How to Charge for House Designing

The term "house design" encompasses a few different types of businesses: interior decorating, drawing house plans, architecture and renovation.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Check into licensing requirements. This varies from state to state, but generally, if you are required to have a license and/or insurance to perform a service, you can set your rates a bit higher.
2. Estimate the cost of the job. Figure in any materials you'll need and all the time you'll spend on the project (not just on-site, hands-on work, but also ordering, shopping and planning). It's appropriate to add a minimum of 15 percent of the cost of the job as your labor fee. For example, for ease of figuring, the job will cost $1000 in materials. Your minimum mark-up is $150. Divide that by the number of hours you'll spend to get the job done and that will give you an hourly rate. Once you have accomplished more projects, you'll be able to figure out a set hourly rate and you won't need to do any of this, just multiply the hours it takes for the job by your standard hourly rate.
3. Think about just charging a flat fee. If your client has a firm plan and all the materials, you only need to charge for your labor. You can base the flat fee upon your set hourly rate.
4. Tell prospective clients your rates upfront. After talking with them and figuring out what they want done, decide if your standard fee will be appropriate for this job. Give them an estimate in writing and stick with it.

Tips & Warnings

• Always charge more for rush jobs. When a client wants a job done quickly that means you have to put other jobs on the back burner, causing them to fall behind. Set an hourly rate for rush jobs, or use a flat fee in addition to your usual hourly rate.
• If what you're doing requires a permit, add the cost of the permit plus any time it takes you to get it to the client's charges.
• Don't surprise your clients with a higher bill than you estimated. If something is going to cost more than planned, tell the client and let him make the decision about how to proceed.