings and treatments.
06:23, Flat fee model, hours x rate, two revisions included.
08:09, EOS tracking, weekly numbers, recalibrating hours as software expands.
10:22, Team roles, delegation, and leaning into strengths.
15:21, Client experience, certificate of completion, price transparency.
18:35 to 20:18, Education culture, trade shows, High Point, KBIS, eyeing Milan.
25:09 to 26:55, Why kitchens and cabinetry are the on-ramp to cohesive homes.
29:53 to 31:53, Practical AI, syncing tools, less rework, more design time.
35:30 to 37:34, Three-to-five-year vision, deeper projects, dialed installs, toward design-build.