Fees among Interior Design magazine's "rising giants"—a 100-strong group of leading design firms as chosen by the publication—are on the rise. Total design fees jumped by 10 percent to $471 million. The firm "giants" are predicting another 14 percent spike to $536 million. If that increase does occur, reports the magazine, fee revenue for the group of firms will have doubled within five years. A selection of the top-ranked firms included in the category include HFS Concepts 4 of California; Anderson Mikos Architects of Illinois, DBI Architects of Virginia, Kaslan of British Columbia, Partners by Design of Illinois, Aria Group Architects of Illinois and Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York, among others. The firms worked on a total of 13,700 projects, with an expected 15,000 on the docket for this year, and fees per square foot jumped from $85 to $103, which is the highest number available since Interior Design began tracking.
More good news: The group of firms has also experienced the greatest increase in hiring since the recession, with 2,800 designers employed, and an additional increase to 3,200 employed designers expected. Designer-level salaries have also risen to $75,000 from the $60,000 to $65,000 range, while project manager or job captain salaries increased from $85,000 to $100,000. Principal salaries flatlined. Discover more details in the full article, available here.
