Interior design fees depend on the scale of your project, your property’s size and complexity, and the specification level you need. A small apartment refresh costs differently from a full commercial fit-out. Rather than a fixed rate, you’re paying for the depth of research, bespoke thinking, and detailed specification that prevents costly mistakes during the build.
What are the real cost drivers in an interior design project?
The largest variables are scope, property type, and finish specification. A residential apartment in London requires different expertise and time than a commercial salon or dental practice. The London Embankment Apartment and Witham Project both involved residential interiors, but their costs differed based on square footage, structural complexity, and the finish level chosen. Similarly, commercial projects like Beaulieu Dental Practice, Fruittii Hair Salon, and Keystones Estate Agent each had distinct budgets because they serve different functions—a dental practice needs clinical precision and durability; a salon needs flow, lighting, and aesthetic distinctiveness.
Within each project type, specification level is where cost differences compound. Choosing between off-the-shelf pieces and bespoke cabinetry, between standard paint and specialist finishes, between basic lighting and integrated systems—these decisions ripple through the total investment. The studio works across all three levels. The deciding factor is always what the space actually needs to do, not trend or decoration. This is why the Discovery phase exists: to understand your genuine requirements before any cost is committed.
How does the design process affect what you’ll pay?
The studio works through five defined stages: Discovery, Concept, Design & Specification, Commission, and Reveal. Each stage has a cost associated with it, and you understand what you’re paying for at each point. Discovery is the research and briefing phase—time spent understanding your needs, the building’s constraints, your lifestyle, and your values. This isn’t billed as a separate cost in most arrangements, but it’s intensive work that prevents expensive pivots later. Concept develops the strategic direction and spatial approach. Concept, Design & Specification moves into material selections, detailed drawings, supplier sourcing, and the specification document that builders and trades follow. Commission is the project management and oversight during installation. Reveal is the finishing touches and handover.
The clearer and more realistic your brief in Discovery, the fewer iterations occur in later stages. This is why experienced designers often save clients money despite higher upfront fees—the clarity they establish prevents the costly churn of undefined revisions. A project like Tone at Canary Wharf required precise technical specification because it was a commercial interior in a major London location; that rigour cost more in the Concept, Design & Specification phase but protected the installation.
Why do residential and commercial interiors have different cost structures?
Residential interiors—like the London Embankment Apartment or Witham Project—are usually charged by a design fee or percentage of the construction budget. The advantage is clarity: you know what the design service costs regardless of what you choose to spend on materials and build. Commercial interiors often work on a project fee because the scope is tighter and more defined from the start. A salon or dental practice has fewer unknowns than a home, where personal taste and future-proofing add variables.
Commercial work also carries different compliance requirements. Beaulieu Dental Practice required health and safety specification that a residential kitchen doesn’t. Fruittii Hair Salon needed to account for plumbing, drainage, and electrical loads specific to salon work. These technical demands increase the Concept, Design & Specification phase complexity and therefore the overall cost. The trade-off is that commercial projects often have clearer ROI: a well-designed salon or dental practice attracts clients and justifies the investment through business impact, not just aesthetic pleasure.
What shouldn’t you compare when looking at designer costs?
Avoid comparing a designer who handles only mood boards and furniture selection against one who manages the full Discovery, Concept, Design & Specification, Commission, and Reveal process. The first is styling; the second is interior design. They serve different needs. A stylist helps you arrange what exists; a designer specifies what should exist and oversees its realisation. The Keystones Estate Agent project, for example, wasn’t just about choosing colours—it required understanding the client journey, spatial flow, and how the interior communicates the agency’s values. That depth of thinking commands a different fee than decoration.
Also avoid assuming that lower fees mean lower quality, or that higher fees guarantee better outcomes. What matters is whether the designer’s process is rigorous and whether their portfolio proves they deliver finished interiors that function well and age gracefully. The studio’s work across residential properties like the London Embankment Apartment and commercial spaces like Tone at Canary Wharf is public proof. Look at what's actually been built, not what was promised.
How should you structure payment and scope to avoid cost surprises?
The clearest way to avoid surprises is to separate the design fee from the build budget and agree on both in writing before Discovery ends. The design fee is what you pay the studio for thinking, specification, and oversight. The build budget—materials, labour, specialist trades—is separate and is what you control. Without this separation, it’s easy to conflate rising material costs with rising designer costs, or to blame the designer for scope changes that were actually client requests.
Ask your designer how they charge for revisions after the Concept stage is approved. Unlimited revisions encourage scope creep; a defined number of revision rounds keeps the project anchored. Ask whether the fee includes project management during Commission and site visits during Reveal, or whether those are additional. Clarity at the outset—even if the conversation feels uncomfortable—prevents the resentment that arises when invoices appear and expectations misalign. The studio operates transparently on this point because the work only succeeds if the client understands what they’re paying for.
When is a higher design investment worth the cost?
Invest in rigorous interior design when the space has long-term value or performs a critical function. A home you plan to live in for a decade justifies more detailed work than a flat you’re renting for two years. A commercial space—salon, dental practice, showroom—justifies investment because it directly affects your business’s operation and reputation. The Witham Project and London Embankment Apartment were both residential, but the investment was justified because they were owner-occupied homes. Equally, Fruittii Hair Salon and Beaulieu Dental Practice justified detailed Concept, Design & Specification because the interiors were essential to the business.
The highest return on interior design investment comes in three forms: spaces that function better (you save time and stress daily), spaces that retain or gain value (you protect your asset), and spaces that communicate something true about their use (a dental practice that feels clinical and calm, a salon that feels current but not disposable). None of these outcomes are cheap, but all are measurable over time. This is why the studio builds interiors to last—not to follow trends—and why the upfront cost is an investment, not an expense.