Start Interior Design Business 5m1j4u

Start Interior design business If you want to start interior design business of your own – Let me tell you from my experience that it is a very fulfilling job. This is one of the best small business to start – both in of satisfaction and the money involved.You may have dabbled in kitchen interior design,bedroom interiors,bathroom interior design and have won great comments from your friends on your fabulous living space.You know that you have a keen sense of design and color and would like to explore interior design business as an occupation. Interior design business is a vast field with interior design consultants specializing in different areas of this business.However the two main types into which the designers can be classified are 1.Residential interior designers or home interior designers. 2. Commercial interior designers. Residential or home interior designers mainly design the houses and living spaces of people. They mainly deal in home interior decoration and design and along with deg the homes of people they also extensively deal in home decor. They can further specialize in one particular aspect of home decor like -bedroom deg, kitchen deg, living room deg and likewise. There is a lot of creative freedom in this form of the business since clients usually give a free run to the home interior designer to fully express himself and create an exquisite living space for them. Commercial interior designers on the other hand deal in deg commercial property and business paces for people .You can work in ding interior design for hotels,restaurants,offices and any other type of business that you could think of .There is a huge scope for work in this field since almost every commercial enterprise employs a commercial interior designer to do up its office . Other areas of Super specialization – Apart from these two branches there are various areas in which interior designers and interior design consultants specialize in these days. Interior design for kitchen and bathroom is popular today and is a niche that you could work in if you already have a knack for these. However knowledge of cabinetry and plumbing is essential before you venture out into kitchen interior design. Another area which you could explore is windows and draperies deg. These form an essential part of interior deg for homes more specifically in bedroom interior design. draperies can dramatically change an entire living area and are also an effective way to change the interior decor of any house.This is an area where you can give a full free rein to your creativity and can play with colors and drapes.Here too a basic knowledge of heating and cooling systems and dry walling is essential. Another area which you could try out is lighting. Lighting designers understand that lighting is one of the key areas to

be focused when doing up the interior decor of a house since bad lighting can prove to be a real sucker and turn a fabulously done up space into a drab and dim den. The interior deg industry is a multibillion dollar industry. Better still the industry is growing at a fast pace as new avenues are being identified where interior designers are offering their services. Desired Traits - Good people management ,negotiation and planning skills are essential in this field since you will be dealing with business people here and may have to come up with a new business plan every time your client has a whim or fancy.However if you are successful in establishing a good rapport with your client, you can be assured of a steady stream of business from the same . Prospective buyers - Their services are increasingly being used by – a) Home owners b) Companies c) Airports d) Restaurants, Pubs & lounges e) Convention centers e) Public entertainment places – like movie theater, clubs etc f) Hospitals g) Government offices h) Banks & financial Institutions and at many more places. The list is endless and thus there is endless scope of places for interior designers to offer their services. Which specialty to target ? – Before starting your own interior deg business and drawing up an interior design business plan for yourself you must first decide which area of the business in which you want to specialize. Your business plan and your future action would then be a buildup on the niche you choose to target. While common sense says that deciding your specialization should be based on your interests and strengths I have over the years built a different opinion and strategy on this. A common mistake that starters do is to target a niche that is of their interest but it either has a negligible market size or the segment market is too competitive for starters. In fact a better strategy in the beginning is to target a niche that has low entry barriers (even if it is less profitable). This in turn helps the starter consolidate his position in the market without attracting the attention of existing players in the market. For instance, Commercial interior deg which is the most lucrative segment in the interior deg Industry is a highly competitive market in most of the places and is generally not suitable for new entrants. You should generally graduate to such segments after having worked in this Industry for at least an year. Caveat – You need to do a study of the existing players in your market to identify which segment is competitive and which segments have a low entry barrier. Thus it might as well be possible that the commercial segment in your area is still underdeveloped. In that case you can make a straight jump into this segment to grab your position as a market leader. If that sounds complicated, do not worry – we will give you an easy but a great method to understand your market in a later post.

