15 Questions to Ask an Interior Designer Before You Sign Anything

Before hiring an interior designer, ask questions that expose scope, money, responsibility and fit—not just questions about style. You need to know exactly what they will design, what they will not do, how they charge, who orders products and what happens when the project changes.

The 15 questions worth asking

1. Have you completed projects similar to mine? Ask for examples with comparable scope and budget.
2. Who will actually work on my project? The person selling the job may not be the person delivering it.
3. What exactly is included? Concepts, plans, finishes, furniture, joinery, procurement, site visits and styling should be explicit.
4. What is excluded? This matters as much as the inclusions.
5. How do you charge? Hourly, fixed, percentage, procurement margin or a hybrid?
6. Do you mark up furniture or keep trade discounts? Ask for the commercial model in plain English.
7. How many revisions are included?
8. How do you keep the design aligned to my total budget?
9. Who produces technical drawings?
10. Who coordinates architects, builders or trades when needed?
11. Who is responsible for ordering errors or incorrect specifications?
12. How are substitutions approved?
13. What insurance and professional credentials do you hold?
14. What does the timeline depend on?
15. What happens if I stop the project early?

Why ask about qualifications and insurance?

The Design Institute of Australia's Accredited Designer program uses qualification, experience, professional conduct and professional indemnity insurance as accreditation signals. Not every excellent designer will use that accreditation, but consumers should still understand who is qualified for the scope being proposed.

Why ask about budget before style?

Because a beautiful concept that cannot be executed is not a successful design. An Australian renovation thread describing a project that allegedly landed multiples above the stated budget is a useful cautionary case: budget needs to be a design constraint from the beginning.

Why ask how furniture pricing works?

Designers may charge design fees, procurement fees, product margins or combinations of these. A recent Brisbane discussion shows why consumers want transparency around trade discounts and procurement. Read the thread as anecdotal market discussion, not a pricing standard: Interior Design, going rate?

For a formal breakdown, see DORSA's 2026 interior design cost guide and furniture procurement fee guide.

Bottom line

The best interview questions make the invisible parts of the service visible. By the end of the meeting, you should understand the deliverables, fee model, decision process, budget control, procurement model and who is accountable when something goes wrong.