Terms You Need In Your Residential Interior Design Service Agreement
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Written July 2021 | Updated January 2025
When I start working with interior design business owners to streamline their operations, most of them have a contract they’ve been using for years. But as we review their client experience to figure out where things are broken, we almost always find ways to make that contract work harder. Not only to protect their business but also to make life easier for them and their clients.
While I’m not an attorney, I recommend reviewing your contract after every project to see if you need to tighten it up or make changes. (Because let’s be honest — every project presents its own set of challenges.)
A solid residential interior design contract is one of the very first ways to create a smoother, more professional, and more profitable business. If your contract terms don’t line up with your actual design process, or you’re unsure how to lean on your contract when something goes sideways, you’re setting yourself up for headaches later.
A solid residential interior design contract is one of the many steps to creating a seamless experience for you and your customers. If your contract terms aren’t aligned with your interior design process OR you’re unsure how to rely on your contract when issues pop up, you’ll eventually run into some bumps in the road.
My Favorite Interior Design Contract Terms
After working with 100+ interior designers and (jumping on calls with their attorneys to make sure their contracts were buttoned up), I’m sharing a few of my favorite terms that I often see missing from residential interior design contracts.
Interestingly enough, these are also the challenges my interior design business owner clients face that make running their business difficult.
Let’s dive in!
01 | COMMUNICATION
This is one of the most important items you should specify in your residential interior design contract (this goes for ANY service provider, regardless of the industry)! Things get personal when you’re working closely with someone for an extended period of time, and boundaries can start to get fuzzy after a while.
Including a term about your communication policies allows you to proactively outline how and when clients should communicate with you to receive the most timely response.
Want to stop getting text messages from clients around the clock? Put it in your contract.
Don’t want to meet or have calls on evenings or weekends? Put it in your contract.
02 | THE CONTRACT TERM
If your clients think they have you forever, they won’t be in a rush to make decisions and that’s when your profitability takes a hit.
Spell out the length of your engagement and key milestones, even if you work hourly.
As the pro, you should know how long each phase of your interior design process will take, and to be of service to your clients, you should let them know how long their service will take (or at least provide estimates for key milestones).
📣 Tip: If every project and timeline is different, be sure to check out our Waitlist Workshop to learn the standard project timelines for various service offerings.
By including this term in your contract, if (and more often when) a project has delays because of something outside of your control, you have a way to ensure you are compensated for the additional time spent on the project.
💡 Want the rest of my must-have clauses (and the exact language to use)?
Inside The DTS Files, I share my NINE must-have contract terms, WHY they are so important, and real-world examples of how to use them to prevent scope creep, handle late payments, and protect your time.
