‘Ultimately, you want to find a designer who values full transparency – from the initial consult to the contract all the way through the project, however long it may run. “All billing details are spelled out in our contract so there are no surprises,” says Washington, D.C. designer Tracy Morris. “We bill time hourly and mark up items from trade pricing, but a client will never pay more than retail. In our estimates we include the designer net price, retail price, and the client price so they can see everything. Clients appreciate the details, so they see exactly what they are getting and know they are paying a fair price.” That’s what we call good business – by design.’

Excerpt from the September 2021 article, How Your Interior Designer Will Charge You for Their Services (and What It Means), by Kathryn O’Shea-Evans, published on House Beautiful online.