Nope.

What you get to see is what's called out in your signed contract.

Some designers mark up furnishings, and some charge by the hour. Some do a combination of both.

When you go to Crate & Barrel and you order a sofa, do they show you what they paid the vendor who provided the sofa? Nope.

If furnishings are purchased for a client and the money passes through my books in some fashion, the item is going to get marked up to cover the costs involved in running a business. You cannot expect a designer to provide a service for free or at a loss to them, can you?

Beverly: even if it’s hourly? am just stunned at the greediness and lack of ethics here.

Greed = people should only make what I think they are worth. Ethics = someone disagrees with me.

Tess, it's not greed or lack of ethics at all. I work with a designer who does the same thing and it's all part of the service she provides. She does things hourly, sometimes she doesn't charge me for time spent when she orders product/materials for me but she does mark them up. I am happy to pay the markup because the hassle of dealing with vendors and knowing which vendors provide what I'm looking for in the first place, is all worth paying a premium for. She also often contacts a vendor I'm going to buy directly from and can get a professional discount off the price I was going to pay. She generously passes part of that on to me.

Recently I was going to order $250/yd fabric to reupholster a chair through a wonderful upholsterer she knows personally and it was a great price for the work. Before I ordered the fabric myself she contacted the fabric vendor, was able to get the fabric for half price due to her professional discount on which she added a 20% premium as my cost. I was happy to pay it as what I saved through her actually paid the cost of the reupholster. A win win for both of us.

If you like the designer and build a relationship with the person, then you'll get great advice and in the end, wind up saving money because you'll have a broader exposure to what's available and won't be buying things that never quite hit the mark on what you had envisioned for your home. Mine puts the brakes on my buying. If I'm out and see something I'm sure is a real find, I'll text her a picture and she often replies, "We can do better." She's always right. Money and garage space saved!

A good designer is a knowledgeable professional who you are paying for their expertise. If you enter the relationship with that in mind in the end you'll often get a lot more than you pay for. And you won't worry about seeing the invoices of the vendors they deal with. As an example, I have no idea what the upholsterer charged the designer to do my chair, I know what I paid her. But what I do know is that he did a magnificent job on it, I never would have known about him without my designer, I saved on the fabric, the overall price for the project was within my budget and the chair makes me happy whenever I see it.

Hope you can build a similar relationship with your designer.

Amen to that above. No good designer is out to get you. Yes any of us must make a living. Yes it can be a VERY fun and rewarding job, but fun and rewarding never paid a bill !

We live on reputation, results, referrals, results!!!! and yes value added. None of us would be around for decades if we didn't produce the results commensurate with the billing- however it may be structured.

Amen to all of Jan's comments . I think if you don't like this billing then go shopping for yourself. You pay for my time and expertise so you have a choice.I bill differently for often each client it depends on what was in the contract.

What did the agreement you signed state for a payment and markup model?

You need to hire someone who works the way you want to. You can't put a price on the mistakes you don't make when you have professional help.

I understand exactly what you are saying. There are bad/good people in every business and I also came across a bad designer before. Her billing was all smoke and mirrors and did not follow what was written in the contract. It was also a painful process where she blamed us for her mistakes and then tried to charge us twice, which I could then disprove by pulling out old emails and other documents. We finally parted ways when outstanding orders got completed, but it was an awful experience.

I did meet another designer through a neighbor and she was just like tozmo1 described above. Very transparent and detailed in her billing. It was a great "partnership" and she worked more as a "consultant" for me, because I like to do most of my own designs, but sometimes need access to trade-only brands. She was happy to provide as little or as much help as each particular client needed. I also paid her to make scale drawings so I could get accurate bids for my remodeling projects.

If you are in the LA area I have a great designer to recommend and another you should avoid like the plague!

Getting back to the contract. You do have a contract that you both agreed to don't you?

Billing details are spelled out in good contracts. You don't hire an accountant, lawyer, or any other professional without knowing how they are going to charge you. If you have no contract then that is YOUR fault.

Ethics has to do with taking your deposit, ordering the item, invoicing it & delivering it.

Ethics has NOTHING TO DO WITH MARKUP!

Designers who are popular and sought after might charge what you perceive as a ridiculous markup or an extravagant hourly rate. But there is nothing unethical about doing that. It's market-driven. If has nothing to do with ethics.

"but looking up the vendors of a retailer is not a good argument bc there’s no transparency about what your mark up is and at a retailer I see what I am paying."

And do they tell you what the RETAILER is paying ?? No they do not.

Does the grocery tell you how much they paid for bulk tomatoes? Do they charge a lot MORE for the pretty package put together with a fat slice of fresh Mozzarella?

My gawd. If you don't love a how a designer structures a fee ? Do not hire. But nobody with any real experience or talent, is there to get you a superior result for crickets.

As to this?

"The profession needs to be especially careful about how it is perceived as most younger people are turning to TikTok, Reddit and of course AI for advice on design. And what Gen Z does not like is shady thieving “Karens”.

They are the ones I avoid. : ) they already know everything. And I am no thieving ANYTHING, but yes I bill.

This makes me sad, younger people are turning to TikTok, Reddit and of course AI for advice on design.

If a person is using what everyone else is doing or worse, AI, all you're going to get is a regurgitation and mashup of what has been done before.

A professional designer with whom you have built a relationship knows all your quirks, personality and of course budget and and will recommend things that are strictly you.

Maybe you just need to find one you are in harmony with.

Ask any designer these questions:

How many times we've heard " I just need a little bit of guidance"

" I know EXACTLY what I like"

" Can you J.U.S.T tell me what to do with this wall, this corner....this whatever that is making me crazy"?

