Interior design is an integral part of many types of projects, but I often get asked what do interior designers really do? Isn’t it obvious you ask? Not really. Especially these days, there are so many off-shoots and subcategories, niches and specialists, it isn’t that clear to a potential client or even sometimes to an interior designer, especially when a client is asking them to do something slightly outside their scope of work or experience.

I’ve had interior designers come through my mentorship program being asked to do some pretty weird stuff… So for those of you who have watched one too many TV programs, let’s start this post off by clarifying some things that interior designers shouldn’t be asked to do:

There is one thing that confuses this slightly and that is curtain making and upholstery, so let me clarify. Interior designers can often provide an upholstery, furniture or curtain making service as part of their interior design service. Installing curtains and upholstering are indeed trades and could be undertaken by tradesmen or the interior designer themselves. These are often niche services that an interior designer provides and indeed, many interior designers outsource this even if they provide the service.

A little more clarification is also required with interior styling and home staging as these are often all-inclusive services that interior designers provide which can also include fitting window furnishings and installing furniture. An interior stager and an interior stylist, however, have special functions that focus on specific niches in the interior design industry. If you need clarification as to what the difference is, you can read our post here: Interior Designer, Interior Stylist, Interior Decorator, Interior Architect. What’s the difference?

Now that we have clarified that, there are a large number of services that an interior designer provides that are hugely beneficial to a project at any stage from pre-conception to finish.

All interior designers are different, and they provide various services depending on their niche and speciality, so this post aims to clarify the services that interior designers usually offer.

If you are an interior designer who is thinking of setting your own business, it is important to consider what kinds of services you are going to offer. Obviously, this will include things that you are actually capable of doing but also you may be aspiring to undertake larger projects or more commercial/retail roles but are continuing your educating in a way that evolves your practice into a particular direction.

Interior designers have so many valuable skills, some obvious and others not so much. Below is a short list of the services that the majority of interior designers often provide:

But what are these services useful for and why do interior designers need to provide them?

Interior designer’s help a client express and clarify what it is a client is feeling and hoping to achieve on their project. Each project needs to start with a brief and without a solid brief, both interior designer and client are opening themselves up for an expensive, confusing and frustrating ride.

To be honest, you can barely end up with a great end result for anything without a vision for that end result. Even a pilot who flies off course the majority of the time knows where he is heading for the final destination, so having a clear vision of the end result with your building or decorating project is pretty important, especially if the budget or timeline are tight.

Types of services interior designers provide that can help a client create an accurate brief:

Interior designers have the skills to make a vision come to life. Whether that is just in vision or in reality. They have the ability, experience and tools to put your words into a conceivable project. They have special awareness and can understand the scale and composition of anything from a picture to a whole project.

It is also the interior designer’s job to help the client understand what their vision looks like and present or communicate that idea to the client in a way that they understand in order to approve the design. This is the most important part of any project as the interior designer’s role is to help the client see the end result often many months before it materializes in reality and often during a time when the client is spending money on the project. The interior designer can help the client avoid potentially costly mistakes by helping communicate design specific decisions that a builder or client has already made.

Interior designers also have a responsibility to ensure the client clearly understands what it is they are going to end up with. Interior designers design the scheme, choose which elements are critical to the project idea to make it a success, they choose items that work around the timeline, deadlines, budget and specification and ensure important rules and regulations are adhered to whilst creating the vision. They know the parameters and know the rules and they have the skills to make the vision a reality. A lot more goes into designing or creating a space than one might think!

Also, interior designers help the client make decisions, as they show the client what things will look like, so the client can see and agree early on, what it is they will get at the end!

That is what a mood board can do – help someone see something coming together on paper before they start purchasing furniture and other items. This can be an invaluable service alone, helping a client clarify the main look and feel of a space.

In order to communicate the client’s vision (to the client or to another consultant or professional) an interior designer can offer the following services:

The way that an interior designer presents their sketch design information varies more than PDiddy’s shoe collection. This can vary in style and complexity and comes down to each individual interior designer’s expertise and creativity.

Whilst adhering to design and building codes, rules, regulations and keeping the client’s vision, budget and timeline in mind, interior designers choose and design every single individual detail and item to create the end result. They may even need to invent, design and create bespoke pieces to ensure the end result is achieved.

In order to make the client’s vision come together, interior designers offer the following services:

When hiring an interior designer for a project that is slightly more detailed or complex, it is this service that you are truly paying for. In order to accurately communicate how to build the end result, interior designer’s have to create an enormous amount of documentation to make sure that what gets built by the builder is communicated clearly and without mistake.

If there is a mistake, the builder can claim expenses (rightfully so), and more often than not, the client is required to pay to fix the “mistake”. That is why interior designers put a lot of effort and thought into providing accurate information for tradesmen and can help a project run smoothly.

Interior designers can offer the following services in order to communicate the main ideas to a builder (and hopefully save a client lots of money on a project):

On a medium to large project, an interior designer will often oversee the project and undertake weekly (or as agreed) site meetings with the builder and client to ensure the project is as per the documentation and is on track with the overall design intent.

As this is often time-consuming and costly for the interior designer, smaller projects don’t include project management unless the fee is appropriate to the project.

As every project and brief are different, the project management requirements can vary. Here are a few services that interior designers usually offer:

The end result is what the client has been waiting for and the interior designer has had to hold that vision for the whole team throughout the project. The finishing touches, however, can also be undertaken by the interior designer and often are because the styling of the final space can make a huge difference to the success in the client visualizing the end result.

Anyone will know that a room full of stuff is just a room full of stuff, but an interior designer’s skill comes from arranging those items in a way that can create the vision and mood the client has been aiming for.

Interior designers can offer the following services to make the final design absolutely perfect:

As you can see, an interior designer is quite a multi-skilled person who can offer a broad range of services from the start to the finish of a project.

The reality is, however, the majority of projects that an interior designer will undertake will only be a few of the above services as each project will require a mixture of services to complete the project.

In my experience, only the largest projects have required every single one of the above services, so more often than not, interior designers will offer a spread of these services and allow you to choose which ones you want to pay for or they will propose the right services in order to visualize your specific project.

Sometimes, even just discussing your thoughts with a professional for an hour or so can reveal enormous amounts of information for your project that you might not have thought about (and often would never know unless you were a professional), so don’t be surprised if an interior designer charges for a consultation either, as in the past these services might have been given for free.

We have created a downloadable services form for potential clients as well as interior designers to help with discussions around what services are required for a project. You can download it above.