How much does an interior designer cost in Canada?
November 14, 2023
Last month’s blog focused on design as an investment in your home and well-being. You can read it here. This month, I thought I would focus on one of the first questions that people ask when considering a design project: “how much does an interior designer cost in Canada?” Despite this being a common question, it is sometimes hard for clients to feel like they are getting a clear answer. I thought I would use this month's blog to address the issue and hopefully provide some clarity; at least about how my fees work!
So, what does an interior design firm or decorator cost in Toronto (or any major Canadian city)? Typical answers (which don’t provide the needed clarity) provide a wide range for design or decoration fees. For example, you might see:
Cost per hour with a range of $50/hour to $500+/hour
or
Cost per project with a range of $100 to $100,000
If you are trying to figure out whether to hire a design professional or build a budget for your project, it can feel a bit like you are comparing apples or oranges among different pricing models. Wide ranges also aren't helpful when you are trying to understand how the costs will apply to your project.
Key factors behind how much an interior designer or decorator costs in Canada
To understand the ranges (and where it might fall for your project), there is actually a fairly basic concept behind design fees. Under every design pricing model is a basic concept: How many hours will a design professional spend on a project? Here is a simplified way of looking at it:
A more detailed list of factors includes:
How many square feet are involved?
Does the design of the space need to integrate with adjacent spaces? Is it a small stand-alone space or is it an open concept area that needs to integrate with adjacent spaces?
How complex is the project? Is it a simple light touch refresh or a customized design to meet specific client requirements?
How much construction is involved?
How decisive is the client in making key decisions?
How experienced is the design professional?
The bottom line is that good design takes time. How much time depends on the project requirements. Fundamentally, hiring a design professional is all about getting the best return on investment for your project.
In a typical full service design project, 15-30% of the total budget is allocated to the design and procurement portions to ensure that the remaining 70-85% is spent wisely in achieving a great and lasting result.
Quick Summary of Our Fees
Design Consultation
Our process begins with a two hour on-site or virtual consultation for $700 (before tax). Consultation prices in the industry can range from $150 to upwards of $1,500. For us, this first two hours not only gives our clients valuable and actionable guidance, it gives us the information to provide them with a proposal for either a full service project or design blueprint project. That’s how we are able to review and analyze all of the variables specific to their project to determine the cost. There is no cost to create the proposal.
Full Service Design and Decorating Project
We did some analysis based on eight of our recent full service projects. Our design fees ranged from $16,500 to $47,000 (before tax) with an average of just over $32,000. The range of fees was completely influenced by the six factors above. Some were small projects (in terms of square footage) but involved significant construction and a high degree of customization. Others were larger spaces with only painting, minor electrical and utilized some existing customer décor pieces.
As mentioned above, a key part of our process is providing a detailed proposal for a full service project. This provides clients with a clear picture of our fees specific to their project before they decide to proceed.
Our FAQ (here) has more details about our services and pricing. In next month's blog I'll spend some time discussing how you can build a budget for your design project (including design fees, construction and décor), whether it's a light refresh (example here) or a more complex renovation (example here).
If you are contemplating a design project, please book a discovery call. We'd love to learn more about your project and see if there is a fit.