Working with luxury clients can bring your firm higher margins and potentially give you a showcase project for your portfolio. But how do you attract clients on the higher end of the budget spectrum if they’re not your typical market niche?

Designer Wendy Glaister and Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing at Houzz, led a continuing education course for pros on just that earlier this year, before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. If you’re considering expanding your client base to this segment, the highlights from the session, which took place at the 2020 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, might be helpful.

What Does ItMean to Be a Luxury Client?

To attract a luxury client, it’s a good idea to identify who that client is. Luxury clients tend to have higher budgets, but there are other factors that also characterize this segment. Let’s first take a look at how much luxury clients spend on bathroom and kitchen remodels in the top 10 markets in the U.S.

How Much Do Luxury Clients Spend on Bathroom Remodels?

This chart shows spending on bathroom remodels in the top 5% for their market, as well as for the top 0.5% of the market, according to the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Houzz & Home studies.

At the top 5% of the market, homeowners remodeling bathrooms in Chicago spent $40,000 on their projects. Those at the top 0.5% of the Chicago market spent about 11 times that, at $450,000.

In Los Angeles, homeowners at the top 5% spent $50,000, while those at the top 0.5% spent six times as much, or $300,000.

How Much Do Luxury Clients Spend on Kitchen Remodels?

For kitchens, homeowners remodeling in Houston spent $90,000 at the top 5% of the market and about four times that, or $370,000, at the top 0.5%. Houston had the highest top 0.5% spend level of any city.

Homeowners in San Francisco spent $157,000 at the top 5% of the market and nearly twice that, $350,000, at the top 0.5%.

What Defines a Luxury Project?

In addition to spending a lot on their projects, luxury clients tend to have higher expectations for the work as well as the experience they get during the process. Glaister explained that luxury clients:

• Expect a project that is completely customized
• Want projects tailored to their specific needs and aesthetic
• Expect an enhanced client experience

“Luxury doesn’t mean movie star,” Glaister said. “Luxury means custom. A lot of us are in the luxury market more than we might think.”

4 Tips for Attracting Luxury Clients

1. You’re only as good as your last photographed job.When potential clients are scanning your work on Houzz or your business website, photos really matter. “This is a really competitive industry.If you have lackluster photos of a $100,000 kitchen, it’ll make it look like a $10,000 kitchen and that won’t get you anywhere in the luxury market,” Glaister said.

Because photos are so important, Glaister recommends specifying in your contract with a client that the project willbe photographed — no opting out.

2. Luxury clients are buying you as part of the whole package. Glaister, whose demeanor is upbeat and frequently smiling, told a story about changing her profile photo on Houzz and Facebook. In the new photo, she was unsmiling and styled like a sleek, serious, accomplished designer — a photo of herself she quite liked.

But the reaction from her followers was swift and overwhelmingly negative. In fact, her Facebook followers actually got angry about the new photo, she said. Some people complained that Glaister looked mad, others speculated that her marriage might be in trouble, and others simply asked what had happened to her smile. “People watch you a lot closer than you think,” Glaister said. She switched her photo back to a smiling one.

Her anecdote is a good reminder that in the internet age your online presence — on Houzz and everywhere — must reflect your professionalism and personal brand. Glaister’s brand was smiling, and followers didn’t like it when she veered from that.

Her brand is also wholesome. Glaister takes care to use correct grammar and spelling in her online communications and to present a professional and wholesome image. “There are designers who are photographed with many cocktails during the week,” Glaister said. “Great for them. I have found to get a half-a-million [dollar] reno … that does not work.”

Houzz’s Hausman concurred. “You’re crafting a public image for yourself that’s going to bring in this clientele. You can be true to your personality and style, and this doesn’t mean you can’t be more whimsical. Clients want to know that you are a confident professional who is still creative and fun.”

3. Good enough isn’t luxury. Everything for luxury clients — from cabinets to tile layout to electrical installation — needs to be customized and special. Just standard or just OK isn’t going to cut it at this end of the market, Glaister said. You will also need to provide high touch service.

High-end clients may have especially strong opinions, and they may also like to shop. With budget not a major constraint, they may be more likely than lower-end clients to purchase items for the project that may or may not work with the design. Some luxury clients may also want to comparison shop the products that you’re proposing. If they come up with cheaper alternatives, you may need to let them purchase products themselves. “Be ready to let go of some markups and some spaces,” Glaister said.

All this adds up to the fact that with a luxury project — though you probably will be able to make something beautiful and unique — as a designer you may not feel like you have a blank check and carte blanche to execute your vision.

Often, clients in the luxury realm have gotten there because they’ve been smart about their money, Hausman points out. They may want to be relatively involved in the project to make sure they’re getting not only a beautiful result, but also a good value.

4. Details help create that luxury experience. In addition to creating personalized, custom projects for luxury clients, Glaister stressed the importance of paying attention to service details that make the experience of working with you feel luxe.

For instance, Modesto, California-based Glaister takes her clients in a limo to San Francisco twice a year. They have mimosas and treats and fruit. They see the San Francisco Decorator Showcase house or visit the latest exhibit at the de Young Museum or the Legion of Honor museum with a private docent. They go out to dinner in San Francisco and then head home with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate. The clients love it.

Those twice-annual trips are a significant marketing expense and experience, but Glaister also keeps the luxury feel going in smaller ways. Everyone who hires her gets a handwritten thank-you note on embossed stationery after they decide to work with her.

For her project presentations, Glaister places samples of the selected tile, fabric and furniture tear sheets in a beautiful box with a big bow. It’s fun for clients to open, and it’s a tax-deductible marketing expense.

On demo day and photo shoot day, Glaister always brings along white orchids. These little touches “elevate the brand” and help shape client experience in a positive way, she said.