Or as my hairdresser says as I annoy him with my detailed instructions....

"How ' bout you send the MONEY and I will send you the scissors and how to details"

The point of which is this:

Like the haircut, the harmony tozmoi mentioned is a combination of so many factors it's nearly infinite. How you relate and how all the elements in a space relate! Personalities, those folks who have a sense of humor, to those wound tight as tiny rubber bands. As progress starts to really show in any project? Ask a designer how the purse strings often loosen......or how a project morphs to other spaces that were "off limits"

You need to walk a few miles in our shoes. You really do.

Every aspect of what good design does is abstract, until it happens to you.

Agree tozmo! There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal several months ago suggesting that's why all the mid-level interiors seem to look the same: once some looks up "modern farmhouse" or other design term -that's the only style they are going to see thanks to the algorithms -

BTW - had a friend whose daughter dropped out of college and her university's design program bc "everything she needs to know is on Pinterest & TikTok" (sob...)

LOL!!!!!!!

AS I said.." they already know everything" God, I DO wish Sophie was here for this one.

There's a difference between an interior designer and a Buying Service. Those are available on TikTok and Instagram.

If you expect the designer to just execute your vision, then move on. That's not what designers do. You go to them for their vision. They fall more into the heading of artist rather than mechanic.

If I may....?

"You go to them for their" ability to see YOUR vision . To refine it, improve it, and give it back to you, executed better than you'd have thought possible" The comfort, function beauty et all is tailored to y.o.u.

That's our only purpose..Otherwise , head to Tik Tok : )

It's not unethical or greedy if the terms of their service have been explained to you adequately before you engage them.

There can be confusion about how this stuff works and it's nice when everything is made clear in the contract before clients are surprised like you apparently are.

If you're not getting what you contracted for, then a complaint is in order.

I don’t bill much product but when I do I don’t provide receipts- I dislike my time spent billing generally so scanning and saving each receipt and organizing by client would just add extra pita, currently I just pull the amounts off my cc and enter into QuickBooks. If someone wanted copies of all receipts it would not be a problem but would be extra billable time.

Sounds like you really don't want or need a designer, especially from your comment about "shady, thieving 'Karens'." With that attitude I'm not surprised that you are having a difficult time.

See if Tik Tok can measure and photograph your space, come up with 2 or 3 furniture layouts, a color palette, and then source quality upholstery, custom drapery, floor coverings, case goods, accessories, lighting, IN THE CORRECT SIZE AND SHAPE, and have it all procured and installed in your home. And all for free! I'm sure it will turn out fabulously!

Nowadays IG etc is full of moms/people that are now also designers/influencers/consultants. The reason you see/saw so much Cloé tile in kitchens and the gray mania is because it’s easy to copy instead of really finding something unique. The choices are so overwhelming, I am so glad to have a designer to help me thru this design jungle. Specs, beautiful renderings, visiting tile galleries and picking slab. Unique design details. Contractor communication. Etc. Really valuable, really fun.

I always get a huge kick/tickle at a final install. Lots of more trivial items and accessories tend to come in last.........there's a lot of cardboard ...bubble wrap, trash. The designer has her tool bag, there's the picture hanging, up goes a mirror etc. The whirr of the vacuum! The throw, or pillows you never even discussed as these are just absolutely perfect.....

Client comes home: OMG!! OMG It's like Christmas! I can't believe it - It's just like Christmas.......!

SURE ! So much fun too! Except you are paying: )

I always have done a cost plus agreement on purchased things.. thought everyone did?

example- redo master bedroom and bath - cosmetic changes (no walls moved, windows added etc.. changes a grand-dad handyman can handle. Pay $X,XXX.00 for consulting time (including design, supervising said handyman, shopping, etc.. Pay Cost plus 20% for all items purchased. Seems 20% is mark up in northeast and 10-15% in southeast.

for bigger projects— usually pay by the hour verses a fee per job, or a combo.

most important is to set a budget - no $30,000 dining table in a $90,000 home

Designers I have worked with never provided detailed invoice. However, I did feel I had the right to insist on knowing the drapery fabric name, for example. And getting that out of her was apparently a big deal!

I hired a designer to help furnish my new house several years ago . Contract stated an hourly rate and that I would receive her discounts . Because of an error by her assistant I found out that she was keeping the discount and marking stuff up 25%! Ripped me off for close to $100k. I would insist on invoices if I ever hired a designer again. Which I probably never will as it was such an unpleasant experience all around .

This woman went to one of the best plastic surgeons in the world to do her face work. The surgeons fee is reported to be 200k-250k. If the designer of your environment OR your face gives you a renewed joy about life then they are worth every penny. If its some schlub that your neighbor recommended that's hiding receipts and taking advantage then you hired the wrong person.

If you don't have an emotional response when you see what they've done for you then you may have picked someone based on price rather than talent.

Is this directed at me ? Cause you’ve made a big assumption. My designer was well regarded in my city and certainly not low priced . Just not ethical . I think many of her clients just weren’t interested in knowing the cost details . Because I was interested, I definitely choose the wrong person as I don’t like being taken advantage of.

You may have missed the point. Do you like the work? Do you feel you could have done as well if you had had the time? Are you just seeing the designer as a shopper? Are they just a shopper and you're making all the decisions? Is the work amazing but you resent the price? These are questions I would ask myself when I part with my hard earned money.

How is the work??

The point I was trying to make is that I would never deal with a designer again unless there was transparent pricing . If I liked her work was not the issue . She told me she was giving me her discount and instead she kept it and marked up the item . So, in addition to the $250 an hour I was paying her , I paid thousands in hidden charges. Not acceptable in my book , regardless of how the decor looks .