Interior Design Fees: How to Price Your Services (2024)

Setting your interior design fees can be challenging.

It’s important to be fair to your clients, but you alsohave tomake a decent amount of money if you want to work as an interior designer full time. Youneedtofind the right balance between what is a fair fee to charge and how you can have a profitable business that brings you joy.

In this post, we will cover the different ways you can price your interior design fees. You can use just one of these recommended pricing models or you can use a combination – whichever works best for your business needs.

A flat or fixed interior design fee is one of the most popular pricing models among designers. However, it can be challenging to calculate because youhave tothink of all expenses ahead of time.

One of the major setbacks of using a fixed interior design fee is theclient’s unpredictability. Will they change their minds halfway through the project? Will they extend the scope and timeline of the project? A smart way to protect yourselfin such a situationis to draft a foolproofinterior design contract.

Determining your fixed rate is easier if you’ve already been in the business for a few years, that way you knowmore or less whatto expect from your projects. You canbase your rate on the average number of hoursyou normally spend on a project andadd 10-15% for a bufferin case of unexpected surprises.

Charging a fixed interior design fee will incentivize your client to pay upfront, and you can then move the project along quickly since you’ve already taken care of payment. If your client does not wish to pay the entire amount right away, you can come up with a payment schedule that allows your client to pay in increments throughout the design and building process.

If you want an easy and straightforward way to price your services, you can charge by a certain percentage of the project cost. Let us explain what that entails exactly.

At the beginning of the project, you will provide the client with an estimate of the project. This includes furnishings, finishes, installation, contractor fees, and more.

Once you’ve come up with a total estimate, your interior design fees will be based on apercentage of the estimate that will be added to thecost of theproject. For example, you would add30-45%to the project cost to cover your interior design fees.

This method of payment requires invoicing and proper scheduling of payments so that you get paid once a certain benchmark has been reached. You willneedtoprovide your client withcopies of all vendor billings, which means you willhave tobefully transparent with them. Your interior design invoice will indicate the percentage added to the existing project costs.

Charging an hourly interior design fee is another popular pricing option for designers. This method depends on the country, city and state you live in as well as yourlevel of experience.

If you’re starting out in the interior design industry, your hourly rate can vary between $50-$125 per hour. If you have many years of experience under your belt and have completed a ton of successful projects, you can charge upwards of $200/hr.

The downside of charging your client per hour is that it’s difficult to offer an estimate from the beginning of the project. If you’re experienced, you can come up with a good estimate depending on the size of the project, but if you’re just starting out, it will be more challenging.

If you decide to charge your client an hourly fee, you shouldinclude the fee in your contract along with a detailed list of the workthat you will be charging for. You should also mention that you will besending the clientinvoices periodically and let them know how many days theyhave topay the invoice in full.

Charging a client per square footage is more common forcommercial projectsthan for residential projects, but it is certainly not unheard of. It’s a simple method that works well for spaces such as large kitchens, living areas or master bedrooms.

If you use the interior design fees by square footage method, you might want to use it strictly for design services andadd a certain percentage for furnishings, management of contractors, etc. The general rate per square footage can be anywhere from $10-$17/sq. ft. Therefore, if your client’s kitchen measures 250 square feet, your fee would average out to $3,375.

Whichever pricing model you choose, just make sure your business is profitable and that your rate reflects the quality of work you deliver. Your price mainly depends on your experience, your talent, and your reputation as a designer.The more creative and efficient you are, the more justified become the interior design fees you decide to charge.