What Does Being an Interior Designer Cost?

Coming from a legal background, Jung was mindful to form an LLC for herself a year before launching her design firm. Her next largest investment was hiring a photographer to shoot a home she had designed to build a portfolio of her work. At the beginning of her career, Jung says that she “basically worked very, very low cost” for friends and their friends, heavily relying on her husband to handle day-to-day household expenses while she built her business. Having such a support system certainly helps, especially if you’re changing careers, but many successful designers have also done without.

When is a physical space worth the money?

Jung chose to work from her home office for the first four years of her design career and did not hire any of her six employees until her fourth year, either. Instead, she focused on “being very, very conservative fiscally with the firm to ensure just maximum profitability.” She adds, “I was just trying to strive toward longevity of the firm more than anything else.”

However, Jung eventually found that signing a lease was “worthwhile for general separation and sanity, which often is a positive contribution to productivity,” she explains. She urges those new to renting commercial spaces to be aware of rent terms specific to these types of properties and ensure that monthly costs are manageable even during slower periods of the year. “Truly evaluate your needs,” she adds. “For us, since we do store small goods such as wallpaper, hardware, lighting, and more, for our clients, it was imperative that we had the storage space and an office space that didn’t require the use of elevators or stairs.”

Get yourself noticed

“You don’t actually need [outside] investment to get started in design,” says interior design business strategist Melissa Galt. After all, social media doesn’t cost a dime. Galt knows designers who relied solely on Instagram from the get-go—not even building a website until they were two to three years into the business—“and did very, very well.”

As the saying goes, images certainly speak louder than words, but Instagram reels in particular can lead to viral account growth. Of course, the higher quality your images, the better your slideshows will be. If you do have some cash to put toward this effort, it may be worth hiring a professional photographer to enhance your content.

Some designers go out on their own armed with a roster of clients while others start from scratch; still others may choose to maintain part- or even full-time roles at larger firms while advancing their own business on the side. Word of mouth is always beneficial when it comes to building a client list—one satisfied customer will oftentimes lead to another—so it is important to view each new client as someone whose network you can leverage to grow your business. To sign your first clients, get creative. Designers have explored all sorts of clever avenues, ranging from open houses to, yes, dating apps, with the hopes of targeting potential clients early in their careers.

Make a plan to start paying yourself….

Jung was able to start paying herself three years into launching her business. Hollis was able to do so around the same time, says Heathcote. For those designers who have previously relied on biweekly or monthly paychecks, this timeline is important to consider—budgeting in the interim is truly essential.

Before you add others to the payroll.

Interns

Galt encourages newly self-employed designers to start by hiring an intern “as soon as humanly possible” for 10 to 15 hours a week. “Any time you have somebody working for you that is giving you back your time, that’s making you money,” she says. “You’re doing tasks that are $200-, $500-, $1,000-an-hour tasks, and they’re doing things for you for $15 to $20.”

Contract employees

From there, Galt says, begin outsourcing. “We live in the digital age and a vast majority of what goes on inside a design firm can be done well and effectively by outsourcing,” she shares. She acknowledges that many designers do find that a locally-based project manager or design assistant—whether an independent contractor or a full-time employee—is still paramount. However, hiring a remote worker to handle CAD drawings eliminates the need to issue benefits, a 401(k), or profit-sharing, Galt notes. When starting a business, “you really want to remain nimble and flexible,” she adds.

Full-time employees

When evaluating whether one is ready to hire full-time employees, Heathcote champions following the loaded rate model, a carryover from the consulting world, which is calculated by taking all the costs associated with an employee divided by total billable hours to ensure that a company has enough overhead to cover this hire.

Ensure longevity

Making an independent career in the interior design world requires both practicality and out-of-the-box thinking. “It’s always great to be conservative, but you have to balance that with some risk taking,” Jung says. “You’ll never grow without putting yourself out there.”

Don’t cast your net too wide in terms of offerings, though. “It’s important to focus on what you do well and keep learning and keep trying to perfect it,” Heathcote advises.

Prioritizing mental health is key too, Jung adds. “Only other small business owners can truly understand the highs, lows, and sacrifices of owning your own business,” she says. “The demands and stresses can be very demanding, especially if you’re supporting a team.”

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