It’s been a tumultuous week in economic news, to say the least. Last Wednesday President Donald Trump unveiled his most comprehensive round of tariffs yet, including a 10 percent global base rate and additional taxes for dozens of countries around the world. Today—the day the new tariffs were set to go into place—Trump abruptly changed course, pulling back most of the additional levies but raising tariffs on China.

It’s not clear what moves the White House will make next. What is clear: Industry brands across the spectrum have been rolling out price increases and surcharges, and design firms are adjusting to a rapidly shifting landscape.

What Design Firms Are Hearing From Vendors
Home brands from across the spectrum—from Noir to Arteriors and MillerKnoll—have already announced tariff-related price hikes, but designers say countless others remain in a state of uncertainty. Levels of ambiguity vary from “no change as of now” to stating that they’ll revisit in the coming weeks, or that price increases are coming after a certain date—but exactly how much, and to which products, has yet to be announced.

“The vendors who know what their plan is, we’ve gotten a ton of emails there. They’re overcommunicating right now. Our inboxes are just inundated with what to expect: price changes and delays,” says Atlanta-based designer Theresa Butler. “And then there are other vendors that have no idea what’s in the future and what’s going to happen.”

Some vendors have offered to absorb the costs of tariffs for a period of time—or swung in the opposite direction, pausing new business entirely. “Some have notified us that they will cover all related price hikes through the end of the year. Others have said that they will be in touch regarding open orders, to let us know how they plan to move forward,” says Rob Fuller, CFO of New York firm MR Architecture + Decor. “Another vendor notified us that they are not taking any new orders until they are clear on how the tariffs will affect their prices. The bottom line is that we are greatly impacted by this, yet there remains a lot of uncertainty.”

Any communication from brands, however, is preferred over receiving a surprise tariff fee without notification or explanation—a situation that several designers have already encountered. “Four Hands has been the most transparent, and I really respect them for that,” says Houston-area designer Caron Woolsey. “They have openly shared how tariffs are influencing pricing, which allows me to have honest conversations with my clients. I wish more vendors followed suit. Unfortunately, many do not communicate clearly about increases—it just shows up on the invoice. That silence puts designers in a difficult position and makes financial planning harder than it needs to be.”

Aside from added costs, some designers are also seeing delivery timelines begin to stretch. “A lot of manufacturers have started to push their lead times out, I assume [so they can] spread out their potential tariff costs throughout the year, in hopes that they will be rescinded,” says Portland, Oregon–based designer Kevin Twitty. “But if it hasn’t shipped yet, tariffs are going to be in effect. For example, we had a tile that was supposed to arrive in late April that just got pushed back to late July—similar to 2021, when there were large fuel charges and shipping container [price hikes due to Covid supply chain problems].”

Beyond preparing for policy changes from vendors, designers are also bracing for added costs from contractors. “Anecdotally, I have heard from several clients and contractors that [build and renovation] pricing is increasing or has already increased,” says Winn Galloway, CEO of Lindye Galloway Studio and Le Maé by Lindye in Costa Mesa, California. “It appears this is mostly a response to the unknown, as contractors are doing their best to mitigate future risk. This could look like contractual carve-outs or inflated bids, depending on the general contractor.”

From her network, Woolsey has already seen more frequent price changes and tighter expiration dates on quotes, particularly when it comes to tile and imported materials (though the tradespeople themselves have not directly cited tariffs for the changes). Others have cited rising costs around metal products—line items like roofing materials, range hoods and hardware—after the implementation of 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum in mid-March. “There’s a sense that everyone is trying to stay ahead of rising costs, making early planning and flexibility more important than ever,” she says.

Communicating to Clients
Designers are urgently communicating with clients about how tariffs may impact their project budgets. The number-one message: Be prepared for prices to go up.

After the full extent of the current tariffs was announced last week, Newton, Massachusetts–based designer Ana Vera’s business coach advised her to add a clause about tariffs to her proposals. It now stipulates that all presented prices are “based on current market conditions at the time of the issuance.” The note goes on to explain that changes in government policy may necessitate an adjustment of the final cost of products, and that her firm reserves the right to adjust pricing accordingly if those changes occur before the transaction is completed.

Many designers have set specific timelines for potential changes in prices to give clients a sense of the market’s unpredictability. Designer Miriam Silver Verga’s firm Mimi & Hill, for example, sent out a mass email to the studio’s 30 active clients to let them know they cannot guarantee pricing beyond two weeks—though they’re happy to rush orders through if clients are interested. Others are thinking in shorter timelines. Twitty now sends out quotes with the disclaimer that pricing is only valid for 48 hours. “That said, if I’ve already quoted something for a client and it later gets hit with a tariff, I believe it’s the right thing to do to absorb a bit of that extra cost,” he says. “But moving forward, it’s all about clear communication—with clients, trades, and everyone else in the industry.”

