Interior design consultation: the fee and 5 questions to ask
A first meeting with a designer should leave you clearer, not committed. Here’s what to expect, what you might pay, and how to make the most of it.
Rachel Hannah
An interior design consultation is usually the first real conversation you’ll have with a designer. It’s where you talk through your home, your plans and your budget, and both of you find out whether you’d work well together. Done well, you come away clearer about what you want, even if you never book anything.
What happens at a consultation
Most consultations happen in your home or by video. The designer will want to see the space, hear what isn’t working, and understand how you live in it: who uses the room, when, and for what. Expect questions about your budget, your timing, the pieces you’re keeping and the look you love.
Many designers will share first thoughts on the spot. A good one will also be clear about what happens next. The BIID, the British Institute of Interior Design, suggests talking about fees at the first meeting, then asking for them in a written fee proposal once the brief is understood. It also suggests agreeing how, and how often, you’ll hear from each other.
What it costs
There’s no standard fee. Some designers offer the first meeting free, and others charge their usual hourly rate for it. As a guide, Whito’s October 2026 survey of UK designers puts hourly rates at about £25 to £150, rising to £180 to £450 for senior designers in London, and a full day at about £500 to £1,200.
If you pay for a consultation and then book a project, some designers take the fee off the final bill. It isn’t a rule, so ask before you book.
How to prepare
Photos and rough measurements
Even approximate ones help the conversation stay practical.
A budget you’re comfortable saying out loud
It’s the single most useful thing a designer can know, and it saves you from ideas you’d never spend money on.
Pictures of rooms you love
And just as useful, a few you don’t. What you dislike often says more than what you like.
What you’re keeping
The chair you’ll never part with, the painting from your grandmother, the rug you bought on holiday.
How involved you want to be
Would you like to do the shopping and the decorating yourself, or have it all done for you? The answer changes which kind of designer you need.
5 questions to ask
1. How do you charge, and what’s included?
A fixed fee, an hourly rate or a percentage, and exactly what you get for it, in writing.
2. Can I see finished rooms like mine?
Real projects tell you far more than a mood board.
3. Who will design my room?
The person in front of you, or someone else in the team?
4. How many changes are included, and how long will it take?
Both should be agreed before you pay anything.
5. What happens if I’m not happy with the direction?
A good designer will have a calm, clear answer.
How it works at Sunday Ambience
There’s no consultation fee here, because the studio works a little differently. Everything happens online and in your own time, with no calls or meetings to fit into your week. You send a few photographs and a note about what isn’t working, I read it myself, and you’ll have a reply within one working day with the package I’d suggest and why.
If you book, a questionnaire takes the place of the first meeting, so I learn how you live in the room, what you love and what you’re keeping, before a single line is drawn. You can see what each level includes in Interior design packages: 4 levels, and what you really get.
So, simply send me a few photographs and tell me what isn’t quite working. I design everything online, from your photos and measurements, I read every message myself, and there’s no obligation of any kind.