A guide to writing your interior design fee proposal
I get lots of questions about how to price interior design projects like:
what should I include in a fee proposal?
how should I structure my projects?
how much should I charge?
And in this post I am sharing one part of the answer to these questions, which is the core components of one of my fee proposals.
Below you will find the sections I include in my fee proposals as well as some tips for how to put your own proposal together.
Tips for your fee proposals
My biggest tip about your fee proposal is to put yourself in the shoes of your client.
Ask yourself - if I were this client how would I feel when I got this document?
Would you be excited to work with you, daunted, put off, bored?
Make sure you create a proposal that is engaging and aspirational and gives a potential client lots of reasons to want to work with you.
You want to make sure you are clearly showing value and the transformation you can help them with - this stops the clients from purely focusing on how much your fees are.
Always sell the transformation!
You also want to make sure your proposal looks professional and is free from errors or typos.
Any errors in the fee proposal will suggest to a client that you have a lack of attention to detail - not normally something that a client would want in an interior designer!
Below I go through the sections of a typical fee proposal for you but if you just drop a template straight in to your business and save yourself heaps of time and effort. You can get my fee proposal template here:
Improve how you price your interior design projects
In this short course we also break down the commonly asked question of how you should price your services. I share my pricing formula that will help you set the right prices for your circumstances and your business.
How I structure a fee proposal
My fee proposals are sent out after my initial paid interior design consultation.
You can read more about my full interior design workflow with clients in this blog post, including where the fee proposal fits in to my workflow.
But for larger projects my fee proposals are broken down in to the following sections...
SECTION 1 - Introduction and Scope of Works
Your intro builds rapport - be personal but professional
Include a scope of work - this is a summary of what the project will include, normally in dot point form. I collect this scope of works during my initial design consultation. I share ideas for how to improve your initial design consultation here.
Tip: Include as much detail as needed in your scope of work to avoid scope creep. Also include what *isn't* included if this needs to be clarified
SECTION 2 - Phase 1: Concept Development
I break this down in to two sections:
Design work (which I price at a fixed fee) - includes the work that I can control my time on e.g. drawings, 3D designs, SketchUp work, mood boards etc.
Meetings and site visits (which I price on an hourly rate) - includes work I can't control my time on e.g. site visits, meetings with clients, sourcing trips etc.
SECTION 3 - Phase 2: Design Documentation
Also broken in to 'design work' (fixed fee) and 'meetings & site visits' (hourly rate)
This is usually the most substantial portion of the fee as it is the work that takes me the longest to complete.
SECTION 4 - Phase 3: Construction Phase
I charge this phase entirely on an hourly rate as it largely involves site visits and meetings with the client
For larger projects you could offer the option of a monthly retainer model - which gives clients more control over their budget
For a retainer, package up a set number of hours at a discounted rate. Once those hours are used up in the month revise or move to hourly rate. Clients often like this model.
SECTION 5 - Phase 4: Styling & Install
Depending on size of project this can be either broken down in to design work plus meetings (as per Phase 1) or I will just do this on an hourly rate
Phase 1 and 4 do work together as often furniture has been selected as part of Phase 1 but it will be purchased and final styling will take place in Phase 4.
SECTION 6 - Benefit of working with me + Conclusion
Remember the key to sales is to sell a transformation - so your wrap up section must make it clear what this transformation is going to be.
To finish I also include details about my trade discounts and ordering policies at the end of the fee proposal
I pass all my trade discounts on to clients as a perk of working with me. Not all designers work like this but I prefer the transparency of it. I explain my reasons for this in this video.
This is a huge benefit of working with me and I make this clear to my clients so they know there is a clear value transfer. I used this wording in my proposals:
Please note I do not have any hidden fees or margins added on top of my design fee. My trade discounts are passed to you in full. Most clients undertaking large projects like yours find that design fees paid to me are more than recovered via the substantial trade discounts I secure for them throughout their projects.
Just to give you an idea - I converted around 90% of my initial design consultations to more paid work - this method works, trust me!
Finish your proposal with a statement that shows the value of working with you. For me that is passing on my trade discounts, which is a core way I was able to win work
So those are the core components of my fee proposal document.
Remember - if you want to grab a free copy of my fee proposal template you can GET IT HERE.
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
