How Designers Are Paid

Interior designers work in several different ways. Basically, we are all paid for our ideas; this is the basis of what we provide for our clients. The products that we help them acquire are the fleshing out of those ideas. Sometimes, a client may only want a consultation. For this service, expect to pay a flat fee or an hourly rate

What to Expect

When I go to serve a client who is only interested in a plan, I too charge for my ideas. Consultations of this sort are rare however because most of my clients are looking to me to provide them with window treatments, carpeting, or furniture. If my "consultation only" client elects to move forward with the purchase of window treatments or furnishings, I will apply the consultation fee to the purchase of goods.

When not working on a consultation only basis, my personal business model does not allow for a design fee but rather depends upon a fair profit for the items I provide for the home. My design services and installation are a bonus I am able to give. My prices are not inflated as a result but rather I offer this as value added.

When I visit a home for the first time, we will talk about
design problems and solutions. Sometimes my clients will take those design solutions for which I have not charged and shop with them at other vendors. When this happens I feel as if I have failed in communicating to my client that I provided something of great worth. The most difficult part of a project is coming up with the design solution. Once you have it though, it is easy to bundle it up and take it out for a comparison shopping trip. Price alone can never be an adequate determining factor in choosing your design professional. Since you are entrusting the intimate details of your home to your designer, it is best to allow someone with whom you have a relationship and who has your well being at heart to be part of the project from beginning to completion.

Taking someone’s ideas and sending them to another vendor to produce is dangerous because the concepts and ideas that are developed are being read by a third party person. Remember that game of “telephone” you played when you were a kid? Enough said!

Everyone Deserves Good Design

Many people think that using a designer for shades, shutters, blinds or draperies will be expensive…or that designers are only for the wealthy. This is far from the truth. Using a design professional will insure that mistakes (and they can be very expensive mistakes) will not be made by choosing the wrong product for the application or choosing something that just does not look right. Custom products are intended to last for many years. You don’t want to spend the next 15 years looking at something you really don’t like. In the long run, your designer will save you money and time by giving you the most efficient solution for your needs while fitting your budget and lifestyle. That’s what custom is all about, it’s about you…choose wisely!