Fee Schedule for Interior Designers
What is a fee schedule?
A fee schedule is just a list of client fees that could occur in your business and charge to clients. It is not necessary to have one, but if your pricing structure is complicated and you want to be transparent in pricing this is the way to go.
I'm 100% for clear, transparent, and simple pricing. I think you should stop using markup and start showing your clients what you pay. But I wrote about that in other posts already (just click on the links to read those!) If your business is more complicated than charging an hourly fee and a standard design fee (or markup if you want to call it that) then a fee schedule is the way to go. I suggest including it in your Welcome Packet. It may not be as simple and clear, but at least you are being transparent up front. If your pricing is simple you can avoid the fee schedule and include your pricing in your contract.
What to include in a fee schedule?
Any fees that could occur or regularly appear in your business can go into your fee schedule. It is just a document you've put together that shows all of those on one page. You'll want to include hourly design fees including if you charge differently for different job descriptions. You want to include fees for reimbursable expenses and things like renderings or CAD work. You can include late fees, procurement fees, management fees, late fees, hourly fees, you get the idea.
The fee schedule should not change per client. Your hourly rate should be your hourly rate and your design fees your design fees. The scope of the project may change, but those fees shouldn't, for example, if one client purchases a flat rate design package and another opts for full-service interior design, then clients could be charged differently. But you shouldn't be charging one client $75 an hour and another client $100 per hour just based on their budgets. In other words, stop discounting your rates if you think clients can't afford you (or raising them if you think they have a lot of $$$)
There is one exception to when the fee schedule could change and that is if you are charging a design fee in installments. Meaning that at the beginning of the project, you and your client agreed to and put it in the contract that you would charge a design fee broken up into installments, for example, a design fee of $25,000 over a year in installments. $10,000 due immediately and $5000 due every three months. This you could put in a customized fee schedule for a client.
Sample Fee Schedule
Here is a sample I created for you. This is just a sample. All the information on it is imaginary. It is up to you to figure out your own pricing (Try the Pricing Strategy Course) and come up with your own fees.
Here are some additional resources on interior design fees:
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/tell-all-fee-article-012008
https://www.capellakincheloe.com/blog/ultimate-interior-design-pricing-resource
About The Author
Hi! I’m Capella and I’m an interior designer who helps fellow designers build their businesses. Forget secrecy and competition, I believe designers should support and uplift each other. By helping and boosting one another, we can elevate the business of interior design together! Hang around a bit and I’ll share all the business “secrets” no one else wants to talk about.