Interior Design Contract: What Should You Check Before Signing?

Before signing an interior design contract, check scope, fees, revisions, approvals, procurement, product margins, intellectual property, cancellation and responsibility for errors or delays. The contract should make the commercial relationship easier to understand, not bury the important parts.

What should the scope section say?

It should identify every room, service stage and deliverable. If drawings are included, say which drawings. If furniture sourcing is included, say whether ordering and installation are also included.

What should the fee section say?

• Fixed fees and payment stages.
• Hourly rates for additional work.
• What counts as a variation.
• Procurement fees or product margins.
• Travel, freight and other disbursements.
• GST treatment.

DORSA's interior-design fee model guide and markup guide explain the pricing questions in more detail.

How should revisions and approvals work?

The contract should state how many revisions are included and how approvals are recorded. You should know when a decision becomes final enough to trigger ordering or documentation.

What should procurement terms cover?

Who purchases the furniture, who owns supplier warranties, who carries freight risk, what happens with damaged goods and whether the designer can substitute products. A current industry discussion on interior design procurement highlights just how much supplier and logistics work sits behind a finished project.

What professional signals should you verify?

Where relevant to the scope, ask about qualifications and professional indemnity insurance. The DIA Accredited Designer framework uses education, experience, conduct and insurance as professional criteria.

What about ending the engagement?

Check notice periods, payment for work already completed, ownership/licence of drawings, return of samples and what happens to outstanding product orders. If the project can stop only through an expensive dispute, that is something to understand before signing.

Bottom line

A good interior design contract should answer who does what, who pays for what and what happens when the original plan changes. If a material commercial term is only verbal, ask for it to be written down.