P.S – Many countries (say for instance U.S.A or U.K) requires an interior designer to obtain certifications before they are allowed to start practicing as an interior designer. However, If you are not academically qualified, you can call yourself an interior decoration company (and not interior design company). You can also enroll your self into a proper and accredited interior deg school and obtain the requisite degree and the the certification in due course of time – learning the technicalities of the trade – while simultaneously growing your client profile and building an impressive portfolio. Steps involved in setting up - With this basic understanding in mind, let us now delve into the steps involved in setting up an interior deg business #1) The first step in the process is to think of a name for your interior deg business and the constitution of your company. (whether you would like to go alone or as a franchisee of a reputed firm or as an associate with some one else or as a LLC with a formally constituted board of ) #2) The second step in the direction would be legally constitute the setup that you have chosen in the first step. This should not be a very difficult task and any attorney will be able to do this for you in return for a small fees. #3) The third step (and the most vital one) is to draft an Interior design business plan for your self. The business plan will include an executive summary, details about your organization – (details of people involved with the venture – their education qualifications, their past experiences and their proposed role in the new business), details about your prospective market (will provide details about the niche in which you intend to operate, the market size, the demographic breakup of the market), a detailed budget for the next 3-4 years tenure, a detailed analysis of your costing (includes both set up costs and recurring working capital costs that will be needed),the requirements and means for funding for this proposal, income and profitability analysis, a list of your suppliers along with their of service, a portfolio of your existing work, a note on how you intend to address the technical aspects, details about your statutory compliance,promotional strategy, pricing strategy (including the credit that you will be offering to your customers and how you intend to participate competitively in tenders or bids), the ing policies for your organization, plans on hiring of people,your future growth plans, a time schedule for your business plan and a section detailing why you think your growth assumptions are realistic. 4) Once your business has been formally constituted and your business plan is ready, you need to begin with building your portfolio. In the beginning, you may not have any great work to use as your showcase and the best way to start is to build an impressive portfolio from within your house. Do a renovation of your space and take some good photographs (You can hire a professional photographer to help you with this).

Ideally a portfolio should not only show the final pictures but it should also show the pictures of the place before the renovation took place, some pictures of the place when the renovation work was under way lastly followed by the picture of the place after the interior decoration and renovation was completed by you. The portfolio should also highlight the begin date and the end date of the interior design works undertaken by you. You may or may not include the costing data for these works in your portfolio. However if providing budget solutions is one of your key selling propositions then it would be better to give your prospective clients with some costs indications. The portfolio of an interior designer is like a resume. The more professional, more detailed and more appealing the portfolio – the better are the chances of being awarded with an offer. that your portfolio would be competing against the portfolio of other designers and you will really have to stand apart by offering unmatched perceived value to the buyer. This could mean that you will need to work on shoe string budget in the first few orders that you undertake. #5) The next step in the process is to hire/em- suppliers who will form a key component of your interior design business. You will have to identify and em- a large number of suppliers – ranging from high end, high quality suppliers to moderate and low end interior decor suppliers. To begin with you should have a line of suppliers of furniture, curtains, wall paper, lighting, mats & mattress, glasses, wall hangings, paints, and flooring material. You would do better to identify a transporter to manage the logistics. 6) When you are done with the previous steps, now is the time to let your prospective buyers (you would have identified them in the business plan) know that you exist. Make your first impression count by being well prepared. There are tons of cheap (nay free !) methods that you can use to reach out to a large section of prospective buyers in your area. We will delve into them in a later post. Conclusion - Most of the new business start ups have to to go through a difficult initial phases. But this is not the case with interior deg business. In fact when we later discuss this aspect you will be surprised to know how you can easily break into this Industry with a bit of smart work (Not hard but naive work) There are more tips and insider tricks of the trade that you can read through.

