Get Quotes from Top Interior Designers in Philadelphia, PA

Are You Registered or Certified to Practice as an Interior Designer in Philadelphia?

There are no licensing or registration requirements for interior designers in Philadelphia, locally or at the state level. However, anyone wishing to work as an interior designer in the city should understand industry standards and techniques. Interested persons must obtain relevant education and work experience to do the job. This will ensure that the individual has the requisite skills to provide quality service and that prospective clients do not perceive them as unqualified interior designers or scammers.

A bachelor's degree in interior design and at least two to three years of work experience in the trade are required to gain a basic understanding of this profession. Furthermore, prospective interior designers should consider obtaining professional certifications from reputable organizations such as the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) in addition to a bachelor's degree and two to three years of work experience.

It should be noted that the NCIDQ qualification is provided by the Council for Interior Design Qualification (CIDQ).

To obtain an interior design qualification certificate from NCIDQ, applicants must have a bachelor's degree in interior design, at least two years of trade experience, and pass an appropriate NCIDQ examination. This exam is typically divided into three sections:

• Interior Design Fundamentals exam
• Interior Design Professional exam
• Practicum exam

Note that interior designers must pay an examination fee before they can sit for the examination. The Council for Interior Design Qualification will issue the applicant a certificate containing the examination result if they pass all three exams. Call 1-202-721-0220 for more information on the National Council for Interior Design Qualification.

Before entering into any agreement with an interior design professional in Philadelphia, it is always critical to inquire about their experience and qualifications. This will include information about relevant education, certification, and work experience.

Be wary of interior design professionals who refuse to provide verifiable information about their education, certification, and work experience, and make sure to verify any information provided by an interior design professional by contacting the organization or agency that issued the qualification.

In addition to verifying a professional's credentials, you can look up the company on third-party websites such as the Better Business Bureau to see if any past complaints have been filed against it.

Finally, since 2016, the Interior Design Legislative Coalition of Pennsylvania (IDLCPA) has introduced legislation allowing interior designers in the state to be registered. While this bill has yet to become law, it is expected that interior designers in Pennsylvania will be required to register in the near future.

How Much Do You Charge Compared to Other Interior Designers in Philadelphia?

Interior design professionals in Philadelphia consider several factors when determining the cost of their services. These factors often include:

• The size of the space that will be designed
• The type and nature of the interior designs to be done
• The interior designer's reputation
• The number of design professionals that will be needed to execute the work
• The client's location in the city

After considering these factors and coming up with an estimate for the work, the interior designer will explain the various billing structures available to the client. A billing structure is typically the process by which the interior designer bills and invoices customers. By discussing this process with the client, the interior designer will allow the client to select the payment plan that works best for them. Interior designers in Philadelphia frequently use the following billing structures:

• Hourly Fee Structure: this is the amount of money a client is expected to pay an interior designer per hour of work put in to complete their project. This structure requires that the interior designer tracks every working hour spent on the project, including everyday tasks involved in completing the project. An hourly fee structure may not be beneficial to the homeowner since there is no way to ascertain whether the number of hours the interior designer claims is correct and has not been inflated.
• Cost Per Square Foot: this billing structure is typically used where the square footage of the project will be used to determine the interior design cost. This billing structure is generally used for larger spaces such as commercial projects. It is important to note that this billing structure can be used alongside other billing structures.
• Percentage Fee Structure: here, the interior designer will charge the client a percentage of the service's total cost, typically between 10% and 25%. While this billing structure does not require the client to pay an upfront fee, homeowners should be wary of dishonest interior designers who recommend unnecessary items to inflate the cost of a project and, thus, the percentage fee they will charge.
• Flat Fee Structure: this involves the interior designer charging a fixed fee for the entire work and any contingencies that may arise while executing the work. The client is usually required to pay a part of this fee in advance before the interior designer can begin work on the project. The advance payment ranges between 10% to 30% of the total service cost. This type of billing structure is unsuitable for projects that do not have a well-defined scope since changes in the project scope may increase the fixed fee for the work.

Regardless of their billing structure, homeowners can still ensure that they pay a fair price for an interior design service by obtaining and comparing quotes from different interior designers in the city.

Interior designers in Philadelphia earn an average wage of $65,080 annually. The list below provides the average hourly wages of these professionals compared with the average hourly wages of interior designers across the rest of Pennsylvania as well as several other locations in the United States:

What Kind of Interior Design Services Do You Offer?

Philadelphia interior designers provide various services, including residential and commercial interior design, space planning, and event and holiday decoration. Nevertheless, it is critical that the interior designer you intend to hire for your Philadelphia home specializes in the specific service you need. This is important because different interior designers specialize in providing different services within the interior design industry.

