How much does an interior designer cost?

If you’ve never worked with an interior designer before you may be asking yourself ‘how much does an interior designer cost?’. In this post I’ll try to explain what you should expect to pay for this service and why.

DIFFERENT WAYS INTERIOR DESIGNERS CHARGE

Interior designers have different business models. These affect how we set out our fees and how we make money from our projects. There are three main ways that an interior designer will quote and charge for their work.

Fixed fee – meaning that you know exactly what you will pay for a piece of work. This makes it easy for you to manage your costs. Fees could be as low as a few hundred pounds for a two-hour consultation, but can go into tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds for a large and complex home renovation.
Hourly or daily rate – where the designer will charge you on the basis of how many hours they spend on an activity or project. This can be good if you want ad hoc support or advice on multiple items, over a period of time. An hourly rate will often be charged for site visits and travel. Rates can vary from £50 to £150 per hour or more for a very in demand designer.
Percentage charge (usually 10 to 20%) – where the designer’s fees are set as a percentage of the total project or item cost. This offers predictability for you as a client, and recognises the increased level of support and expertise that a large project demands from the designer.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

Some fees aren’t easy to estimate at the beginning of a project. A designer may quote for some items up front, then estimate the later stages of a project, enabling you to budget.

It’s also important to be aware that as interior designers we may also make money through trade discounts and commission from tradespeople.

You’ll also need to understand whether a designer charges VAT (I don’t). Don’t forget that the interior designer’s fees don’t include the cost of the trades themselves, and the furniture and materials.

HOW I CHARGE

I use all three of the charging methods I’ve described above.

For the first few stages of a complete project – which include site surveying/design scope, design concept, layouts and sourcing – I tend to work on the basis of fixed fees. I would also work like this for one-off consultations on areas such as colour, lighting or decluttering.

If you’d like to employ me as more of a consultant, advising you on different areas of your home over a period of time, I usually charge on the basis of an hourly rate. You can buy blocks of hours from me so that you can manage the costs of working in this way. I will often charge on an hourly rate basis for site visits and for travel outside my local area.

I normally charge a percentage fee when carrying out procurement (buying items on your behalf), by adding a handling charge. As I don’t carry out full project management I don’t charge a percentage of project costs at the moment, but that may change as I develop my business. I can offer support to the tradespeople you use to implement my design. I’ll quote for this either as a fixed fee or on an hourly rate basis, depending on the project.

DISCOUNTS AND COMMISSION

As you can see I believe in being as transparent as possible. That’s why I’ll tell you if I am receiving a discount or commission from someone. The fact that I do doesn’t influence my decisions – I will only recommend a product or service if I genuinely believe it’s the best thing to meet your needs.

In general I pass on trade discounts in full to my clients, but with a handling charge added to cover the time I spend on making and overseeing orders.

When I send you a project proposal I’ll tell you how as well as what I’m going to charge for my work. You can get an idea of some of my fees by visiting my services page.

WHY IT COSTS WHAT IT DOES

Lots of people want to employ an interior designer but are put off by what it might cost them. I believe it’s a hugely valuable service but it is important to understand the value you’re getting.

Interior designers put time into training and building up hours of experience so that they can advise you appropriately. We also learn how to communicate our ideas to you using 2D and 3D drawing and visualisation software.

We have overheads including insurance, software and membership costs, and we invest time and money in continuing professional development . This helps us to deliver a service that’s in line with best practice.

There’s a huge amount of choice available to us as consumers. It takes a lot of time to weigh up the options, taking into account our budget, preferences and timescales. Imagine then factoring in a host of other decisions around layout, fixtures and fittings, and soft furnishings. It takes lots of time to create a successful space that will meet your needs and feel just right.

The skill set required to be a good interior designer is complex. We need to have excellent interpersonal communication skills, as well as be good at both creative big picture thinking and meticulous detailed planning; we also have to be organised and methodical. So not everyone can do this job, even if it seems straight forward.

WHY EMPLOY AN INTERIOR DESIGNER?

I think a more important question than ‘how much does an interior designer cost’ is ‘why employ an interior designer given that it’s not a cheap service and you might be able to take on this work yourself’?. Here’s why I think it’s worth it:

We’ll save you time because we know where to find the right products within your budget.
We can save you stress by narrowing down options and taking some work off your hands.
We can stop you from making mistakes that are costly to rectify.
We can help you to produce a cohesive space that will feel better than what you can do yourself.
We can enable you to create a space that fits you and the way that you live – you should be happier with the end result because of our involvement.
We can enable you to access trade discounts.
Working with us can add value to your property because it should increase the prestige and attractiveness of your home.

SO HOW MUCH DOES AN INTERIOR DESIGNER COST?

It’s really care about being as transparent as possible about how and what I charge so I hope I’ve answered this question for you. The answer will vary depending on the support you need from them. But however big your project, working with an interior designer is an investment that should add value to your life. If you’ve still got questions on this topic feel free to get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

If you’ve enjoyed this post you might also like to read ‘What does an interior designer do?’.