Everything You Need to Know About Structuring An Interior Design Consultation
PUBLISHED APRIL 2022 | UPDATED APRIL 2025
© Dakota Design Company 2017-2025 | All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced, distributed, or used without permission.
I see a lot of varying opinions on interior design consultations, how to structure them, what to charge for them, and whether to offer them or not.
In this post, I share my thoughts on:
How to efficiently and professionally structure an interior design consultation
How to price an interior design consultation
What to send before, during, and after an interior design consultation
What I see as industry best practices for interior design consultations
What to do if your interior design consultations are taking you HOURS
A Deep Dive On Interior Design Consultations
If you’ve been offering consultations because that’s what everyone else does, I want you to really think about whether adding this step to your interior design process is worthwhile and necessary.
If you are offering one, you’ve probably wondered: “Should I be charging for this?” or “Am I giving away too much for free?” or “Is this actually helping me book better projects—or is it just draining my time and exhausting my potential clients?”
If so, you're not alone.
Through my 1:1 work with over 100 interior designers—and hundreds more through my group programs—I’ve seen consultations done a thousand different ways.
Some consultations are efficient, professional, and productive and lead to booking dream clients.
Other consultations?
A hot mess of unpaid advice, open loops, and time consuming follow-ups.
Here's what I know to be true about consultations:
A well-structured consultation can be an important part of your sales process (when done right) and can be the key to booking better projects with ideal clients.
But a messy, “wild-wild-west” style consultation process? It’ll exhaust you, confuse your clients, and make your sales process feel endless.
That’s why I created the Interior Design Consultation Playbook—a step-by-step guide to help you structure, price, and streamline your scope-gathering consultations so they actually convert.
Inside the Playbook, you’ll learn:
Where the consultation fits into your design process (and what should happen before it)
What services actually require a consultation—and which don’t
How to price it, what to send before and after, and what to say during the meeting
How to prevent oversharing or working for free
What to do if you don’t want the project after the consult
The boundaries to set to make the entire process easy, elevated, and effective
⚠️ NOTE: This playbook is specifically for scope-gathering consultations—the kind you offer in order to prepare a scope of work and design fee proposal. (If you’re looking for guidance on paid advice consultation sessions, check out our Paid Advice Consultation Kit instead.)
This guide is for designers who want to feel confident offering consultations, knowing exactly when they’re necessary, and how to structure them so they’re productive, professional, and led by you.
If you’re tired of consults that go off the rails, feel unnecessary, or leave you overdelivering—this will help you take back control.
👉 Grab the Interior Design Consultation Playbook for Interior Designers
It’s priced to be an easy yes, and it’s WAY less than what you’d charge for a single consultation.
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