Start up costs for interior design business In the initial phases of your business you need to spend time drawing out a list of the costs that you will be incurring while setting up your business.You will also have to estimate the amount that you would be spending under each head.The most common start up costs that you will be most likely to incurr are listed;

1.Space If you are planning to operate from home then this cost will be minimal for you,however for those planning to rent an office space should be prepared to shell out more. to consider factors like the rent ofthe building,the distance from competition( this may be crucial to your success or failure)and size( whether there is scope for future expansion) while deciding on location. 2.Improvements If you are renting a space then every space will not be totally ready to suit your needs and you will be required to spend on making improvements to the space. you should definitely set aside money to build a proper signage to display the name of your interior decoration business. 3.Equipments If you are palnning to operate from home then you might not have to spend on a desk,chair,filing cabinet,chairs for your customers etc.However these will have to be bought if you are setting up your own office.Equipments that will be common to both and will be essential are a printer,scanner,copier and a computer. You can either buy or lease all this equipment,but do keep aside money for a security deposit if you plan to lease. 4.utilities Once again people operating from their homes will not require to spend on utilities such as heating,electricity,water and garbage but people who rent out an office space will have to incur these costs.You will need to put down a security deposit here too. 5.Communications. Very essential cost that will include your telephone,cell phone and internet.Compare and pick out plans that are the cheapest. 6.Legal Expenses You will require to get your business ed and get a valid business registration number for yourself.Also small businesses have to up certain licences and permits for which certain amount of fees is payable.All the information you need regarding legal formalities can be found out from the central office of your area or from the city and county clerk and the local chamber of commerce.You could also get this work done by an attorney who will charge a small fee for his services. 7.Insurance There are many types of insurance that a business needs to have.The most common insurance covers will range from liabilty and property to workmens compensation insurance.You need to check out the offers made by different insurance companies to select one that suits your needs and pocket best.

8.s and taxation Another area where you will be spending is on an ants fees and on all formalities relating to taxation that you need to complete for your new business. 9.Market research Another very important start up cost since a proper research will be the key to your future profitability.The market research can be done by you or you can hire the services of many small firms that will do the job for you. Needless to say the costs will be less if you do it yourself. 10.Reference books and resources A very important investment for you initially would be to buy good resource books on interior deg business and on the various aspects of design. You should also invest in buying books which can provide you with new design ideas. This will help you to understand the business better and will come in handy when you begin to get orders. 11.Advertising and marketing. This is very important in your start up stage to let people know of your business. This expense can include money to be spent on printing business cards,brochures,pamphlets,Fliers advertising your business and also in holding meetings and arranging for free presentations on interior deg and promoting your business in offices,among suppliers and in clubs and associations. 12.Website Today every business has a website since this is a very effective tool to promote your business and reach out to clients.A website can reach out to many more people than traditional advertising and will also serve as a channel for sales.Associated costs may include website design, web-hosting fees, implementing ecommerce software, ing a domain name and setting up a merchant .You will not need a very high profile site design and the job can be done by a web designer for a small fee. These are some of the common costs that you will incurr at the time of starting your business.This is an indicative list and you can add on more costs if you feel teh need to do so.

