A beautifully resolved room rarely begins with cushions and finishes. It begins with numbers that make sense – for the client, for the designer and for the level of work required. If you are considering how to price interior design services, the real question is not simply what to charge, but how to reflect expertise, scope, risk and the quality of the result in a way that feels transparent and credible.
In luxury residential design, pricing is not a flat exercise. A townhouse renovation with bespoke joinery, imported lighting and layered textile schemes carries a very different commercial structure from furnishing a turnkey flat. Both may be elegant. Neither should be priced casually. The most successful fee structures are the ones that protect the design process, leave room for exceptional execution and avoid unpleasant surprises once the project is underway.
How to price interior design services with confidence
The first principle is straightforward: price the service you are actually delivering, not the service a client imagines they are buying in the earliest conversation. Many clients initially think they are paying for aesthetic advice. In reality, they are often paying for concept development, technical coordination, procurement, supplier management, site reviews, problem-solving, revisions, budgeting and the judgement that comes from years of experience.
That distinction matters. A refined scheme with a calm, cohesive finish is usually the result of hundreds of decisions made well, not a single burst of inspiration. If your pricing does not account for those decisions, your margin disappears into invisible labour.
Start by defining your offer with precision. Are you providing design direction only, full-service interior design, furnishing and styling, or a comprehensive design and procurement package? Each model demands a different pricing logic. The more involved you are in sourcing, specification and delivery, the less suitable a simple hourly rate becomes.
The main pricing models and where they work best
There is no single correct way to charge, but there are clear advantages and weaknesses in each approach.
Hourly rates
Hourly billing suits consultancy, short advisory sessions and narrowly defined tasks. It can also work at concept stage if the brief is still fluid. The benefit is flexibility. The drawback is that it can make clients focus on time rather than value, and it can penalise efficiency. A highly experienced designer may solve in one hour what another takes five hours to resolve. The better result should not look more expensive merely because it is faster.
For luxury projects, hourly billing often works best as one part of the structure rather than the whole. It can cover additional revisions, site visits outside scope or specialist consultancy beyond the agreed brief.
Fixed design fee
A fixed fee is often the clearest option for a well-defined residential project. It gives the client confidence and allows the designer to frame the service around outcomes rather than minutes. This model tends to suit room-by-room furnishing schemes, defined phases of a renovation or full interior packages where the deliverables are known.
The challenge is scope control. A fixed fee only works if the brief, timeline and number of revisions are clearly written. Without that discipline, a fixed fee can quietly become an open-ended commitment.
Percentage of project cost
Charging a percentage of the overall project budget is common in higher-value interiors because it scales with complexity. A project involving bespoke upholstery, artisan wallcoverings, imported furniture, specialist lighting and custom trimmings requires more design attention and procurement oversight than a simpler scheme with fewer moving parts.
This model can align well with luxury residential work, but it needs transparency. Clients should understand whether the percentage applies to furnishings only, to construction and furnishings, or to the full installed cost. If this is vague, trust erodes quickly.
Cost-plus or trade mark-up
Some designers charge a design fee and also apply a mark-up to products sourced through their trade network. This is entirely valid, particularly where the designer is leveraging hard-won supplier relationships, managing orders, checking finishes, coordinating deliveries and resolving damages or delays.
In premium interiors, sourcing is not an administrative afterthought. Access to distinguished brands, bespoke finishes and specialist makers is part of the value. A thoughtfully sourced lighting scheme or textile package can shape the mood of a home as profoundly as the architecture itself. A mark-up can therefore be commercially appropriate, provided it is handled with elegance and clarity.
What should shape your fee level
A pricing structure is only half the decision. The other half is where your numbers sit.
Experience is an obvious factor, but not the only one. Your fee should also reflect project complexity, procurement volume, level of customisation, number of stakeholders and the degree of technical coordination required. A private client furnishing a pied-à-terre usually presents a more direct route than a family home involving architects, contractors, joiners, landscape teams and a compressed completion schedule.
Location can matter too, though not always in the expected way. A project in London, Geneva or Dubai may involve higher expectations around detailing, logistics and supplier performance, but international work can also introduce additional freight coordination, customs issues and lead-time management. If you are pricing globally, those pressures need to be accounted for.
Then there is the less tangible element: positioning. If your work sits in the premium or luxury bracket, your pricing should support the standard of experience you promise. Clients commissioning timeless interiors are not only buying pieces and plans. They are buying discernment, curation and the reassurance that every layer of the scheme has been considered.
How to avoid underpricing
Underpricing rarely happens because a designer cannot add up. It usually happens because the hidden labour has not been fully recognised at the outset.
Procurement is a common blind spot. So are revisions, site coordination and client communication. One statement pendant may involve finish approvals, wiring checks, shipment tracking, installation queries and replacement discussions if anything arrives imperfect. Multiply that across an entire residence and the hours accumulate quickly.
It helps to price by phase. Concept design, design development, specification, procurement, installation and styling each carry their own workload. Breaking the project into stages creates a more realistic fee structure and gives both client and designer clear points of approval.
It is also wise to include assumptions. State the number of rooms covered, the revision rounds included, whether contractor liaison is part of the fee and how site visits will be charged if they exceed the agreed allowance. Good pricing is as much about boundaries as it is about numbers.
How to present pricing to clients
The way a fee is presented can be as important as the figure itself. High-net-worth clients do not necessarily expect the lowest price. They expect coherence, confidence and a rationale that feels proportionate to the ambition of the project.
A strong proposal explains the scope in plain terms, outlines deliverables and clarifies what sits outside the fee. It should feel considered rather than defensive. If you use mark-ups, say so. If procurement management is included, describe what that covers. If custom pieces require separate design development, make that distinction early.
This is especially important in design-led projects involving elevated brands and bespoke elements. Clients understand that artisan fabrication, premium materials and international sourcing come with a different level of attention. The commercial structure should reflect that calmly and without apology.
For firms working in a luxury category, such as Tobias Oliver Interiors, this confidence is part of the service itself. Pricing should signal professionalism, not hesitation.
How to price interior design services for different project types
Not every project deserves the same commercial model. A remote furnishing scheme for a penthouse may lend itself to a fixed design fee plus procurement mark-up. A full renovation with custom joinery, layered lighting plans and close contractor coordination may be better suited to a phased fee, with additional percentages applied to procurement and installation management.
A consultation-only service should remain simple and contained. A turnkey service should not. When the work touches every room, every finish and every final placement, the pricing must support that level of detail.
This is where many designers go wrong. They use one familiar pricing method for every commission, even when the service has changed substantially. Better pricing comes from matching the model to the reality of the project.
The balance between transparency and value
Clients deserve clarity, but transparency does not mean stripping your service down to bare hours and line items until the creative value disappears. Interior design is both strategic and deeply intuitive. Some of its most valuable contributions are difficult to measure neatly – editing choices, protecting the visual integrity of a scheme, knowing when restraint will create more impact than excess.
Your fee should not try to prove value through quantity alone. It should show that the project has been understood, the process has been thought through and the result is being taken seriously.
That is usually the clearest answer to how to price interior design services. Price for the level of thinking, sourcing and stewardship required to create a home that feels effortless – because effortless interiors are never created by accident.
25th May, 2026
24th May, 2026
