A: For a detailed list of our rates, please refer to our pricing page. You'll find that we're below what other business in the interior design industry charges, especially for smaller projects less than 40 hours. Most firms won't even touch projects of that size, which is the main reason we formed Design Inside. We believe that everyone deserves a well designed interior space.
A: We are commonly asked this question; however there is not an easy answer. Once a project begins, you will be in constant communication with us. We do a lot of work by email and phone since it is an incredibly efficient form of communication, and allows quicker turn-around time. Typically, we send project plans, product selections, and bounce ideas off of each other by email. We will also have periodic conference calls. Often times, about once or twice during a project, both designers will come to your project site and review the project. It is amazing how much can be accomplished in an hour on-site meeting.
If you are not a huge fan of email, don't fret. We can easily work with you over the phone and send faxes or drop off samples when appropriate. Turn-around time is a little longer with this method; however the end design is just as amazing.
A: Yes, we definitely can. We believe that wall color (and lighting) is one of the most important aspects of a beautiful space; however picking paint colors is a task that is more difficult than many would like to admit. During the paint selection process, both Kathryn and Bill will arrive at your home, for an intense paint selection session that typically lasts 1 - 2 hours (2 - 4 billable hours). At the end, your home will have a bunch of sticky notes on the walls indicating the appropriate paint color for that surface/wall. We work with all of the major brands of paints, so you can either hire a painter to perform the actual painting, or roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.
A: One of the company's best attributes is that you get Kathryn and Bill to work on your project. For all projects, you will have one lead designer who is your main point of contact; however both of us are heavily involved in the final design of your project, leading to a more creative solution with faster turn-around times.
A: There are only a handful of tasks that require more than one designer to be involved at the same time, in which case you will still pay the normal hourly rate for each designer. Typically these tasks are the: initial consultation, intense shopping sessions, the paint selection process, the final installation/configuration of the rooms or any other time that you would like to have both designers on site. The reason we involve multiple designers during particular phases is because we have found that better results are obtained in a shorter amount of time due to the instant collaboration between the designers.
A: We make our money by charging a flat hourly rate for any work that a designer performs on your project. Unlike other firms in the industry, we do not charge for minor expenses like postage, phone calls, mileage, faxes, etc. mainly because it is a pain to track all of these small incidentals, and nobody likes to feel like they are being nickel and dimed.
A: Merchandise markup is a common way for design firms to make money; this is a common practice because many firms have exclusive relationships with furniture vendors that grant them access to pieces that you could not get on your own because you are not in the industry. Because of this exclusive access, many design firms get a discounted price from the vendor which allows room to mark-up the product. The amount of markup, like many things in life, depends on the product and its exclusivity.
Similar to other firms in the industry, we may mark-up merchandise that we purchase for you; however this is typically only done if we can get a better price for you than you could get by going to the vendor and purchasing the item yourself. For instance, if you find an ottoman you love; a vendor may charge you $500 for that item (or may not even let you know the price because you are not in the industry). By having us work with the vendor directly, we may be able to purchase the same ottoman for slightly less, and pass along some of the savings to you. Where possible, we will discount products off retail. Because vendors do not provide a uniform discount to the design industry, it is impossible to provide a standard discount rate.
A: Typically, we are not able to obtain merchandise purchased the big brick and mortar stores like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Target, Room & Board, etc. at a wholesale price (aka: a discounted price), which means that we pay what you pay, and we will not mark up items of this nature because we feel that it is unfair to do stuff like that (even though others in the industry commonly do this).
A: Our goal as a firm is to make sure that you make a well informed decision when looking for help with designing that interior that you deserve. There are great interior design firms out there that do great work, and there are other firms that are not so great. As much as we want to work on your project, we want to make sure that you are making an informed decision. Why do we do this you ask? Well, we do it this way because we like it when other companies are straight forward and treat us like this, and since we (Kathryn and Bill) are the bosses of this company, we can run the business however what we want (hehehe). It also helps foster a closer relationship with our clients, making what we do a whole lot more fun for both of us.
A: Give us a call at: 1-800-776-3609, and tell us a little bit about who you are, and what you're trying to accomplish. At that point, we will typically set up an initial consultation for the Medium to Large size projects. For Smaller projects we will more than likely meet with you in person and start working on your project, right away. We hope that this Q&A page helped to answer some of your questions. Now go ahead, pick up the phone and give us a call.