Most homeowners hire an interior designer the way they hire a plumber. They search a few names, check stars on a review site, ask one or two friends, and pick whoever responds first. Then six months in — somewhere between the cabinet samples and the rug delivery — they realize the designer isn't actually who they thought they were.
The problem isn't usually that the designer was bad at design. It's that the homeowner asked the wrong questions before the contract was signed. Here are five we'd recommend asking next time, in roughly the order they matter.
1. "Will you be the one doing the work?"
This sounds obvious. It is not. Many design firms market under one name and then hand projects to junior associates who source furniture from the same three websites. Ask directly who will do the design work, who will manage the project, who will be on-site during installs. If those answers don't all map to the same person you're meeting, decide whether that's acceptable to you.
2. "How do you charge?"
Hourly. Flat fee. Cost-plus on furniture. Trade discounts kept versus passed through. There is no single right answer, but there is a wrong answer: vague. Get specifics in writing before you sign anything. A designer who can't explain how they charge is one who will struggle to explain a $14,000 sofa six months from now.
3. "What happens if we disagree?"
This is the question almost no one asks, and it's the one that matters most. Disagreement is a normal part of design — you will dislike a fabric, the designer will push back, you'll need a way through. Ask how they handle it. Listen for whether they describe a process or a personality. The good ones describe a process.
4. "Do you finish?"
This question sounds odd. It isn't. The single most common complaint we hear about other firms is some version of "they got us 80% there and then we never heard from them." Ask the designer to describe how a project ends. Listen for whether they include the final styling, the punch list, the closing walk-through. A project isn't done when the furniture arrives. It's done when the lighting, styling, and final details feel effortless.
5. "Can I talk to a client whose project is finished?"
Not the most recent client. Not the one in process. A finished project — ideally one that's been finished for at least a year. The designer who can introduce you to a client whose home is two years old and still feels right is a designer worth hiring.
None of these questions are unfair. None of them put a designer on the spot in a way that should bother them. If they do bother the designer, you've already learned something useful.
Veronica Eckhardt has been designing interiors for over three decades, in California and now across DFW. She founded Dress Your Home in 1993.