Commercial Interiors,  Design Trends,  Residential Interiors

Everything About Interior Design – Salary, Careers, Fees, Jobs, Hierarchy.

October 23, 2020 / 2,026 Comments

Interior design is one of the most emerging fields, of our time. It is a INR. 20,000 crore industry. 1000+ interior designers graduate every year. That boils down to 5000+ graduates in 5 years.

Entering this field at this time has its benefits.

What Is Interior Design?

Interior Design
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As the name suggests, interior design is the designing of interior spaces.

Exterior buildings and structures are designed by architects but developing and detailing of its interior space is Interior designing.

It is a study of interior space, that develops an interior space into an extremely encouraging and livable place.

Analyzing, conceptualizing, planning, thinking, delivering, and achieving is what interior design is.

Who Is An Interior Designer?

Interior Design
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Interiors of everything need a design and that is achieved by an interior designer.

An interior designer is responsible to put in his knowledge, creativity, experience, thoughts, and learnings in an interior space, and developing it into an incredible, unique budgeted comfortable place.

Responsibilities Of An Interior Designer?

Interior Design
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash
  1. Case study of the location.
  2. Structural analysis of the allotted interior space
  3. Measurements of the allotted interior place.
  4. Site analysis of the whole place including the electrical, AC, fire fighting, and the plumbing studies.
  5. Space planning of the place.
  6. Conceptualizing of the space.
  7. Designing the space.
  8. Providing the Costing as per the budget.
  9. Quotations / BOQ (Bills Of Quantities)
  10. Material selections.
  11. Execution of the interior space.
  12. Finalizations of everything.
  13. Handover of the project.

Hierarchy In An Interior Design Firm

Interior Design
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

Each firm follows its own way of grading and ranking, some companies do not consider any grading system and some companies strictly follow the ranks.

Starting From The Top:-

  1. CEO / FOUNDER / OWNER / PRINCIPAL DESIGNER
  2. DIRECTOR / ASSOCIATE
  3. TEAM LEADER
  4. PROJECT MANAGER / HEAD
  5. SENIOR DESIGNER
  6. JUNIOR DESIGNER
  7. FRESHER
  8. INTERN 

Approx. Experience Required (in years) To Reach These Levels/Ranks.

These levels are achieved with your talent, skill, leadership skills, and many more factors, etc. The numbers are not a thumb rule, it differs from organizations to organizations.

  1. FOUNDER – Is the person who established the company.
  2. DIRECTOR – 15yrs +
  3. TEAM LEADER – 10yrs – 15yrs
  4. PROJECT MANAGER – 8yrs – 12yrs
  5. SENIOR DESIGNER – 5yrs – 8yrs
  6. JUNIOR DESIGNER – 1yr – 5yrs
  7. FRESHER – A person who has just graduated/no work experience)
  8. INTERN – Simultaneously with college.

Roles of each level.

  1. FOUNDER – Key decision-maker and risk-taker.
  2. DIRECTOR – Responsible for all the deliverables by the team leaders and its members.
  3. TEAM LEADER – Making sure that all the deliverables are reached from time to time. One point contact to all the projects and the clients.
  4. PROJECT MANAGER – Managing the project on-site with coordination with the senior designer in detail.
  5. SENIOR DESIGNER – Back office member, helping the team leader and the project manager by providing them with all sorts of deliverables they want related to the project.
  6. JUNIOR DESIGNER – A helping hand to the senior designer.
  7. FRESHER – Basic work with minimum responsibilities
  8. INTERN – Basic help (a learning process for the interns)

Salary Of An Interior Designer

Salary depends on companies to companies. A salary is finalized after seeing the skills, previous works, dedication, hard work, company budget, how much they can afford, and many factors as such.

These figures are more or less accurate as per my experience and IT CAN VARY AS PER ACTUALS.

  1. FOUNDER – Major stakes
  2. DIRECTOR / ASSOCIATE – Rs. 1,50,000/- to Rs. 3,00,000/- or percentage in profits and some stakes.
  3. TEAM LEADER – Rs. 80,000/- to Rs. 1,50,000/-
  4. PROJECT MANAGER / HEAD – Rs. 60,000/- to 80,000/-
  5. SENIOR DESIGNER – Rs. 40,000/- to 60,000/-
  6. JUNIOR DESIGNER – Rs. 20,000/- to 40,000/-
  7. FRESHER – Rs. 10,000/- to 20,000/-
  8. INTERN – Rs. 0/- to 10,000/-

Interior designers who plan to take up jobs in some organizations can earn Rs. 10,000(150$) per month to Rs. 3,00,000(4,000$) per month.

This depends on the status of the organization and what are their revenues. When you achieve a remarkable amount of experience and prove to be an asset to the firm, the company values you more.

Fees Of An Interior Designer

You ask fees when you freelance a project. Fee’s variation depends on you. It can be finalized only after you know your self-worth.

It is calculated as per the following 3 points:-

  1. Your experience.
  2. Size of the project.
  3. Are your clients financially good to pay you the fees after spending so much on the interior space?

Fees of an interior designer are also of various types:-

  1. Lumpsum.
  2. Percentage of the total project cost.
  3. Per square feet rates.
  • Lumpsum is when the total project work is less or the client is willing to limit your involvement in the project.
  • Percentage on an average is charged 10% – 15% of the total project cost.
  • Per square feet, the rate is finalized as per the 3 calculations mentioned above – experience, size of the project, and how much is your client willing to pay.

Conclusion

The interior design industry will be 5 times bigger than what it is today in the next 10years. It has already created a mark of its own in the education field. It will become a boon in the coming years.

Interior designers have emerged with time and have taken interior design to a different level in the last few years. It is also a great opportunity now for young interior designers to create a name for themselves in the market.

I being an interior designer, can proudly say that this industry is the source of income to lakhs of people, and will grow to its peak in the coming years.

What is your take on interior design?

If you have any queries or you feel like asking me for some advice, you can contact me. I would be very happy to help you with my FREE consultation.

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