Others have tightened up their recordkeeping systems in order to promote transparency and ensure clients know exactly where and how tariffs are passed along. “We’ve got a freight document that is not only tracking the freight costs but also receiving costs,” says Scottsdale, Arizona–based designer Britany Simon. “We do that anyway, but we’ve added a line item [specifically] for tariffs so that we can show it to [clients] once we’ve received everything. If there’s a major number involved, we can have that conversation early on.”

Similarly, Atlanta designer Liz Williams has already delineated additional tariff-related fees in client-facing documents. “We plan to mirror what some of our vendors are doing by adding a dedicated tariff line item to our estimates and invoices,” says Williams. “We will not apply our usual [commission] percentage to these fees.”

In response to information on how tariffs may trickle down to their project costs, clients’ reactions have run the gamut. “Some of them are saying, ‘We’ve been here before, and we’ll be OK.’ Some are saying, ‘We still want to move forward—we just may draw back in certain areas with the project.’ And some are completely shutting down and wanting to close out everything,” says designer Brittany Cooper, founder of Cary, North Carolina–based Rathell Designs.

Mitigating the Effects
Designers are already seeking workarounds to help soften the financial fallout for clients. Designer Kristen Peña of San Francisco’s K Interiors has leaned on her industry connections in an attempt to provide some stability for clients around pricing. “We’re calling our vendors, saying, ‘Hey, if we get the order in and locked, can we secure pricing?’” says Peña. “But it’s not really a cut-and-dried answer. … We’re just trying to be thoughtful and [do what] we can. But it’s just such a new world order that nobody really knows [exactly how things will shake out]—all we can do is our best to alleviate stress.”

Other designers have sought to offset costs by adjusting other areas of the project budget. To compensate for the added fees from tariffs, Simon is hoping to reduce freight costs by requesting direct trucks from certain vendors, which would mean that an entire large order is shipped at once (even if it takes a bit longer), at a lower overall price. She has also thought about changing her firm’s commission structure.

“I’m considering adding an extra 5 percent to our markup to try to offset some of that [cost to us] if we have to absorb it, because nobody wants to go back to [a client to] say, ‘Here’s another $300 freight bill or tariff bill that we didn’t anticipate,’” says Simon. “Nobody loves being nickel-and-dimed for those types of things, so I think it would make more sense for us [to have that buffer], just like the vendors [do].”

In some cases, operational adjustments may also come down to design decisions—including sourcing more from local vendors, leaning into antique and vintage, or simply exploring a wider range of options with clients.

“I want my clients to know exactly what’s going on. Their budget is what it is, and it either will go up or it won’t,” says designer Lindsay Olson, owner of Costa Mesa, California–based Lulu Designs. “I need to either pick something that meets their budget, and then maybe the end look isn’t as high-end, or we have to charge more [to achieve the original vision]. I think the tariffs are definitely going to make luxury design less affordable.” (It also stands to make luxury design less profitable, as a portion of a client’s budget is directed toward tariffs rather than the products themselves.)

For others still, these new tariffs are a validation of precautions taken the last time around. So far, designer Blair Moore hasn’t felt any major effects of the current round of tariffs—largely because when she launched New York– and Rhode Island–based Moore House Design in 2016, she set out to structure her business in a way that would protect it from the first iteration of Trump administration trade levies.

“Rather than relying on imports or mass-manufactured goods, we made a clear decision to source as much as possible domestically,” she says. “Our model centers on working with U.S.-based artisans and vendors, many of whom are generational craftspeople [who are less dependent on internationally sourced components to make their goods]. This not only minimizes exposure to international tariffs and shipping volatility, but also reinforces our sustainability values.” Moore says the approach has paid off—and based on how the current policies play out long term, similar sourcing strategies could become a necessity for a much larger swath of the industry.

For others, it could even set in motion a larger shift in what it takes to turn a profit in the face of a rapidly changing economic landscape. “Some of our profit is directly related to our markups, so if the cost of the product increases, how much can we realistically mark that item up and pass it on to the client?” says Butler. “We want to keep the job. We want the project to continue on. It’s causing us to reassess our business model and how we make a profit. … It’s a process we’re working on. We’re not going to stress out about it. We’re just going to come up with a plan and try to adjust.”

Additional reporting by Aidan Taylor