Marketing strategy-Interior design business plan

Psalms interior has now decided to base its marketing strategy on trying to position itself as the ultimate resource afor interior deg in the target area.It aims to address the needs of all types of customers and wishes to be recognized as a one stop shop for all design solutions .For the more involved do-it-yourself and buy-it -yourself customer it wants to position itself as a firm providing unique guidance and consultancy services and for other clients it aims to provide a complete personalized design solution,They have also planned to base their marketing strategy on the following points; 1. Unique personalized design consulting for every client. 2.An excellent client service leading to increased client satisfaction. 3.Unique products which will be made available to different clients as per their requirements. 4.An complete package containing consulting,guidance,products and even made to order products for clients to give them a unique design experience. Psalms interiors plans to first generate interest and awareness about its products and services through this strategy and then establish withe teh target customers.Post this itaims to develop a client base and then finally generate a loyal customer base and also get increased referral and repeat business from those clients. The company has also decided that it is going to distribute its products mainly through the reatil channel. However the website of Psalms interiors will also be used extensively to make sales either through e mail enquiries or throughdirect sales from the site. Psalms interiors has decided to follow the following strategies in its marketing plan; 1.to build up a awareness about its interior design business and also to promote its image. 2.To increase the existing client base and also use it to leverage future customers 3.Cross selling activities to increase revenue from the same client size. 4.Connecting with people in the home building sector to get increased referral business. To build awareness about its products and services and to let more people know about their presence,the company aims to do the following; a. Place an ment in the local newspaper about their business. b. Distribute fliers with newspapers describing their products and services offered. c.Participate in social service events in the target area to let people know of their presence. d.Arrange for free presentations on the importance of interior design and promoting their business in all clubs,associations and organizations in the area. e.Network extensively with all vendors and suppliers in the area and meet with them regularly to get referrals from them. f. Tie up with real tors and architects in the area and arrange to give free presentations to their clients. To increase the existing client base and use it to build future clients the folowing activities are proposed; a.To have an excellent relation with the existing clients so as to ensure customer loyalty and referrals. This can be done by providing personalized solutions to each client and giving each client time and attention.

b. To have a thorough after sales follow up on every client.(Will help increase customer loyalty) c.To have a personal with each client by ing them on their special days( birthdays,anniversaries etc) d.To provide clients with additional experiences such as providing them with free presentations and seminars ( such as on the latest trends in interior design or on any new in house product that you have come up with) Cross selling activities aim to increase the average dollar earned per transaction. This can be achieved by; a.additional sale of antiques,art pieces,furniture fabrics and home accessories to the clients. b.sale of all these products through their website. Connecting with the home building sector to increase referrals from them. a.Network extensively with people in this sector and devise strategies to increase business from them.This can be done by coming up with special gift certificates for the real tors to promote referrals from them. b. Networking with loan officers and also coming up with gift certificates or an incentivisation campaign for them. c.Coming up with design services for builders to help them give a complete package to their clients. This is the marketing strategy that will be used by Psalms interiors and post this it will decide on its sales strategy. This will be discussed in the later posts. Psalms interiors has decided to break up its revenue sources into the following streams;Residential interior design business( which is mainly comprised of consulting revenue),product sales and commercial interior design business consulting.It has made a forecast for three years ,keeping in mind that there will be no revenue from commercial design consulting from the first year since they are only focus sing on residential interior design business in the first year.They have planned to generate equal revenue from both the sources from year 2. The rate of growth has been taken at a modest 12%.

Sales Residential Consulting Commercial Consulting Product Sales Other Total Sales

Year 1

Year2

Year3

$22,700

$31,200

$46,000

$6,240

$7,200

$31,200 $0 $68,640

$46,000 $0 $99,200

$19,800 $0 $42,500

Direct Cost of Sales Residential Consulting Commercial Consulting Product Sales Other Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

$3,405

$4,680

$6,900

$594

$936

$1,080

$10,890 $0

$17,160 $0

$25,300 $0

$14,889

$22,776

$33,280

The main ingredient of the sales strategy is to generate referrals from pleased customers,from the suppliers and vendors and from the people in the building industry .All the sales activities of Psalms interiors will be driven towardsctreating awareness of the products and services of the company,to then build a client base and then to retain the clients and get referrals out of them .The sales activities will also be geared towards maintaining excellent relations with suppliers,vendors and real tors and to generate referrals out of them. Making use of the website to generate awareness and sales for the interior design business is also an integral part of the sales strategy. Psalms interiors has decide to these sales programs as part of its sales strategy; Pricing of products and services The residential interior design consulting will initially be priced at $85 per hour and the commercial design consulting at $120 per hour(The prices for the services are for the first year only and will be scaled up as the busines grows). The products offered( Art pieces,home accessories,fabrics etc will be sold at Cost Price+5%. Distribution All services will be distributed to clients through personal . Advertising and publicity Advertising and publicity will be through fliers in newspapers,pamphlets and newspaper ment. This apart promotion activities such as free presentations and seminars will also be carried out( discussed in detail in marketing strategy) Client service The area which will be focussed on the most since this will be the key factor in differentiating this venture from other design firms in the same.Personalized and individual design solutions actering to each client and a unique design experience where the clients can be a part of the deg process will be the highlights of the client service program. Apart from this after sales follow up and personal post sales with all clients will also be a trademark of client service for Psalms interiors.

