Interior Designers (counter, paint, colors, room)

[3muskateers]

Can I ask if anyone has encountered what I have?

What is the deal with the Interior Designers fees...they are charging what a Doctor would charge for open heart surgery?

I am coming from New England, which I always considered a pricey place to live, but have encountered NC is much more expensive when it comes to things such as Window Treatments or Interior Designers??? Don't they realize that they are just offering their opinions and that is really not worth $125.00 hour (YIKES)

Or even the window treatments, I would rather go to JC Penny and grab something I saw in a Pottery Barn Magazine then spend $1200 for two windows in my kitchen.

We are in tough times...what is up with these ladies...and some gentlemen?

[lovebrentwood]

The $125/hour interior designers are not for people who would prefer to go to J.C. Penney for window treatments.

They are for women with money who would prefer to get the advice of a professional rather than spend the time of getting the right window treatments themselves.

[CAKD]

If you want what is in Pottery Barn or Penny's then you do not need an interior designer. You just need a friend to spend the day shopping with you. An interior designer will give you something no one else has and something you would have never thought of. They will design a space that compliments your tastes and desires while using the elements of your architecture to their fullest extent. If you don't need those elements to factor into what you are doing then your right paying for them would be a big mistake. If you know what you want and just need a work room to execute them than you will save a lot of money by buying the fabric on your own and hiring someone to do the labor. There are plenty of work rooms for window treatments in the area that charge reasonable prices!

[desertsun41]

So why do you feel it is ok to pay a Doctor $400/hr. a Mechanic $80/hr, An Electrician $100/hr, your Dentist $800/hr, your politician millions and millions/yr for the right to steal your hard earned money from you, Domestic Terrorists with badges who extort from law abiding citizens of their hard earned money as they are just trying to get to work while exceeding the artificially low speed limits and they get paid $60 for that safe cushy job..........etc.....

Like anything in life, if you don't want to or can't afford to purchase then dont. You want a service that you can't do yourself so you have to hire some one who can if you want it that bad.

[3muskateers]

Wow...did I hit a nerve?

[kodaka]

Wow...did I hit a nerve?

What the hell kind of answers were you expecting with the question you asked?

Average years of education for a doctor: 8 yrs
Average years of education for an interior designer: 6 yrs

Average on-the-job training before you can call yourself a doctor: 3 yrs
Average on-the-job training before you can call yourself an interior designer: 3 yrs

Average student loan debt for a doctor: $140,000
Average student loan debt for an interior designer: $55,000

Average starting pay for a doctor: $140,000
Average starting pay for an interior designer: $35,000

Average median pay for a doctor: $350,000
Average median pay for an interior designer: $50,000

Average billable rate for a doctor: $400/hr
Average billable rate for an interior designer: $100/hr

Average annual continuing education and dues for a doctor: $1,000
Average annual continuing education and dues for an interior designer: $1,000

So as you can see, the problem isn't interior designers charging too much, it is customers like you being too cheap to pay for the service you receive. If you are a self-avowed cheapskate who wants nothing but mass-produced crap from chain stores, then you have no need for an interior designer anyway, so it doesn't matter how much they charge.

The nice thing about interior designers, if you decide you don't want their services, you won't die. Whereas a doctor makes a handsome profit off of you having little choice but to pay their extortionist prices.

[3muskateers]

I wouldn't call items is stores "crap"
And I am shocked you are comparing a Drs credentials and pay and worth to an interior designer...I think you are missing the boat...but from your post, you sound like a angry designer that hasn't had much work?

I just was stating that it shouldn't cost $150.00/hr for a person (whoever they may be) to give opinions about paint colors and where you should put your sofa?

I would however pay someone 150.00 hour to go over a medical problem I may have, or a legal problem...not to pick out a curtain rod...sorry if I offended some decorators out there, just my opinion.

[kodaka]

I just was stating that it shouldn't cost $150.00/hr for a person (whoever they may be) to give opinions about paint colors and where you should put your sofa?

Oh, is THAT what you call "interior design"??

Well, yeah, I wouldn't want to pay $150/hr for that either. But that isn't what interior designers do. Again, your own ignorance and cheapness isn't other people's fault--not interior designers or anyone else.

[3muskateers]

Calm down.

There are alot of "designers" who are not "designers" and are charging the money a real designers might ask for...I have had my time wasted by such people.

Relax...I am venting, I have a right to vent after wasting my time with "designers" that really didn't tell me anything?

[kodaka]

Calm down.

There are alot of "designers" who are not "designers" and are charging the money a real designers might ask for...I have had my time wasted by such people.

Relax...I am venting, I have a right to vent after wasting my time with "designers" that really didn't tell me anything?

No, you don't have the right to slur the work of an entire profession just because you are cheap and didn't do your research about the qualifications and services of an interior designer, and then wasted your money asking stupid questions like 'which curtain rod should I buy?'