Expect to give the project real attention at four or five decision points, and roughly a week of turnaround on feedback each time. Between those, the demand is light. The clients whose projects run late are almost never the ones who were too busy — they are the ones who took three weeks to approve a concept.
Here is what a client’s time commitment actually looks like, stage by stage, and the two things that cause most delay.
Where your time actually goes
The brief — one good session
Two to three hours, properly. Not style preferences but how you live: who cooks and how often, where everyone actually sits in the evening, how many people eat together on a normal Tuesday, what you own that must be accommodated, what irritates you about the home now.
This is the highest-value time you will spend on the entire project. A brief built from how a household functions produces a home that works; one built from saved images produces a home that photographs.
Concept review — a week
You will receive layouts and material direction. Look at the plan before the pictures, because the plan is what everything else follows from.
Give considered feedback within about a week. This is where clients most often add time without realising — three weeks circulating a concept among family is three weeks added to handover.
Material and finish selections — a few sessions
Stone, tile, laminate, paint, fabric, hardware. Some of this is best done in person because natural material varies and screens mislead on colour.
Expect two or three sessions spread across design development, plus approving actual stone slabs if the project includes them.
Drawing approvals — a few hours, and worth them
You will be asked to sign off layouts, ceiling plans, electrical and switching, and joinery drawings. The switching schedule in particular deserves your attention — which switch controls what, from where — because none of it can be changed after plaster without chasing walls.
During site — light, if supervision is in place
If independent supervision is part of the scope, your involvement during construction should be modest: reading a weekly report, answering occasional questions, and visiting at a few key moments.
The most useful visit is after first fix and before finishes, when layout and services are visible and nothing is concealed. Problems found then are cheap.
Snagging — a proper walk
Worth doing yourself, slowly, with the drawings. You will notice things nobody else does because you are the one who will live there.
The two things that cause most delay
1. Unclear decision-making
Decide at the outset who the decision-makers are. One person, or two who can resolve disagreements quickly.
Projects slow dramatically when a concept has to tour an extended family, or when two decision-makers hold opposite views and neither is willing to settle it. Design by committee is slow by construction, and the delay compounds because every stage waits on the one before.
2. Late selections
Every pending selection blocks a trade. An undecided bathroom floor can hold up tiling, which holds up shower glass measurement, which holds up handover. We have seen a project lose five weeks to one unmade decision.
Long-lead items are worse: imported stone, specialist lighting and custom furniture run to months. These must be chosen during design, not during construction.
What you do not need to do
You do not need to visit site weekly, chase trades, know what things are called, understand drawings technically, or have a style vocabulary. A good practice translates between you and the trades — that is part of what you are paying for.
You also do not need to have decided everything before starting. Working out what you actually want is part of the early process, not a prerequisite for it.
If you genuinely have no time
It can be done, with three things in place: a single named decision-maker with real authority, independent supervision written into the scope at an agreed frequency, and a documented variation process so nothing changes without written approval.
What does not work is being unavailable and wanting to approve everything. That combination stalls projects more reliably than any site problem.
A realistic estimate
For a typical apartment project, most clients spend something like: three hours on the brief, four to six hours across concept and drawing reviews, six to ten hours on material selections, three or four site visits, and half a day on snagging.
Spread over six to nine months, that is not a large demand. It is simply demand that arrives at specific moments and cannot be deferred without cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much time does an interior project take from the client?
Concentrated attention at four or five points — the brief, concept review, material selections, drawing approvals and snagging — with light involvement between them if supervision is part of the scope. Most apartment clients spend roughly twenty hours across six to nine months.
Do I need to visit the site regularly?
Not if independent supervision is written into the scope. The most valuable single visit is after first fix and before finishes, when layout and services are visible and nothing is concealed yet.
What causes most project delays?
Client decisions, by a wide margin. Specifically: unclear decision-making authority, slow feedback at concept stage, and late material selections. Long-lead items chosen during construction rather than during design are the most expensive version of this.
Who should make the decisions?
One person, or two who can resolve disagreement quickly. Agree this before the project starts. Extended family review cycles are the most common hidden cause of a project running months over.
Can I run a project if I travel constantly?
Yes, with a named decision-maker holding real authority, independent supervision at an agreed frequency, and a written variation process. The combination that fails is being unavailable while wanting to approve everything personally.
Getting it right
We set out at the start where your input is needed and what the turnaround should be, and report against a written programme — so a delay is visible in week nine rather than discovered in week twenty-two.
If you are planning a project around a demanding schedule, tell us about it. See also how a commission runs with us, how long a project takes, and what the first meeting should cover.
About Pochē Aesthetics
Pochē Aesthetics — also written Poche Aesthetics — is a luxury residential architecture and interior design practice based in Greater Kailash, New Delhi, founded and led by architect Niyati Satsangi. Over more than twelve years the practice has designed private homes — farmhouses, villas, builder floors and apartments — across Delhi NCR and India, handling architecture, interiors, materials, lighting and styling as one connected commission, alongside select restaurant and commercial work. More about the practice.