Another part of the sales strategy is to form strategic alliances with suppliers and vendors who will refer clients to Psalms interiors. Based on their marketing research,strategy and on the initial s of the owner they have already formed an alliance with two architectural firms who have agreed to refer them to their clients. They have also tied up with a loan officer and some realtors in the area who have also agreed to refer them to their clients.Two suppliers from who they are purchasing fabrics have also agreed to the same.Psalms interiors is alos trying to forge further alliances to get more referral customers. This is a rough outline of the sales strategy that will be followed by Psalms interiors .

Interior design business plan This is the first part of the several that constitute a tutorial on how to draft your interior design business plan. The first part of your Interior design business plan will be the executive summary. An executive summary is an excerpt of the vital facts and figures that constitute your business plan. And although this is the last thing to be drafted, we nevertheless will give a snapshot of a typical Interior design business plan. The executive summary is the crux of the entire business plan restricted to 500-1000 words. A typical executive summary for an interior deg firm would look like: “Psalms interiors is a proposed venture of Psalms LLC and will provide complete interior deg solutions to residential & commercial segment customers in and around Houston, TX, U.S.A. The company has identified a market size comprising of X numbers of prospective residential customers in the first year of its operation. The later half of the second year will be targeted at Boutique stores, bed & breakfast and hotels in the area. It is proposed to use the first half of the third year to consolidate its existing clientele base. The second half of the third year is proposed to target new industries specially the art galleries in and around Texas. The company further proposes to introduce its own line of furniture by the end of the fourth year. The company has identified and targeted around 7000 families based out of Houston (out of the population of 0.8 million households) in the first year of its operation and it expects to undertake at least 36 projects during this period. It is proposed to generate business leads by establish business relation with key people in the identified market and through referrals generated through existing customer base. Online marketing is another major promotional tool that is proposed to be deployed. As per data from Google, there are more than 3000 searches per month from people looking

for interior designers in Houston. This highly targeted prospective customer segment will be tapped with a professionally designed website with provisions for taking online quotations. To cater to a wide variation in clients tastes and preferences, Psalms Interiors has identified and built up a supply chain comprising of 7 furniture suppliers, 3 flooring material suppliers, 19 suppliers of handicrafts and decorative pieces and 1 each suppliers of paint, draperies and wall hangings. Psalms interiors expects to generate a revenue of USD83,000 and a net profit of USD7000 in its first year of operations. (For details -see Financial section – P.no.26 ) The business plan that follows has laid down a detailed analysis of all the foreseeable aspects of this proposed interior deg business for the next 4 years of its operations bases on realistic assumptions that are backed by evidences wherever possible. “ Conclusion So that was a sample of what should an executive summary of how your interior design business plan should look like. This should have given you some idea of the contents of your executive summary. that there are no hard and fast rules for drafting the executive summary of an interior design business plan. If you think there are other salients points that should be mentioned here, you can include them in the executive summary segment. Mistakes to be avoided when drafting the executive summary of your business plan 1) Do not draft the executive summary in the beginning. The most proper content of the executive summary will come out when it is written after the entire business plan has been formulated. 2) Do not write general remarks in your executive summary – wherever possible – quote figures and numbers. Each statement should preferably be backed by an evidence or else it should refer to the section of the business plan, where it has been elaborated. The next segment of an interior decoration or design business plan delves into the company information This has been discussed next.

