Cost & Budgeting

What's the Difference Between Hourly vs Fixed Design Fees?

5 June 2026 · 5 min read

How you pay your designer isn't just an administrative detail — it shapes the entire dynamic of the project. For a broader breakdown of what those fees actually buy you, see our guide on what's included in an interior designer's fee. Here's what each model means in practice, and which I'd choose if I were a client.

Hourly: Flexible but Unpredictable

The appeal: You pay for exactly what you use. If the project is small or straightforward, you might pay less than a fixed fee would cost.

The reality: Almost no homeowner can accurately predict how many hours a design project takes, and neither can most designers. What starts as "a few hours to do the kitchen plan" becomes twenty hours of back-and-forth, revisions, vendor calls, and site visits. Without a cap, your total cost is genuinely open-ended.

When it makes sense: Very small, contained scopes — "I need one render of my bedroom," "I need you to just check my contractor's plan." For these, hourly or a small fixed project fee is reasonable.

Warning sign: An hourly designer who can't give you an estimated range of hours for your project should make you nervous.

Fixed Fee: Predictable and Scope-Bound

The appeal: You know exactly what you're paying before you start. The risk of effort overrun sits with the designer, not with you.

The reality: Fixed fees require clear scope. If the scope isn't defined precisely, "scope creep" becomes a real problem — you add rooms, change direction, request extra revisions, and the designer is either doing work that wasn't paid for (bad for them) or charging you extra (bad for you).

When it makes sense: Any significant design engagement — full home, multiple rooms, anything involving renders and documentation.

The key: The fixed fee must be paired with a clear scope document. Fee without scope is just an optimistic number.

Percentage of Project: Misaligned Incentives

This is worth naming clearly. If your designer charges 10% of execution cost, they earn more money if your execution cost goes up. That's a structural misalignment between your interests and theirs.

Many designers are completely professional within this structure and would never recommend unnecessary work to inflate fees. But you should know the incentive exists and keep it in mind when your designer recommends upgrading from laminate to acrylic, or adding that third bathroom to the scope.

Turnkey: Convenient but Opaque

One number, everything included. Convenient for clients who don't want to think about it, but you lose transparency. If the project comes in under budget, you'll never know. If a vendor gives the designer a volume discount, you'll never see it.

Turnkey works when you completely trust the designer and have verified their pricing against the market. Without that verification, you're flying blind.

My Preference

Fixed design fee with a clear scope document. The designer has a defined obligation to you. You have a defined commitment to them. Everything else is negotiated as a change order with explicit pricing before work proceeds. Use our free budget estimator to understand rough project cost ranges before talking fees.

This is how we work at Aura Foundry. It's not the model that maximises our revenue — but it's the one that produces the fewest disputes and the most satisfied clients.

Talk to us about the right fee structure for your project →