(Journal — Studio)
What a design fee actually pays for
Mikkel Lund
Founder & Architect
Studio
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6 min read
Clients often ask where the design fee goes. The honest answer: into hundreds of hours most people never see. Here is how a typical full-service project breaks down.
A full-service project usually takes between 250 and 400 hours of studio time. Very little of it is the part people imagine — picking cushions.
Where the hours go
Survey and brief: measuring every wall and understanding how you live.
Concept and layout: sketches, plans and the first budget.
Drawings: the technical set builders and joiners work from.
Sourcing: finishes, furniture and lighting, ordered and tracked.
Site: weekly visits until it looks exactly as drawn.
What you save
A good design fee pays for itself in avoided mistakes: the sofa that doesn’t fit the lift, the kitchen that faces a wall, the lighting that can’t be dimmed. We would rather spend the hours on paper than on site.
Drawings, samples and schedules for a single kitchen.
The best part of a design fee is the mistakes you never make.
Mikkel Lund, architect
Studio
Written by Mikkel Lund
Co-founder and architect. Draws every plan by hand first, then argues with it.
An interior studio designing calm homes and small hotels. Nørrebrogade 18, 2200 Copenhagen — also in Oslo and Lisbon.
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