A lot of this depends on a few factors:

How high end is this? A lot of the posters mention Amazon and 10-20% discounts. That's not high-end and not typically designer territory.

Is this a decorator or a designer? Someone mentioned most designers have associates degrees. That would be a decorator. An uncertified, unlicensed, largely-untrained decorator. With is fine for some, but I would not use this for kitchen or bath.

Lots of misinformation on this thread. And lots of post-HGTV mentalities that designers are affordable to everyone. They really aren't. Designers are a luxury.

HGTV is not design. It's decoration.

Sounds like this designer operates with a more high-end model, which is totally legit. But they should be specifying higher end products with these fee structures. OP never mentioned if they were dealing with sources like Daltile or New Ravenna, Delta or Toto, etc...

Anonymous wrote:Cost+ is a completely normal way of charging for high end design.

Goods and services are not the same thing.

When you pay an hourly rate, you are paying for the designer's time and expertise.

When you pay a mark-up on materials, you are paying for the materials in the same way that you pay more for a block of cheese at Giant than Giant paid for it from their supplier.

A contractor will charge mark-ups also.
So will retail (it'll just be lesser materials so may cost less overall, which is fine).

It's understandable that people with more modest budgets don't like this model. But crying "not fair" is...not fair. It's just maybe not a good match. For these people, try working with a contractor and picking things out yourself, or try working with a design build that charges a flat fee. Or see if you can pay a designer as a consultant for time, and take that inspiration to a contractor for them to source/purchase (at a mark-up).

Nope. High end designers (not the pretend ones without the professional exam and licensure) do not charge cost plus. “Plus” my friend isn’t your mark up on materials. Plus is labor and design. Learn the basic terms. Less Botox more studying

Ordering is out of the question.

Delivery should be only the manufacturer delivery.

No. I do not. I think the client is better off storing in own climate controlled storage. If they choose to store with the designer they should check the warehouse for mold and vermin. They should build in penalties to prevent bogus storage fees.

I think the designers who don’t meet the bar above aren’t designers but glorified fabric sample maids.

PP again. Ordering, storing, and delivery are all mostly legitimate (maybe not ordering). But storing and delivering have additional costs. Who do you think should pay this? The client, no?

Cost+ is a completely normal way of charging for high end design.

Goods and services are not the same thing.

When you pay an hourly rate, you are paying for the designer's time and expertise.

When you pay a mark-up on materials, you are paying for the materials in the same way that you pay more for a block of cheese at Giant than Giant paid for it from their supplier.

A contractor will charge mark-ups also.
So will retail (it'll just be lesser materials so may cost less overall, which is fine).

It's understandable that people with more modest budgets don't like this model. But crying "not fair" is...not fair. It's just maybe not a good match. For these people, try working with a contractor and picking things out yourself, or try working with a design build that charges a flat fee. Or see if you can pay a designer as a consultant for time, and take that inspiration to a contractor for them to source/purchase (at a mark-up).

Anonymous wrote:That’s also why everything looks like it’s in Brambleton Homeowner Weekly

Thank you. I just spit my coffee out. So true!

OP - This all depends on the agreement you reached with Designer at start of working with her. Hourly fees plus materials’ mark ups normal but if you take on the ordering and arranged to take that work on at the beginning-good for you. As others have mentioned some material/products are only available to the trade and if that’s not important to you you can forego those products but the relationships and investment a skilled designer has developed w/various companies creates good will (translation includes timely delivery, accommodation especially on smaller deliveries, trouble shooting and no questions asked warranties.) The Designer I worked with tweaked custom
furniture to make sure the stain & finish I really wanted was done (even though it wasn’t offered as an option.); she worked with the tile supplier to locate enough of a discontinued pattern to use as an accent in my backsplash. When my $6K bed frame developed an odd crack (not structural) 3 years after we bought she got it repaired for us for free.
I have also used designers just to produce a floor plan with options listed and ordered materials myself. If I calculated cost of my time spent on that process it probably would have been more than what I would have paid the knowledgeable professional to do insteas.