Interior design business plan-2 The second section will discuss the components of the “Company section” of an Interior design business plan. We will again use a hypothetical company – ‘Psalms Interiors’ to lay down the sample for this section. The details of the company are laid down in the following format -

“Psalms Interiors a start up venture of XYZ LLC has been set up to offer complete interior decoration solutions to prospective clients in and around {area}The prime activities proposed to be undertaken by the company include – {include the niches in which you plan to operate} The vision of the company “To establish itself as a market leader in the interior deg business in Houston by the year 2020″ The mission of the company “To provide its residential and corporate customers with a one stop solution for all their interior deg business needs under one roof” Objectives of the company •

• •

To achieve a monthly turnover of USD 15000 in the first year, USD 23000 in the second year, USD 35000 in the third year and USD 45000 in the fourth year of its operation. To generate at least 20% of the total revenue from corporate clients by the end of the 3rd year. To achieve a 55% ratio of product sales to consulting sales by the end of 4th year.

Constitution XYZ LLC was ed at { enter the – ed address} on {regn date} and has been set up with the intent to operate as an interior design company in the {target market} area. The Founders The board of XYZ LLC consists of – Name/s Address of owner/s/ board

Telephone

Email

Date of Education birth

Recent job functions

Responsibilities proposed to be handled by each of them in the business venture a) Mr. Z –role to be played in the proposed firm. b) Mrs.Y – role to be played in the proposed firm. c) Ms. X\— d)

….

Company details Office Address:,Address of godowns, person, Email id, Telephone & Fax number,Website address. Conclusion That was a sample on the Company section of an Interior design Business plan. There are no hard and fast rules except for the fact that you should not miss out on any of the vital details. Mistakes to be avoided 1. Do not write general Vision, mission or objective statements. A very good method to write these statements is to make them – “SMART” where S – stands for specific, M- measurable, A – achievable , R -realistic and T – Time bound. The next part of this series on Interior design business plan will talk about “The market analysis”.

Interior design business plan Market research This is the third in a series of tutorials on how to draft your own interior design business plan. One of the most important components of an Interior design Business plan is the identification and analysis of the constituent market. In this part of your business plan, you should provide details of a) The geographical location & area of the target market. b) The demographics of the market c) Classification of the market on vital indicators like age, income and tastes and preferences And finally the part of this market that you intend to target along with the justifications for selecting the particular market.

A sample market research to guide you before starting your own interior design business follows ” Psalms Interiors has conducted a market research of Texas and has collected the following information about its target market. The company has decided to start by targeting the residential interior design segment for now. The corporate segment is proposed to be targeted from year 3 onwards. Accordingly for now, market data has been collected only for the residential segment. We estimate a huge potential in the corporate segment as well but data for the segment would be collected only at the end of 2nd year. As per state records, {Location} has an approximate population of 2 million people spread over a radius of 40 miles from the center of {} Further demographic classification is as follows – Gender classification Male 1.13 million Females 0.87 million Our primary target market comprises of the female population. Further demographic breakup of the female population of 0.87 millions is as follows Age – wise classification <18 years 18-27 years 27-40 years 40-60 60 years and above

0.14 million 0.15 million 0.33 million 0.18 million 0.08 million

Our Target market is further narrowed down to female population in the age group of 27 to 60 years with a total population of 0.61 million Annual Family Income based classification < USD 24000 p.a USD 24000- USD 48000 p.a USD 48000-USD 60000 p.a USD 60000-USD 100000 p.a > USD 100000 p.a

