I have just decided to go out on my own with a design business for interiors. I need to know what the going rates are for designers in the DFW [Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas] area.
(submitted by C. J.)
How much you charge per hour is going to depend on several factors, one of which is how much experience you have – or at least how much that you can show. Clients want to see what you”ve done and are willing to pay more for experience, so a solid, nicely presented portfolio can really help you sell your services. If you do not have photographs of projects you have worked on ” which is not unusual ” then being able to speak about them in detail, explaining how you met or exceeded other clients” expectations, can be quite effective as well.
Also, the more professional that you and your business appears ” i.e., cohesive marketing materials made up of a web presence, professional looking logo, business card, letterhead, leave-behinds, etc. ” the more that you’ll be able to charge. Good or bad, image matters, so you must make a great impression. A friend told me that David Shepherd of Designing Profits Inc. says “build a beautiful business.” We interpret this phrase to mean that everything that comes from you is part of your image and should reflect your design aesthetic, whether it”s going out to a client, showroom, contractor, or workroom. (You”ll need to be sure to back your snazzy image up with talent, knowledge, respectable work ethics, and the ability to get the job done, of course.)
How much you charge is also going to depend on what part of the country you live in ” i.e., the fair market value for your design services. Michael A. Thomas, FASID, CAPS, of Design Collective Group teaches a Contracts 101 class that is phenomenal. (I can say this because I took the class this past spring at ASID Interiors 06 in Nashville, Tennessee.) His very informal and amusing, yet surprisingly accurate, calculation method for finding a ballpark hourly design fee is this:
Add together the average local hourly fee for an attorney and the average local hourly fee for a plumber. Divide this sum by 2. That”s close to what you should be charging. It sounds a little crazy, but it”s a place to start.
In the DFW area, the low end for residential design services would be $75 per hour. Some of the more experienced and/or higher-end designers may charge up to $250 per hour. So somewhere in the middle ” say $125 ” would be more the norm for residential, and around $110 for commercial.
I know it sounds a odd that this is the case, but it just seems that residential designers can usually charge (and actually get) more. More residential clients hire designers on a word-of-mouth or referral basis, whereas commercial designers are commonly hired on a competitive interview basis. Commercial firms usually charged on a tiered basis anyway, e.g….
- Principal Designer – $150/hr
- Jr Designer – $100/hr
- CAD Draftsperson – $75/hr
- Administration – $30/hr
One last train of thought is novel ” and maybe a little risky. In his article “Step-By-Step Guide to a Signed Contract,” Brendon Sinclair states: “My advice for quoting is this: never, ever charge by how long it will take. Don’t charge by how skilled you are. And certainly don’t charge less than the competition. Charge more — usually lots more. I base my charges on how much I think the client will pay. We win 95% of all the jobs for which we pitch, and I can just about guarantee we’re the most expensive every time.” Bear in mind that Sinclair is a web designer and not an interior designer, but if you go on to read the entire article, his methods could certainly be applicable.
One last thing” If you are looking at working for a firm instead of starting your own practice, the median starting salary in the DFW area has skyrocketed lately to about $35,000 because designers are in high demand, even when they’re just starting out. As a comparison, starting salary used to be more along the lines of $23,000-$28,000.
