How Many Revisions Is Normal in a Custom Design?

Three to four rounds is typical, and the cost of a change rises sharply at one specific point. Knowing where that point is saves both money and awkwardness.

Clients worry about being difficult. In practice the people who ask for the most changes early are the ones who end up happiest, because changes are almost free until a specific moment, and expensive immediately afterwards.

The normal shape of it

Most commissions settle in three to four rounds:

1. The consultation sketch, revised live

2. The first CAD model, usually adjusted for proportion

3. A second CAD showing those adjustments

4. Occasionally a third, for a detail

Fewer than two is unusual and slightly suspicious, it often means the client has not seen the piece properly yet.

More than five usually indicates something other than design. Either the brief was never settled, or two people want different rings.

The point where cost changes

Revisions are cheap right up until the pattern is cast. Before casting, a change is time. After casting, a change is metal, and the piece may have to be remade.

Stated plainly:

• Drawing stage, free, ask for anything
• CAD stage, usually included, within reason
• Resin pattern, a reprint, minor cost
• After casting, a remake
• After setting, a remake, and risk to the stones

So spend your indecision early. The resin pattern is the last honest checkpoint, and it is the one clients skim over because it looks like a toy. Put it on the finger. Wear it for a few minutes. Notice whether it catches.

Changes that are not revisions

Two things are not design changes and are usually priced separately, which occasionally causes friction:

Changing the stone. A different centre stone is a different quotation, not a revision.

Changing the size after casting. Possible on many plain bands, difficult on others, and covered in our article on resizing.

When two people are designing together

If a couple is commissioning together, the most useful thing is to establish early who has the final word on the aesthetic. Not out of chauvinism, out of arithmetic. Designs converge when one person decides and the other advises. They oscillate when both decide.

The one revision worth insisting on

If anything about the proportions bothers you on the CAD, even something you cannot name, say so before the pattern prints.

Clients almost never regret asking for one more round. They regularly regret staying quiet because the jeweller seemed busy.

Book a complimentary design consultation at the C'Garden atelier, The MET Corporate Towers, Kuala Lumpur: 010-766 7448 · hq@cgarden.com.my

C'Garden is an independent bespoke jeweller in Kuala Lumpur. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or certified by any organisation, laboratory or brand named in this article. Third-party names are used only to refer factually to those organisations and their published standards. All text and imagery in this article is original work created by C'Garden.

Reference

Jewelers of America. (n.d.). Engagement & wedding. Jewelers of America. https://www.jewelers.org/buying-jewelry/jewelry-buying-guides/engagement-and-wedding