How to choose an interior designer
The single best question: what drawing set do you hand over at the end, and can a contractor price from it? The answer tells you whether you are buying design work or a slideshow.
Krizbai András · Last verified: August 2026
Visualisations are no longer evidence. Ten years ago a good render was a professional achievement; today anyone generates one in minutes. What cannot be generated is the dimensioned drawing, the junction detail, the schedule and the priceable bill of quantities. So after looking at the portfolio, make the second request the same every time — ask to see a sample of the documentation, even anonymised sheets from a past project. Anyone who cannot show that is not doing the work you think they are doing.
SU 02 – Vescom ILESHA 2624.17 — the same code that appears on the procurement register. A joiner can fabricate from this without asking, and a contractor can price it. Anyone who cannot show something comparable is producing visualisations, not construction documentation.Extract from a construction package. Ren Design, 2025. · What the full package contains →
Check whether the designer states what is excluded. Anyone who itemises what the fee does not cover — engineering design, authority coordination, travel, the purchase cost of goods — has thought the contract through. Anyone who only lists inclusions leaves the missing items to surface mid-project, as extras.
Ask what happens after sign-off. Every serious design process has a point beyond which the design no longer changes freely — the design freeze: from that point the documentation is approved for production. Anyone who says “we can change anything at any time” either has not worked with ordered joinery, or knows the change will be billed to you. The right answer is not that nothing changes, but that there is a procedure for it.
Ask about liability and contact. Who signs the drawings, which company holds the contract, and who is the one person you call. Several companies and several names is not necessarily a problem — but then it has to be settled which of them answers for the result.
Ask whether the designer carries professional indemnity insurance. This is the policy that covers loss arising from a design error — not every designer maintains one, and clients almost never ask. Ours is with Allianz and we renew it every year; we confirm its validity on request.
Seven questions worth asking
- What drawings do I receive, and in what format?
- Can a contractor price from that package without asking a question?
- What is not in the fee?
- How many site meetings are included, and what happens beyond them?
- What is the procedure if something must change after sign-off?
- Who signs the drawings, and which company carries the liability?
- Is there professional indemnity insurance, and with which insurer?
When choosing, avoid these: deciding on visualisations alone; taking the cheapest quote without making the scopes comparable; trusting anyone who says yes to every question; and appointing before you have seen the deliverables in writing.
The answer is in the drawing set, not the portfolio. What an interior design project costs → · What you receive at the end →