How To Choose and Hire an Interior Designer

So, you fired up your computer and looked for an interior designer near you, maybe even searched for keywords of the things you are specifically looking for such as “custom bedding”, “window treatments”,…

Now what?

Once you find a list, check out their website. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT step.

What are you looking for on their website? You need to find out how “THEY” work, emphasis on “THEY”. This is not how WE, at Posh Home Designs work. Here is how WE and THEM are different:

THEY Typically, interior designers, charge an hourly fee upwards of $200 or more. That means every time you call them or send them an email, after you have hired them, you get a bill. Exactly like how attorneys work. Every time they call the supplier to place an order, they charge you by the hour. If they go to the receiver to inspect your merchandise before delivery, you get charged. If an issue arises, which more than often it does, …yep, you guessed it! You get charged.

So the price that you were presented at the time you purchased your merchandise, is nowhere near what you actually end up paying, by the time your project is complete.

WE don’t work this way. For any decorating project, we DO NOT charge by the hour! You only pay for the merchandise you purchase. Simple and straight forward. There are times that we have to charge by the hour. For instance, color consultation is an hourly based service. But 100% of our decorating projects where clients purchase merchandise through us, we have absolutely $0 hourly fee, guaranteed, no matter how many hours we spend on the design of your project.

THEY have a flat initial consultation fee that starts from $200 and goes up the more time they spend in your home.

WE don’t work this way. Our initial consultation is complimentary and obligation-free. This gives you 1.5-2 hours with our principal designer to discuss your project, your style, and determine a price range.

THEY have a minimum purchase requirement that is an arbitrary figure, upwards of $20,000 per room, and completely independent of your project and your budget.

WE don’t work this way. Our minimum purchase requirement is based on your project and your budget. It is 50% of the minimum of the price range we provide you on the initial consultation day.

THEY If you hire interior designers from specific stores, such as Gorman’s or Ethan Allen, you are limited to what they offer at those stores, because they have an incentive to push you into buying from their selection.

WE have over 200 different supplier and manufacturers at our fingertips. It does not matter to us which manufacturer’s product you choose. We have no incentive to push you towards one or the other. This means wider range of products to choose from.

THEY are full service design providers. They are not flexible about installation. They use their own installers and mark up the charges for coordinating that and the time they spend guiding the installers on the delivery day. This means that you pay more and do not have the opportunity to save on installation even if you are handy enough and would like to do the installation yourself.

WE don’t work this way. We are full service but flexible about installation and stay out of that transaction. We do have installers and contractors that we work with and recommend. But if you are handy enough to take care of your installation, or know cheaper options, we are more than happy to help you save money on that aspect of the job. This also means that we do not mark up the installation, because the transaction remains between you and the installer.