I don’t deal with hacks. There are fewer than 10 in DC area who meet the AD bar:

1. In order to become a licensed interior designer, at least an associate’s degree—and more likely a bachelor’s degree—will be needed, and a master’s puts you at an advantage. A degree in any field related to interior design is acceptable, but

2. your coursework should include interior design, drawing, and computer-aided design (CAD). If your designer can’t use CAD and won’t share digital files, walk. While mastery of drawing and perspective are fundamental for every interior designer, computer-aided design now is as well. CAD technology—in the form of computer software such as Autodesk AutoCAD, CorelCAD, SmartDraw, ARCHICAD, DraftSight, and CAD Pro, among others—allows you to render your design ideas in 2D and 3D models with proper dimensions, colors, texture, and other design details.

3. Top school is a plus, which are:
Savannah College of Art and Design, Interior Design, Savannah, Georgia
The New School, Parsons School of Design, Interior Design, New York
NYSID, New York
Rhode Island School of Design, Interior Architecture, Providence, Rhode Island
Pratt Institute, Interior Design, New York

4. Are they properly licensed? Only 28 states require it, and here is what that means:
require licensure for interior designers, which includes passing the NCIDQ exam. NCIDQ is the most common interior design certification, recognized in the United States and Canada as a benchmark for proficiency in the profession. In order to qualify to take the NCIDQ exam, you must first earn an associate, bachelor’s, or master’s degree and complete a certain number of hours of work experience depending on the level of education. Comprising three parts—the Interior Design Fundamentals Exam (IDFX), the Interior Design Professional Exam (IDPX), and the practicum—the NCIDQ exam covers subjects such as construction standards, design application, building systems and codes, project coordination, and contract administration. You may take the first part—the IDFX—once you’ve graduated from design school even if you haven’t completed all the required work hours. The IDPX, meanwhile, is available to you once you’ve completed both your education and work requirements, and the practicum is the final exam. Fees for each part of the exam are paid separately.

While this three-part test may sound arduous, you should have gleaned all the necessary information through schooling and practical experience to fare well enough to pass the exam and obtain your NCIDQ credentials—you need a score of at least 500 out of 800 to pass. And this is certification that’s definitely worth having even if it’s not required by your home state, as it legitimizes your skill set and experience to clients and employers.

5. Portfolio - what is their portfolio? If it’s Fergusons and Tile Shop vomited on the plan then walk as well.

Anonymous wrote:We just did a bathroom, and this was not how our designer did it. She said we needed x sq feet of tile at y cost. I looked up the tile myself and found it cheaper elsewhere, but ended up just letting her deal with it. I’m sure she gets a discount from the tile place and charged us msrp.
Overall, I get like the design was pretty useless for a bathroom. I think we paid her around $8,000, and I feel like the designers at the tile place could have helped me with tile and the contractor could have recommended countertops and the glass.
So, no, i don’t think it’s normal. I think your designer is likely trying to rip you off.

This.

Also, our designer couldn’t calculate the tile properly; we had to recalculate everything.

That’s also why everything looks like it’s in Brambleton Homeowner Weekly

Most designers here learned their craft through an Associates degree if you are lucky and lots of HGTV. They are incentivized to steer you towards what makes them money. That’s not good for you.

In this case OP has the design. She now needs a contractor.

Sounds very bad. If you pay her hourly, order the stuff yourself.

To buy the stuff, the designer will make her go to a day’s shopping. She can do that herself and then just order online. This is sooo stupid.

She has the design. What time and effort? It’s a small bathroom. Let’s say the stuff she needs to buy is $10,000 (it’s more). Why would she first hand the trade discount to the designer (higher class designers pass it on) and then pay another 15 percentage points on top. That could amount to $5,500 easily, for what? Not to mention bullshit fees.

She can get most of it on Amazon. Porcelanosa has 40% off twice a year. Build.com lets you order directly. This is such a racket.

If the designer is installing maybe I have some tolerance for not passing the entire discount but zero for the upcharge. Cost plus labor is the top price, but it should be below retail cost plus labor for the installation.

I guarantee this designer isn’t that great.