Design Inside

We make our money by charging a flat hourly rate for any work that a designer performs on your project. Unlike other firms in the industry, we do not charge for minor expenses like postage, phone calls, mileage, faxes, etc. mainly because it is a pain to track all of these small incidentals, and nobody likes to feel like they are being nickel and d... imed. Q: Other firms mark up merchandise, do you? Merchandise markup is a common way for design firms to make money; this is a common practice because many firms have exclusive relationships with furniture vendors that grant them access to pieces that you could not get on your own because you are not in the industry. Because of this exclusive access, many design firms get a discounted price from the vendor which allows room to mark-up the product. The amount of markup, like many things in life, depends on the product and its exclusivity. Similar to other firms in the industry, we may mark-up merchandise that we purchase for you; however this is typically only done if we can get a better price for you than you could get by going to the vendor and purchasing the item yourself. For instance, if you find an ottoman you love; a vendor may charge you $500 for that item (or may not even let you know the price because you are not in the industry). By having us work with the vendor directly, we may be able to purchase the same ottoman for slightly less, and pass along some of the savings to you. Where possible, we will discount products off retail. Because vendors do not provide a uniform discount to the design industry, it is impossible to provide a standard discount rate. Q: What is the process for purchasing merchandise? After the design process is complete we will begin the merchandise purchase process. For most projects, merchandise will be purchased by you, Design Inside and Contractors depending on the type of item. For items purchasable through Design Inside, the following prices will be listed for you: Total Product Price - The total price of the product plus ...Read More