There’s no one right way to charge for design work. Whether it’s billing one design fee upfront or invoicing on a monthly basis, different approaches work best for different firms. That’s why we asked nine designers—Amanda Gunawan, Jaimee Longo, Helen Bergin, Erin Coren, Koren Owens, Susan Wintersteen, Juliette Byrne, Shelby Van Daley, Bethany Adams and Emily Del Bello—their preferred method of billing.
FLEXIBLE FEES
“We offer clients several ways to pay depending on their financial flexibility, and we phase payments by percentage of construction progress. Design and management services can be paid in full or monthly installments.” —Amanda Gunawan, OWIU Design, Los Angeles
TOP TIER
“I have a tiered approach to billing design fees to help spread out the cost for the client, but also to protect my work. I invoice half of the contracted design fees upfront, and the remainder once the final designs are delivered. For smaller projects, I invoice clients monthly for hourly design fees. All products are billed upfront before purchasing, at the client’s approval. Installation costs are estimated at the beginning of the project and billed at the project’s end.”
—Jaimee Longo, The Layered House, Los Angeles
SLOW AND STEADY
“We bill our clients on a monthly basis. This includes hourly invoices plus any incrementals such as freight charges. Our clients appreciate being in the loop as their projects progress and not having any surprises!” —Helen Bergin, Helen Bergin Interiors, Palm Beach, Florida
ON THE HOUR
“We bill clients hourly. In the beginning of a project, we give an estimated amount of hours, then take a retainer to begin work. Once that retainer is depleted, we send a follow-up retainer to continue our services. On the final invoice, we true up the final bill.” —Erin Coren, Curated Nest Interiors, New York
CLARITY IS KEY
“I feel designers should have a solid, repeatable process for billing clients. How often we bill depends on whether we are charging a flat rate or an hourly rate. If we are on a flat-rate basis, we bill 50 percent upon commencement of the contract, 25 percent at a midway point (which varies depending on the size of the project), and the final 25 percent upon completion of the project. If I am billing hourly, I tend to bill for my hours once a month—but if a client is taking up more of my time, I will bill every two weeks to help track my time a bit more closely.” —Koren Owens, Koren Owens Interior Design, Los Angeles
ALL OR NOTHING
“We bill our clients once upfront for 100 percent of a design fee. After that, we bill for progress payments on all construction-related items in a weekly or bimonthly retainer, which goes toward open labor items based on the percent of the job completion.” —Susan Wintersteen, Savvy Interiors, San Diego
RULE OF THIRDS
“We always bill our design fee in three stages: start, middle of the design timeline and then final invoice upon sign-off of the concepts, designs and costs. We also place a design fee on the purchasing of goods, and these are always billed in advance to help with company cash flow.” —Juliette Byrne, London
FULL VISIBILITY
“We send client invoices twice a month. We structure our contracts with an upfront retainer, which we bill against each billing period. This works well for us because we don’t have to chase down clients to pay bills, and our clients enjoy getting to see how their retainer is used without the hassle of paying bills multiple times a month. For product orders, we send a proposal that’s presented at the same time as their design presentation. For that, we collect 100 percent of the order total upfront.” —Shelby Van Daley, Daley Home, Cedar Park, Texas
NO MORE NICKEL-AND-DIMING
“I’ve been charging hourly and billing monthly around the 15th [of the month] since I started my business in 2015. At the advice of a consultant, though, in 2024 I’m going to start charging a lump-sum fee, which will be billed in two parts: half before the project commences, and the other half before the design presentation. It’s scary to make that leap, but monthly billing is a drag for me and the clients—we all end up feeling nickel-and-dimed, and I end up spending my valuable creative time on my least favorite activity: math.” —Bethany Adams, Bethany Adams Interiors, Louisville, Kentucky
PUT A CAP ON IT
“We bill clients monthly once we start placing orders. We cap the amount per invoice so that the payments for clients are spread out. It becomes too overwhelming to have the client pay the commission before any of the goods arrive and all at once. It also helps my office determine the income coming in each month.” —Emily Del Bello, Emily Del Bello Interiors, New York
Homepage image: This teal library by Koren Owens is full of light due to the large windows | Courtesy of Koren Owens Interior Design