0.11 million 0.44 million 0.15 million 0.10 million 0.07 million

Here we propose to target the segment with an annual family Income of USD48000 p.a and above. (0.32 million population size) Some other vital figures about our target market in the age group of 27 to 60 years (0.61 million population) are 37% of Female in have completed college education. 23% of this population are salary based workers. 9% of this population are independent entrepreneurs. 66% out of 0.61 million are married. 55% of the target population have their own house. 47% of the women do not have children living with them. 64% of the population subscribes to at least one magazine on women issues. Our target customers Any one who finds interest in decorating her/his homes forms our target customer base for the first two years. Psalms Interiors aims at providing its customers with an opportunity to decorate their homes in ways that match their tastes and preferences. Market Growth As per state estimates – the number of household in the area grew at an average of 15% in the last 3 years and the rate of growth is estimated to be around 15.8% for the next year. Around 47% of the household comprises of people in the age group of 27-40 years of age. Thus the number of household is expected to grow to 0.42 million by the end of year 2008. In contrast more than 41.2 % of houses in the area were built prior to 1970. Thus the market is also witnessing a surge in renovation of these houses. Based on the above findings, Psalms interiors feels that there is a huge untapped potential in the Interior design business Industry in the area. In the first year of its operation, psalms interior proposes to generate 80% of revenue through consultancy and remaining 20% through product sale.”

Pricing of your products and servicesinterior design business When it comes to deciding the price of your product and service you need to be very careful since this will be the deciding criteria for your clients. A price too high and you will lose out customers and a price too low will reduce the perceived value of your product, or worse still you will be unable to generate much profit from your business When estimating the price for your product, you should consider the following:

* The size of the job and the time you’ll need to complete it (including ordering and installing products, etc.) * The cost of product * The services, in addition to your own, that may be needed (i.e., carpet or drywall installation) * The number of outside service people you will need (eg -to lay that carpet, to paint the space) * The deadline given by the client for completing the job (a rush job is always billed at a higher rate) * Your markup (typically a minimum of 15 percent) Deciding the rates for your products There are various ways in which you could decide the rate for your products and services.Some common ways are; 1.Hourly fee: This is one of the simplest way to charge, since all you do is multiply the number of hours you actually work by your rate. This works well for a new designer because you won’t be sure about exactly how much time a job will take until you have a few jobs under your belt. You will need to set a f rate that will give you enough money to make the business profitable. Depending on where you live, your rate as a new designer may range from $30 to $120 an hour. You can decide your rate by checking with the competition (try visiting their websites to get an idea) or ing an organization like the American Society of Interior Designers for help. 2.Flat fee: This method can work well if you have had a couple of assignments under your belt and you have the experience to decide the time by which you would complete the job at hand. This will also work when your client supplies all the products and furniture and you are expected to finish the given assignment within your time . Here too you simply multiply your hourly rate by the number of hours you think you’ll need to complete the job, plus expenses. This fee would apply to every service you provide, from concept to installation. This is not suited to designers who are just starting out since a wrong estimation of the time to be taken to complete the job can result in losing money on the project. pretty fast. 3.Cost plus:

Here you will add up all costs that are necessary to complete the job ,such as furnishings and materials for a job as well as for any subcontractors (like carpenters, carpet installers, etc.). You will then add on an agreed-upon percentage to the total as your fee. Designers commonly charge a 20 percent service fee with this method, although some experts in the field recommend a 50 percent to 100 percent markup, depending on your market. This is one of the most common ways for designers to charge for their services. 4.Retail: This entails charging clients the retail price for every item you purchase-and your fee is the difference between the wholesale cost you’ve paid and the retail price. In essence, this means clients aren’t paying directly for your services, which means a lower cost for them. If all you’re doing is buying products and arranging them rather than planning spaces and installing items like curtains, this pricing method can be feasible. It also works best on smaller jobs. 5.Square footage: This method is mostly used for charging on a commercial job. The fee is calculated based on the area of the room being designed. Needless to say the costs here will include all decorating costs that will be incurred to design and decorate every square foot of the space. If you’re interested in trying this technique, use the statistics from other design work you’ve done to figure out a price per square foot. You will need to include in this price all costs to be incurred ,right from conception, design to implementation. Whichever method you choose to use in deciding your rate, the cost of freight and the amount of time you spend planning, lining up subcontractors, buying product and supervising work should all be taken into consideration when you set your rate. You’ll have to use a combination of the methods discussed here to establish a rate that covers your costs and allows you to make a profit.