Do interior designers really charge 100k?!

Shmaichel

Mon, Mar 11 2024, 11:05 pm

I used an architect who also does design, very reasonably priced because she’s from Israel (I think she was listened there but not in US).

I’m in Brooklyn and she got recommended to me by a few friends who were so happy with her.

I love how my house came out BH.

Feel free to pm if you want her info

amother

NeonBlue

Mon, Mar 11 2024, 11:23 pm

Shmaichel wrote:

Would you be able to post her Instagram account?

amother

Tangerine

Mon, Mar 11 2024, 11:41 pm

amother OP wrote:

How are these different from renderings?

Renderings give you the concepts but no information to actually get the job done. Elevations and drawings detail every single thing with dimensions and notes as well as tags to the specification of each item. This is so that the plumbers, electricians, tile installers etc can all follow one set of design plans and do everything correctly to get you the look you see in the rendering.

amother

Tangerine

Mon, Mar 11 2024, 11:44 pm

amother DarkCyan wrote:

My interior designer was amazing. He charges $45 a hour and can ballpark the total price based on the space. It depends who you know and where your project is. I found him through a real estate broker that I've worked with (its his husband and he has fabulous taste!). I watched him do staging and renos for clients of mine and then decided to use him when I bought my dream home. Amazing to work with and I definitely didn't go over my budget. Nowhere near 100k!

Sounds like a decorator not a designer. Totally different. I'm assuming OP is talking about a full design of a large custom home from the ground up.

amother

Tangerine

Mon, Mar 11 2024, 11:46 pm

amother Sunflower wrote:

Some furniture stores have free design services. We worked with a designer from Ethan Allen on an odd-shaped living room. She came to the house and drew up a plan using EA furniture. The service was free. She was a real pro. The design was amazing. We were not required to purchase anything from EA, but we ended up using her design and we are so happy with the way the room turned out.

Again, this is decorating!

amother

Snowflake

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 4:45 am

amother Tangerine wrote:

Isn't that an overlap on what the architect does?

amother

Magnolia

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 7:27 am

Wow. I’m shocked by these numbers…I don’t even think a lot of designers are that good but now I’m understanding how they always seem to have unlimited budgets in the houses-the clients must be really wealthy

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 7:34 am

amother Snowflake wrote:

Isn't that an overlap on what the architect does?

No the architect normally does this for the exterior but for the interior usually only the structural is detailed and the design aspects are tbd

amother

Powderblue

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 1:46 pm

I can't imagine the designer alone costs this much. Unless you're doing soup to nuts in a huge house and using the highest charging designer there is. But assuming you're also counting what you'll be paying for the items and it's all relatively high end, then yes, I could see it ending up that much, but it's not strictly the designer.

amother

Sapphire

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 2:34 pm

It might be semantics in terms of designer versus decorator.

My designer was also a decorator.

However, she knew a lot about construction and so she did a lot more than just help me select colors and furniture - although she did that including arranging all of my thochkes when I moved back in after my gut remodel. LOL

She did do the elevations and charged me a price for square foot for this. As others have stated, this are essentially "blueprints" for all of the interior finishes without specifying color. They were use to submit to get a Permit from the City as well as being sent out to the GC so they could actually bid on the job.

If you don't provide a GC with these kinds of plans (elevations) the bids are not going to be accurate since a lot about the design including the type of finish is going to impact the costs which the GC needs to factor in.

For example, the size and design will impact the cost of the tile setter - not to mention that design of counters and possibly the actual material used.

My designer also did a board which she charged for as an advance against her charges for purchasing elements of the design.

UQT

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 8:56 pm

Have you ever seen Ariella Horowitz when she shows a full house she’s done? I imagine she charges that. If you’re looking for a family estate you pay those prices, but for a nice new build you can probably pay $150-$250/hour fora great person and keep it around $10k

amother

Tangerine

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 7:29 pm

UQT wrote:

It would be very difficult to keep a new build project to 10k, unless you are hiring the designer for consulting only. If your designer charges $200 an hour and takes full responsibility for the project, they will do every single selection, review all your orders for windows, plumbing fixtures,vanities etc. , do renderings, do the electrical and tile layouts, draw up every room in the house with elevations and dimensions, spec the furniture and place orders. They will also do numerous shopping trips with you and many site visits throughout construction. That's more like 50k+ for a new build even if it's not fancy.

amother

Snowflake

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 7:49 pm

amother Tangerine wrote:

There is a big difference between 50k and 100k
50-60k sounds reasonable

100k is double that!