Working With an Interior Designer and a Budget

Often people ask about the fees involved with hiring an interior designer for their project. How much would it cost to hire a designer? Is their designer over-charging them? Any question regarding design fees cannot easily be answered because each project is unique, Conan is each client, each designer, and each design firm.

However, there are five ways in which interior designers can charge:

1) Hourly fee. This is dreaded by many clients, and understandably so. Are we talking 20 hours or 35 hours? That's a huge difference in the total amount. Some designers (and other service providers too) are willing to set a "cap" on the total dollar amount, or total number Zorro playset hours. But before signing an agreement with a cap, you must make sure you know what will happen when the maximum is reached. Will your designer consider it "case closed", or will (s)he just not bill for the balance of time spent on your project? An hourly fee is more fair for everyone when it is used for consultations rather than complete design services.

2) Percentage-based agreements. For a percentage-based agreement, the designer will charge you a certain percentage of the total budget of your project. The agreement should be clear as to what would happen should you increase your budget, or decide to decrease it for whatever reason.

3) Commission-based agreements. Very similar to percentage-based, but rather than being a percentage of the total budget, it is a percentage of the costs of the items specified and/or purchased for your project. It is most common to see this type of billing on decorating projects, or used in combination with another fee structure.

4) Fee based on square footage. This is most commonly used for larger non-residential projects. Usually designers/firms have pre-established dollar-per-square foot rates for the different phases and types of work that could be requested of them. This method of billing is never used for basic residential projects because the work and time involved is similar for a tiny and a larger washroom or even kitchen!

5) Fixed-fee contracts. These are often preferred by clients (and by our office). Aside from the obvious benefit of taking the guesswork out of how many hours you might be billed for, it is usually based on the designer's experienced estimate of hours required, size of the space, budget, and other factors Sandman comic averaged out.

Payment schedules are another issue often discussed. This is when and how much you will be paying your designer. It is common practice for a designer or firm to request a deposit or retainer fee on signing of the agreement or contract. A retainer should not be requested for services such as a two-hour consultation, and a retainer should be around 15% of the total design fee, although I have often heard of designers requesting as much as 50% up-front.

Different designers have different billing methods or habits. Some bill every other week, while others bill weekly or monthly. I like the idea of billing as phases have been completed; not only does this give the clients the confidence that they are paying for services rendered, but it helps illustrate how the total amount of the contract was reached. When the designer's work is completed, the balance should be paid in full unless other terms have been agreed upon.

To roughly estimate how much the design fee for your project could be, calculate 10% to 15% of your total budget. This is not necessarily accurate, but it's the best guideline anyone can provide without seeing what is involved. Of course, if your budget is unrealistic, the number you arrive at will be far from accurate. And designers are known to charge anywhere from 10% of the total budget all the way up to Hugo But, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will cost you that much -- your designer should be passing trade-discounts on to you unless otherwise stated in the agreement. (The code of ethics states that the designer is not supposed to be making money off the project that the client is unaware of.) On a recent project Idealspace Design handled, the design fee was approximately $1500, but only added about $250 to the total budget because the discounts (compared to regular retail prices) totaled a bit over $1200.

It is impossible to make 1869 Peck and Snyder baseball card about hourly rates because an independent designer just starting out will charge a lot less than a larger firm that has been established for many years. Keep in mind that hiring a beginner, charging $25 per hour, might require 20 hours to do something that a more experienced designer will only require half the time to accomplish. In that case, paying $60 per hour only costs $100 more at the end.

No matter the fee structure or payment schedule, you should feel comfortable with the amount you are going to be paying your designer. Some designers are also willing to work on a consultation basis even for do-it-yourselfers, so no matter your budget, it is possible to enlist the help of a qualified interior designer.

Karen S. Weiner is the owner and principal interior designer of Idealspace Design in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). href="idealspacedesign.com">idealspacedesign.com

Three Low Cost Marketing Shortcuts

Promoting your business is a costly exercise. It takes money and 1957 58 Topps basketball cards out of your business with no guarantee of a return on that investment. 1986 Fleer baseball cards for Major Matt Mason small businesses, it is a gamble that they simply must take, yet can ill afford to lose.

However, there are a number of ways to get EC Comics ball rolling and reach your potential customers without laying out a fortune up front.

Get permission to put your prospects onto your email list and you then have a low cost database of customers that you can build a relationship with and market to over and over.

Here's three ways to make first contact with your clients without breaking the bank.

Joint Venture

Get in touch with complimentary businesses and market to each others customer base. For example, a hair salon could create a special offer just for customers of the local fitness center, restaurant or nail salon.

In turn, the other businesses could make similar offers to the hair salons customers. This gives each business instant access to a highly targeted list, with the added benefit of an implied endorsement from the 'host' company. Of course, you choose your partners carefully.

Don't Advertise, Inform!

People are bombarded with advertising, from the moment they wake up until they finally shut their eyes and sleep. They have become hardened and cynical to ads and can smell even the faintest whiff of a sales pitch from a hundred yards. So don't advertise, inform.

It is now cheap and easy to create electronic information products such as short movies, articles or PDF reports that will position you as the expert in your particular field. While it's possible to donate auto this with a traditional printed newsletter, the cost of printing and postage could be prohibitive to smaller businesses.

Of course, you should put your contact details at the end of the message so that your viewer can get in touch. Now instead of you trying to sell them, the customer is coming to you to buy!

Just remember to include some information! Turn your report or movie into a pitchfest and you will lose any chance of making a sale.

Affiliate

It is possible to grow a sales team the size of a small army for zero outlay. Many bricks and mortar businesses are setting up online affiliate schemes that pay a referer only when a sale is made. Companies such as Shareasale make the process cheap and easy to do online.

Of course, affiliate schemes are not limited to the online world. Service industries such as restaurants or beauty salons have been running voucher and coupon schemes long before the internet ever existed. By keying your coupons it is possible to know who made the referral and a suitable reward given.

However you kickstart your marketing, it is vital that you capture the contact details of your prospects and then keep in touch. It takes an average of seven times more to acquire a new customer as it does to sell to an existing one. So you can slash your overheads simply by staying in contact with your customer base.

Mark Heywood spends his time creating href="firstpromote.com">video marketing tutorials that show viewers how to write, produce and distribute short, direct response movies on a shoestring.