How Do I Vet New Vendors for My Interior Design Firm?

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Interior design firms live and die by the reliability of their vendors. A vendor who misses deadlines, delivers poor quality, or disappears once they’ve been paid can unravel months of careful planning. Most designers learn this the hard way (usually after a late-night phone call about a missing shipment). By now, many of us know that choosing who you buy from is just as important as what you buy.

But how do you vet new vendors without offending them by asking a million questions, spending hours you don’t have, or getting caught in a mess later? Unfortunately, there’s no rigid formula for vendor vetting, but there are quite a few signals to keep an eye out for. Some are obvious (delivery times, references, etc.). Others might not present themselves until you’re in the trial phase of a new relationship (how a vendor handles small details, what it’s like to work with their team, etc.).

All we can do is share our own experiences and help you avoid the pitfalls we tripped into! Read on for our tips.

Seven Ways to Vet New Vendors Before Diving Headfirst

Take a Look at Their Track Record

Designers swap stories about vendors more than they realize. Some of it is gossip, sure, but most of it is just survival knowledge. If you’ve ever had a sofa arrive in the wrong fabric and no one at the company will answer the phone, you don’t forget the name of that vendor. Neither will the designers you tell over cocktails at High Point.

Checking a vendor’s track record doesn’t mean hours of research; try a quick call to a peer, a post in the DesignDash Community, or a five-minute search through online trade forums where designers post unfiltered experiences. You’re not seeking unfettered perfection (everyone messes up at some point), but you are looking for patterns of behavior.

Do they deliver mostly on time? Do they resolve problems or push them back on the designer? If you can spot a pattern early, you’ll know whether this is someone who’s going to support your firm or drain your energy.

Politely Ask for Proof of Work

Every vendor talks up their quality, but not everyone speaks the truth. Don’t be shy about asking for photos of projects they’ve supplied or, if it’s relevant, physical samples of fabrics and finishes. You’ll learn a lot just from how willingly they share. Some will even invite you to tour their warehouse or showroom. That alone tells you something about scale, organization, and whether they’re proud of what they do.

Remember, your goal isn’t to grill them like you’re running an audit of their business; no one wants to ruffle feathers on the showroom floor. It’s simply to see whether their output lines up with your needs. A boutique workshop that thrives on one-off artisan pieces might be incredible, but not if you’re outfitting a 40-unit condo building where consistency is key.

On the flip side, a high-volume supplier might churn out sturdy basics but lack the craftsmanship your residential client expects for a custom dining room. Proof of work helps you sort them into the right lane before you put your reputation on the line.

Test Their Responsiveness

One of the easiest and most overlooked tests of a new vendor is just sending an inquiry and seeing how long it takes to hear back. If it’s crickets for three days while you’re still a prospective client, imagine what happens once you’ve wired them half the project budget.

Responsiveness doesn’t mean a fully itemized proposal in an hour; they’re just as busy as you are. What matters is acknowledgment, clarity, and some sign of follow-through. A quick “We’ll confirm by tomorrow” is fine. Radio silence is not.

This business runs on deadlines. Clients set moving dates, schedule family gatherings, and sometimes book photographers around the install. There’s no room for a vendor who doesn’t stay on top of comms. And while it might feel nitpicky to keep track of email response times, it’s actually one of the best predictors of how reliable the partnership will be when things get stressful. Because they will.

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Clarify Payment Terms Early

Money gets messy fast if you don’t set clear terms at the very beginning. Some vendors stick to the usual 50% upfront, balance on delivery method. Others want payment in full before production. A few sneak in freight and handling charges so deeply buried in the fine print that you’ll only catch them when reconciling invoices and wondering where the profit went.

Always ask for their terms in writing before you place an order. Professional vendors will send a polished PDF as soon as they can. The slippery ones are vague, or worse, they change the rules mid-stream and suddenly invent “policy updates” once your order is already moving. That’s when you know the risk outweighs the reward.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable to press for clarity at the start, but it’s far less painful than trying to chase down missing funds later. This is simply insurance against headaches you don’t have time for.

Iron Out Lead Times and Contingencies

Between the post-COIVD landscape and Trump-era tariffs, delays are just a part of life now. No designer loves it, but we’ve all adjusted. What you shouldn’t adjust to is vendors who wave their hands and refuse to commit to anything concrete. A reliable vendor knows their average lead times. They can tell you how often they hit them. And they’ll have a plan for what happens when they don’t.

Some keep buffer stock. Others will upgrade shipping or cover expedited freight if production slips. And then there are the ones who casually tell you “it’ll be another eight weeks” like it’s no big deal. That’s not a partner; it’s a liability.

When you ask these questions up front, you’re testing how they’ll behave when the pressure is on. Will they problem-solve with you, or leave you scrambling to explain to a client why their dining room is still empty? The answer to this particular tells you almost everything you need to know.

Verify Insurance and Certifications

It’s not glamorous, but it’s critical. If a vendor is shipping or storing product without the right insurance, the liability lands squarely in your lap. At minimum, they should be able to provide proof of general liability insurance. If they’re warehousing, property coverage should be included. And for transit, ask about freight or inland marine insurance.

Plenty of designers brush this off until something goes wrong. Then they find themselves fighting with a freight carrier for weeks or explaining to an angry client that their $10,000 sectional vanished and technically it’s “nobody’s fault.” That’s the stuff of nightmares.

Start Small

The safest way to test a vendor is to give them a low-stakes order. A side table, a pair of accent chairs, maybe a rug. Watch how they handle every step: the quoting process, the communication, the way they package, the accuracy of the invoices. You’ll learn more from one small order than from any marketing deck.

If everything goes smoothly, great! You’ve found someone worth building a relationship with. If not, you’ve lost a few hundred dollars and saved yourself from tying your name (and a client’s trust) to a vendor who can’t deliver on basics.

The Intangibles That Matter More Than We Admit

Some things you just can’t measure on a spec sheet. Designers might not include them on a vetting checklist, but they trade stories about these details constantly… at High Point dinners, in Slack groups, and yes, inside the DesignDash Community.

Packaging, for starters. A crate tells you a lot. If it arrives flimsy or haphazard, that’s usually how the company treats everything else. A well-built box isn’t just about preventing scratches; it signals whether a vendor takes pride in the whole process.

Then there’s how they handle mistakes. No vendor is flawless. But when something goes wrong, the good ones pick up the phone and fix it fast. The bad ones bury you in excuses or dodge responsibility. Designers remember both.

And don’t underestimate tone. It seems minor, but the difference between an email that says “We’ll get this resolved” and one that says “Per our policy, you’ll need to…” is enormous. Vendors who treat you like a partner, not a problem, make your life easier project after project.

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.