Interior design professionals in Philadelphia specialize in the following areas:

• Residential interior design
• Commercial interior design
• Retail design
• Lighting design
• Space planning
• Exhibit design
• Set design

Once you have confirmed that the interior designer you wish to hire specializes in providing the service you need, the next step is finding out how much the service will cost. Cost estimates for interior design services in Philadelphia based on different fee structures are provided below:

Residential interior design service cost estimates

Commercial interior design service cost estimates

Finally, before hiring an interior designer or an interior decorator, homeowners should understand the distinction between the two. Although both of these professionals provide similar services, there are subtle but significant differences between them. Interior designers must receive a formal education, whereas decorators are not required to do so.

Furthermore, interior designers are trained to create a functional and high-quality interior environment, whereas interior decorators are only concerned with the aesthetics of a space.

What is Your Favorite Interior Design Style?

Before hiring an interior designer in Philadelphia, it is always crucial to research the interior design style you want. This will not only assist you in your search for interior designers who specialize in providing the exact service you need, but it will also assist you in determining whether the interior designer's work falls short of expectations.

As a homeowner, you should hire interior designers who thoroughly understand the various interior design styles from various eras. These interior design professionals are usually exposed to the history of designs, including how different design styles evolved through the years. This enables them to reproduce any traditional design to suit their client's preference for a modern, smart, or minimalist design.

Most Pennsylvanian homes use the minimalist interior design style. Nevertheless, other popular interior design styles are found in homes in the city. Some of these interior design styles include:

• Traditional
• Rustic
• Eclectic
• Contemporary
• Minimalist
• Bohemian
• Glam
• Modern Farmhouse
• Organic Modern
• Art Deco

While the aforementioned interior design styles appeal to people of all ages, some are preferred over others. For example, traditional and rustic interior design styles are preferred by Generation X/baby boomers, whereas Generation Y/millennials prefer modern and minimalist interior design styles. Interior design styles preferred by Generation Z are eclectic and rustic.

Can You Provide References from People You Have Served in Philadelphia?

Getting referrals from people you trust and searching online directories of reputable organizations such as the American Society of Interior Designers and the International Interior Design Association are two of the most convenient ways to find competent, qualified, and experienced interior designers in Philadelphia.

Nevertheless, homeowners are advised to perform due diligence on any interior designer they are considering hiring, irrespective of how they come in contact with them. One way to do this is by asking the interior designer to provide references from people they have worked for.

Reputable interior designers in the city would not hesitate to provide references from people they have worked for in the past to prospective clients. These references will include design images, the names and contact information of their most recent clients, as well as dates of service.

After receiving references from the interior designer they want to hire, homeowners should contact the people on the list to get a first-hand assessment of the interior designer's level of expertise and professionalism.

In addition to contacting the individuals on the reference list provided by the interior designer, homeowners should also research the interior designer online via third-party websites such as Yelp, Google Review, and Better Business Bureau.

How Do You Structure Your Interior Design Projects?

Before entering into any agreement with an interior designer in Philadelphia, it is always good to discuss how they intend to organize and structure the project. Discussing the project's organization and structure with the interior designer you wish to hire will assist you in determining the project's timeline and the specific expectations the job is supposed to meet.

This will further assist you in determining whether the project can be satisfactorily completed before your proposed move-in dates or any other significant occurrence, such as visits from friends and family or special holidays. A typical interior design process is structured as follows:

• Discovery: This entails finding out what the client desires by asking questions or reviewing design images and discussing the overall layout of the home.
• Inspiration: at this stage, the interior designer and their crew brainstorm and review ideas for the project to develop a room-by-room concept that will serve as a template for the overall project.
• Design: This involves the interior designer presenting the client with a fully developed design plan for the project. This stage may also include some alterations to the design plan to accommodate the client's needs where they are not adequately captured and follow-up presentations after the changes have been made.
• Procurement: This stage involves ordering the furnishings, fixtures, and accessories needed to complete the project. It also includes the installation of these furnishings, fixtures, and accessories in the home, which may take anywhere from one to five days depending on the number of items to be installed.
• Reveal: this is the last stage of the interior design process, and it involves the interior designer showing the client the finished project.

What Builders, Architects, or Contractors Do You Work With?

In Philadelphia, interior designers will require the help of licensed builders, architects, or contractors before they can make any structural modification to a building they are working on. It is unlawful for interior designers to engage in structural modification without a licensed architect in the state.

As a result, homeowners must ensure that their interior designers hire licensed professionals for the work. This will protect homeowners from financial liabilities that may result from unlicensed contracting. Homeowners should also ensure that the professionals they are hiring have the appropriate insurance policy for the work they are engaged in.

Hiring an insured professional guarantees that you are not held liable for financial liabilities that may result from work injuries and property damage during the project. This is very important, considering that construction and home improvement workers in the country are exposed to several on-the-job hazards that may result in work injuries or even death.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 57,780 cases of work-related injuries among contractors in the country in 2020 alone. Homeowners can protect themselves from liabilities that may result from work injuries, property damage, or deaths that occur during their project by making sure that the interior designer and other professionals working on their projects have active general liability insurance as well as workers' compensation insurance if they will be working with employees.

Homeowners can confirm a professional's insurance status by requesting their insurance certificate and contacting the company that issued the certificate to verify the document.