Why would you be gutting a 100 year old house?

Make sure your contract clearly states the scope of work and that you understand the billing structure (billable hours: design time and project management), product cost (wholesale + mark up, retail + mark up or whatever other method the ID uses).

Make sure the ID itemizes bills. I used a designer once and for months I would get bills for $1,500 with no breakdown and when I ordered a product there was no meaningful description, just something like Table $3000. Down the road when you need to do anything with that piece of furniture you want the receipt from the ID to have a brand and product description. If you had bought from the manufacturer or a store, the receipt would have details, so an ID should provide a similar receipt.

I finally fired that ID for many reasons and I then found another that was much more organized, detailed and honest in her billing.

Make sure you contract allows you to end the relationship at any point. Of course you would still be liable for any special/custom order products you had ordered and still awaiting delivery.

Can't speak for Canada. Designers have many ways to structure fees. Good sold plus a mark up, hourly fees, etc. But you aren't going to find one in the US with skill and experience for less than 150/175 an hour. That person may offer you discounts, but they still will earn profit on the goods sold. Just to many ways. You haven't described the options you were offered, just that you are shocked: )

I'll ask you this:

What is the price of not having your vision come to life as you want, and the price of your mistakes ? What is that "price"?

You aren't paying for time in those hours, really. You are paying for all the experience. The art and the science. An eye. Just as when you go to the dentist, you aren't paying for the five minutes to drill a tooth. What do you pay for hair cut and color ? Same thing. Skill.

Thanks for replies! In this case the billing structure is just flat fee design services, we directly buy the products (supposedly with their trade discounts) so they say they don’t make money off the materials and furniture. It is about 50k for a project which total cost will be 700k-1M. We agree with you, @Jan, we want to get it right with a profesional that knows, we have some design background but not enough for a project this scale when we have already our full time jobs…

Had a thought. Maybe take a look at Sarah Richardson’s company and note the comprehensive information in section Hire Us. May be worthwhile, as her company has been around for 20 years or so, therefore must be dependable with competitive rates. Discussing services/fees/structure and utimately your confidence level are all important in considering whom to hire.

$50K in fees sounds pretty reasonable to design and furnish an entire house. If you've got 10 rooms in your house, that's $5K/room. Seems about right to me. Jan is right about the hourly fees, but don't be surprised to see $200/hr. Toronto's a big city and someone with at least 10 years experience is charging at least that much.

What is the scope of work for the designer? How many baths, kitchens, built-ins, fireplaces? Cabinet layout and design? Architectural finishes like flooring, ceilings, staircases, millwork, etc.? Selecting tile, plumbing, light fixtures? Space planning furniture? Selecting furniture, accessories and window treatments?

Passing on trade discounts is not common in my market, so I would expect the design fees to be higher. But given that it's a flat fee, it's important to both you and the design firm that the scope of work is very detailed. Review it carefully to make sure it includes everything you need. Do not assume something is included if it is not in the scope. Review how many revisions you get with this flat fee. Does it include project management? Given that you are ordering all furniture directly, who is tracking it? Scheduling deliveries? Communicating with vendors?

I can't say that $50k is reasonable without knowing the scope and the experience level of the designer. But I can say that my firm has charged this much in design fees (and more for product markup) for total design/decor remodel projects.

This is the scope of the ID:

360 Panorama Rendering, 3D Renderings and Visualization, Ceiling Schedule, Flooring Schedule, Lighting Schedule, Material Selection, Millwork Schedule, Paint Schedule, Plumbing Schedule, Tile Schedule and Furniture Selection (only main rooms of the house)

This seems vague for a flat-fee scope of work. Was it attached to a more detailed contract?

Panoramic and 3D renderings do not impress me much unless accompanied by detailed, dimensioned plans and elevations, which are not noted in the scope.

Did you interview other design firms? If so, what made you select this one?

Definitely vague.

I would want the "main rooms" listed individually, so there is no question of what is included. Otherwise you run the risk, a few months down the road, when the designer underestimated the cost for design time, that you will be arguing about what is a "main room" and your lists won't be the same!

Start at Gluckstein and work your way on down.

I have seen their work and looks very detailed, every schedule has floor plans and elevations of all rooms. We have not interviewed many firms, they were referred by friends, that is why we wanted to have a sense of what is a fair price. We know from other friends that you can pay A LOT for ID, depending what sort of firm you go with.

I did a gut remodel with a designer and essentially was charged a markup on items - ranged between 15% and 20% depending on whether she designed custom or whether she just purchased. She also charged me a flat fee based on an amount per square foot to provide what is called a PlanCheck which is essentially detailed elevations and blueprints which are submitted to the City for permits and also sent out to GC so they can bid on the actual specifics.

I would say that $50,000 is a low amount based on your estimated costs although you aren't providing a breakdown on construction versus design costs.

I will say that a good designer is absolutely critical for achieving the best functional and aesthetic results. And it is cost effective since most of the purchases were less than what I would have paid if I had bought them myself because her markup was based on trade prices which are significantly lower than consumer prices.

My designer was completely transparent. I would receive invoices which would include the cost of the specific item and then the applicable makeup plus taxes since taxes are payable for designer services and of course purchases in California.

When we built our home in Vancouver five years ago we hired an ID and her fee was $24k for a 4K square foot home but we also have a basement suite and did our own selections for that. It included no furnishings though. It included the layouts of all bathrooms, kitchen, living and door and window casings. We had a lighting overview, electrical plan, flooring etc. We also got a min of two options for each selection and ultimately were given a PDF of all our design choices. Our builder got a better deal on almost all products than the ID did and also have a better sense of costs. Many of the options chosen by the ID blew the budget apart even though they had the budget the whole time and it was very frustrating.

I'm switching professions.

Thank you for all your comments! So far my main take away is that price seems low-fair, and I will double check that the scope entails everything that we want their design to incorporate! Thanks!

Don't forget to ask to see an example of a typical bill. You want to see how much detail they include.