I'm happy for you!

I think there might be a demand for a service like this.

She had a lot of designers reply to her

There is already a lot of supply for that demand

If you love something and it makes you happy and you can help others with your talent/skill, do it. Whether you can make money doing it is a different question.

Go for it.

I've helped people I know redo kitchens...I've done 6 kitchens already. I do it because I enjoy doing it. I don't charge anything...I do it for friends or acquaintances.

I start with layout and then get them to look at houzz for inspiration, I help them determine style, talk to them about function, then help them with their selections. A lot of what I do is throw out options for them to "try on" to see if they'd like it or not. That way, when they decide, they feel as if they've explored all the options and have more confidence in the choices they've made. I also make sure, like a checklist, that they think about all the necessary things: electrical, lighting, plumbing, flooring, hardware, colors, surfaces, etc. Esp in a kitchen redo, there's a lot to think about.

You need to be flexible enough to go with them and their style...which may not be your style. (For example, some kitchens were white, some painted cabinets, some cherry wood...some traditional, cottage, or whatever.) You need to work within their budget as you are spending their money, not yours. You also need to be aware that you are not the final decider and they may make decisions that you think are mistakes, but it's they're place and they have to live with it, not you.

But I like doing it...it's fun for me.

I would never do it 'professionally' because as soon as money comes into the picture, it changes everything. Also, if you do decide to go professional, plan on getting some training and credentials.

There is a market for small jobs. If you can partner maybe with some installers, that might even be better. I've thought about that for myself. I don't want to be a "landscape designer" but I could be a "garden consultant." Sounds like fun, keep us posted. But beware, sometimes the time invested does not come out to be very much pay per hour on small jobs.

Thank you Lucille! I think there is a market for super low budget jobs like this, but you are right, I don't think I can make money doing it! I just went over twice and helped her measure and gave her a ton of ideas. It was fun but I realized there was no way I could ever make money off something like this.

Annie, just trying this out once has made me realize how right you are. Going forward, I'm probably going to just do what you do....help my friends and have fun!

Graywings and pinkmountain you are right about there being a market that isn't worth a designers time! There definitely is a market, but unfortunately it isn't even worth an amateur's time because I realized, if I were to charge this lady for all the hours I put into helping her, even the max I think she would pay would work out to about the same I would pay my babysitter.

Pinkmountain I would love to hire a garden consultant. I know next to nothing about plants and I would definitely pay for a one time consultation where someone would come over for an hour and just give me ideas and tell me which plants would be low maintenance and hardy enough to survive in the different areas of our yard. And which trees would grow fast enough to provide shade in a couple of years, yet be strong enough to withstand hurricanes, etc. I don't know anyone who would do that so I guess I should just go to the library and check some gardening books out. :)

Yeah, that's your (an my) competition, the library and the Internet. But Internet searching skills and ability to read stuff for comprehension and put it into practice are not in everyone's skill set. But I don't even know if the average person would want to or be able to follow my advice. I give friends garden advice all the time which they often ignore. Like for example, it is so well known that volcanoes of mulch around trees are a slow death to them at worst, at best an impediment to their health, and yet the practice persists. Same with rock mulch.