3 Ways to Stop Doubting your Design Fees

Hey Designer!
Let’s kick things off with a little, ‘Have You Ever,’ shall we?

Have you ever hesitated when sending an invoice?
Have you ever knocked off a few billable hours from fear your clients would balk at the amount owed?
Have you ever dreaded following up when clients take too long to pay their invoices?

If you answered, ‘YES’ to any of the above, don’t feel bad. I’ve totally been there too!

I remember when I first started my business I charged $50 an hour and thought that was a RIDICULOUS amount of money. It felt like so much money. The truth is it was ridiculous. Ridiculously low. I had a degree in interior design and worked for 5 years in the industry before going out on my own. It didn’t take long for me to realize my value and start to raise my rates. Over the next few years, my rates ticked up little by little as my experience broadened and my expertise deepened.

Yet, no matter what my rate per hour, I always felt uncomfortable discussing or billing for my time. The problem was, I was thinking about it all wrong.

I was projecting my own
money story onto my clients.

It’s taken a lot of time but I’ve made major mindset shifts and revised my business practices to ease my discomfort around money. I’m now able to discuss my rates and bill for design fees with more confidence. If you can relate to what I’ve shared thus far, I hope you’ll find these tips empowering, so that you can gain the confidence you need to invoice your clients like the boss that you are.

How to Communicate Value with Confidence

#1 Know Your Purpose: You’re offering a valuable service saving your clients time, money, and mistakes. Imagine what their experience would be without you. They would likely find themselves overwhelmed with options, making design mistakes that cost them time and money and never having a completed space they can enjoy. This is a gift you have. YOU can bring together all the elements of design and deliver a turn-key experience that gives them a home they will love for a lifetime.

Your clients’ time is valuable. You’re filling a need and solving a problem for them, all while giving them the gift of more time to focus on what matters to them. They pursue their passions and you pursue yours. Period. I

#2 Know Your Time: Tracking your time is perhaps the single most important management task you can do for your business. Keeping a detailed record allows you to make sure you can create proposals that are based on the reality of how much time it takes to complete a project.

Pulling numbers out of your @$$ creates the risk that you will steeply
underestimate your time. To avoid this, give the following exercises a try.

Exercise #1: For those just getting started or if you have never tracked your time before.
Begin with a spreadsheet and write out every single step of a typical project. Include it all: phone calls, drive time, site visits, presentations, time to prep for presentations, sourcing, drawing, etc. In the next column, estimate how long you think it will take to complete each step and add it all up. I usually add 10-20% on top of that as a buffer for unanticipated tasks. Use this to come up with your proposals. At the end of every project, compare how long it actually takes to your estimates and adjust accordingly.
Exercise Option #2: If you’ve been tracking your time for individual tasks for each project.
It’s important that you don’t just track time spent on a project, but the time spent on actual tasks/phases of the project. Run reports of all the projects you’ve completed. Study how much time the different tasks take. I suggest creating a summary that tells you how long it takes to complete different types of projects (i.e. Kitchens, Baths, Furnishings, etc.)

While it’s not necessary or recommended that you share with your clients the breakdown of your hours, it’s imperative that you keep a record of your time so you can create proposals that are realistic.

#3 Know Your Worth: Providing a value-based design proposal shifts the focus away from the hours spent and emphasizes the results. You still need to know your hours (because you are a boss and you need to know your stuff), but by itemizing each element, clients will see the value in what you have to offer.

Let them know what will be included. What deliverables can they expect from you? How will the process improve their lives?

Here are a few examples: