The demand and practice of hiring a professional interior designer to spruce up the homes, offices, workplaces, and commercial places, have been increasing in India over the last decade. While making, buying, or renovating an existing place, hiring an interior designer often comes as the viable solution, saving the homeowner a great deal of time, effort, and hassle. But like building your home from scratch, designing your interior with all the furnishing, lightings, and accents is a full-length project. That’s why, like any other project, pre-planning of budget is necessary here. Interior design cost can be determined and varied upon several factors, so it’s always prudent to have a budget estimation ready on hand, before jumping in the actual action.
If you are going to hire an interior designer, you should first ask yourself three questions. What is the service charge system of your preferred interior designer/s? How in general, the interior design cost of your entire project is determined? What are the different variables that influence this cost? At times, the answers of these questions are not that simple and straightforward. Here we’re breaking down the factors which you should keep in mind while preparing your interior design cost estimation.
There are two basic components that matter in the interior design budget estimation. They are as follows-
1. The Fee of The Interior Designer/s
Interior designers are professional experts, so it’s common idea that they will charge for their services. There are a number of ways in which your designers might charge you for your partial or full project. Here we’ve described the most popular models below-
- Flat Fee: Flat fee model is often followed for one off consultation. Here the designers won’t get involved entirely in the project. Instead, you’ll get only design ideas for the dining room and bedroom from them. Here designers focus on a single service at a time and give you the estimated time and interior design cost needed for the project. If you know the how to, and you’ve the manpower, then you’re ready to go after receiving the professional estimation and expert ideas.
- Percentage of Total Cost of Project: This is the most common model opted for estimation and quotation of the interior design cost. This model is often opted for by the interior designers, who look into the execution of the full project. The percentage of charging generally starts from around 8-10%. But highly experienced and reputed designers might charge at least 12-15% or above for their services.
- Per sq. ft. of Carpet Area: This is also a model followed by the interior designers, who supervise and execute the entire project. The rates are from Rs. 40-50 per sq. ft. to begin with. But in can go up to a whopping Rs. 500+. Generally, Rs. 100 per sq. ft. of carpet area is a fairly average range.
- No Separate Cost: The projects where interior designers take care of everything end-to-end, are known as ‘turnkey projects.’ In case of turnkey projects, often the designers don’t charge separately for their services. Since the project include all the services, the fee is also included in the interior design cost of the whole project itself. This model is mostly followed in case of luxury and premium projects.
2. Actual Cost of Interiors
This is the second but most important aspect determining the overall interior design cost. Even if you don’t hire a professional interior designer and go for the DIY route, this is the one factor you should always consider while estimating your budget.
To begin with, you should remember that the interiors fitting with your budget and the ones you opt for choosing, can be entirely different. There are a number of components involve in calculating the actual interior design cost like civil, electrical, carpentry, paint, etc. The choice of materials such as type and quality of ply, laminate, veneer, PU, and others also make a huge difference here. According to the professionals, there are a variety of techniques to achieve a certain design, some clever and cost-effective too. But eventually, it’s the choice of materials that makes all the difference at the end. Also, keep in mind that different materials have different pricing structures as well. While the furniture might be priced by a definite method, the cost of floorings and walls might be calculated in a different method.
Preparing the interior design cost estimation for your project is all about understanding the ways you are being charged, tallying it with your affordability, and maintaining a transparency throughout the process from planning to finishing touch which includes shed for your solar heaters. That’s why you should always carefully evaluate the budget estimate quotation received from you interior designer/s, before starting the work. If you consider all the mentioned aspects, and prepare or evaluate the estimation accordingly, your dream abode will come to life without any hefty economic burden or additional mental stress.
