The Designer’s Sixth Sense: The “Sniff Test” and How to Use It Wisely

Every experienced designer knows that faint alarm bell: a client’s dream sounds slightly too big for their circumstances, or their enthusiasm doesn’t quite line up with the likely cost. It’s a feeling rather than a fact, a kind of professional intuition, and it's time to apply what I call the sniff test.

The sniff test is the designer’s sixth sense, part art, part analysis. It’s the ability to read the subtext, to pick up the quiet signals that a project may not align with the client’s means, priorities, or expectations.

The challenge is that we often silence this instinct, because the dream of a large, glamorous project is just too tempting. Who wants to puncture a mirage before it’s even begun?

But in reality, the sooner we trade fantasy for truth, the kinder we are to both sides.

Why Designers Ignore Their Instincts

Designers are optimists by nature. We trade in possibility. So when a potential client paints a glorious picture of what they want (the extension, the custom joinery, the bespoke kitchen) it’s easy to suspend disbelief. Especially when the project promises prestige, visibility, or creative freedom.

But optimism untempered by discernment can become self-sabotage. The sniff test exists to protect your time, your reputation, and your client’s sanity.

What the Sniff Test Involves

You can think of it as a structured intuition: a blend of empathy, curiosity, and pattern recognition. Here are some of the elements that feed it:

1. The Client’s Means

• Profession and earning potential - What do they do for a living? You don’t need their salary, just a sense of bandwidth.

• Property value - Easily found on Zoopla or Rightmove; it frames proportion. If a client’s vision involves spending 30% of their home’s value (without a proportional  increase in footprint), perhaps the expectations need realignment. If the investment will make the home significantly more expensive than the previous record for the street, likewise. 

• Lifestyle indicators - Travel, schooling, secondary homes, cars - are all clues to disposable income and spending priorities.

2. The Client’s Mindset

• Experience with design professionals - Have they worked with designers or architects before? If yes, they’ll likely understand costs, processes, and boundaries. If not, they may idealise what’s possible.

• Decision-making style - Do they speak in specifics (“We’re budgeting around £150,000 for phase one”) or vagaries (“We’re hoping not to spend too much”)? Evasiveness is a data point.

• Control vs. trust - Are they hiring you for your expertise or for validation? High-trust clients make better partners.

• General realism - Do they seem prone to whims, or measured and thoughtful in their approach? Are they taking a relatively professional approach to their project? Is the client respectful of the value represented by your time as you apply it to consideration of their project? 

 3. The Client’s Life Stage

• Young family? School fees on the horizon? Disposable income may be squeezed.

• Empty-nester? Downsizer? Possibly a release of capital and renewed investment in home life.

• Recently inherited or sold a business? A moment of liquidity - but possibly mixed emotions about spending, the money comes with emotional strings.

 4. Environmental and Emotional Clues

• The condition of their current home, the level of finish in what they already own, the brands they mention, the way they describe value - all whisper clues about what they can truly sustain.

How to Act on What You Sense

The sniff test is diagnostic, not judgmental. It’s not about deciding who’s “worthy”; it’s about matching your professional offer to reality.

If something doesn’t add up, the ethical move isn’t to look away - it’s to explore gently. Ask clarifying questions:

• “It sounds like you’d like to do quite a lot - would you be open to talking about budget early on, so we can focus on what’s realistic?”

• “May I ask whether you’ve worked with a designer or builder before?”

• “Have you had any quotes yet for the construction side of things?”

• "The brand of kitchen you mention comes with an £80K+ price tag, is that the level of expenditure you have in mind, or should we take a creative approach to achieving a similar style with slightly lower expense?"

These are bridging questions: they surface truth without confrontation.

Crafting a fee proposal is one of the biggest, most complex design jobs interior designers do (and often we can't/don't charge all of the time this will take).

Client ghosting after the delivery of a fee proposal is one of the most annoying aspects of practice as an interior designer.

The point here is to position you optimally to create a proposal that is perfectly aligned with your client's true situation.

To give you the best chance of winning a job on terms you're happy with.

What The Sniff Test Might Deliver 

The purpose of a budget sniff test isn’t to decide whether a client is worth your time. It’s to understand how to make your expertise work for them - at a level that’s appropriate, realistic, and still creatively satisfying.

When you spot the early signs that a client’s ambition and means may not quite align, that’s not a red flag, it’s an invitation to tailor. By engaging wholeheartedly with their dream while gently exploring what’s actually possible, you show empathy, professionalism, and respect for their resources. You can shape a version of the project that fits both their circumstances and your standards.

Handled this way, you’re not crushing dreams; you’re protecting them from disappointment. You're maximising the outcome for the client. You become the professional who tells the truth kindly, who proves trustworthy, even if the timing or budget means the work doesn’t go ahead right now. Clients remember that steadiness. They refer you to friends. They return when their circumstances improve.

In the long run, the sniff test doesn’t just save you time: it builds the kind of reputation that sustains a career.

The Relationship Between the Sniff Test and Trust

Interestingly, the sniff test and the trust-based model of practice are two sides of the same coin. The sniff test protects you from misplaced optimism; trust-building protects them from misplaced fear.

When you combine the two - intuition plus transparency - you create an atmosphere where both sides can be candid. Clients who feel understood are more willing to share their constraints; designers who detect those constraints early can design around them creatively.

Constraint as a Creative Catalyst

The irony is that when clients are open about budget (even when that budget is modest) design often gets more inventive. Constraints breed originality. Limited funds push designers towards smarter sourcing, repurposing, and prioritising what truly matters.

The sniff test, used ethically, helps you recognise where those creative boundaries really lie, and that honesty becomes the springboard for better, braver design.

Conclusion

The sniff test is not cynicism; it’s wisdom. It’s the quiet, experienced voice that says, I’ve seen this pattern before, let’s explore before we commit. 

When you listen to it, you save everyone time, manage expectations, and lay the groundwork for trust.

And once trust enters the conversation, honesty follows, and that’s where truly successful projects begin.