[ A Rant ] + Consumer Education Re: Markups and Margins For Luxury Interior Designers
This post contains my version of a rant about a subject near to my heart, the way my luxury interior designer clients and friends make money.
As most know, there are many, many different revenue models for luxury interior designers and every luxury interior designer chooses the revenue model that fits their business and their market.
But, some of my interior designer clients and some of my interior designer friends are struggling against those with huge marketing budgets - and even some of their fellow designers - to help consumers understand that many of them have their business set up to make money on both services and products, just like most every other professional service provider does.
All professionals that are service providers sell services [ education + in the field knowledge + expertise + process + proven speed to result = how professionals price their services ] and, if they choose to, they can also sell products. If they choose to sell products, they make a margin on those products, in addition to their service fees.
This is how they grow and scale their businesses. This is how they are able to offer you, the luxury consumer, the level of service you require and expect. This is how they cover their overhead, pay themselves and their subcontractors and employees well so they can retain them, and pay their taxes, just like every other luxury service provider does.
Let’s take some examples of how other service providers do this:
Auto mechanics tune your engine, and they also sell you upgraded oil, windshield wipers, etc. They make a margin [aka as markup] on those products.
Doctors charge you for their time and they prescribe tests and pills. They make a margin [aka as markup] on those products.
Dentists charge you for the service to clean your teeth and take X-rays, and they also sell you toothbrushes, crowns, and dentures. They make a margin [aka as markup] on those products.
Hairdressers or barbers charge you for a haircut or beard trim, and they also sell you hair gel, hairspray, shampoo, etc. They make a margin [aka as markup] on those products.
Interior designers charge you for their creative vision, their education, their accumulated knowledge, their process, their vetted team, their drawings and construction documentation, their project management services including their years of experience in solving problems in the field, and they also sell you furniture, window treatments, art and accessories. They make a margin on those products.
And FYI: I know margin is technically different from markup, but for the purposes of this post, I am using them interchangeably.
There is nothing wrong with the word markup by itself, but some publications, companies and some well known interior designers, too, are using the words *no markups* or simply the word *markup,* to make you think there is something wrong with making money on products or to imply that you are being cheated.
What they are trying to do is to sell you on the idea that you can hire them, or use their service, and save money. And perhaps you can.
But working with a genuine luxury interior designer is not about saving money, and it never has been. It is about, when all is said and done, walking into your space and getting an overwhelming feeling of happiness, security and wellbeing because every element has been tailored and specified especially for you.
It’s for those that want what no one else has. It’s for those that value artisan craftsmanship, quality and artistic vision.
This intimation in marketing materials that making a markup or margin is cheating you or double dipping., as it’s sometimes called, is WRONG.
One last thing, if you are the consumer reading this:
I don’t think you go to your auto mechanic and say, “How much of a margin or markup are you making on that can of oil? You don’t go to your hairdresser or barber and say, “How much of a margin or markup are you making on that hair gel? You don’t go to your dentist and say, “How much of a markup or margin are you making on that crown or the products that you are using on my teeth for teeth whitening?”
Am I right?
It’s the same for a professional luxury interior designer. You don’t go to a professional luxury designer and say, “How much of a markup are you making on that product?” That’s not an appropriate question.
If a professional luxury interior designer chooses to disclose that to you, contractually, that’s their choice, but it’s not an appropriate question.
Okay, my tiny rant is over. And I’m doing this because it hurts me to read, every day, how the mental health of luxury interior designer friends is being stretched to the breaking point, due to consumers who have no frame of reference as to why luxury interior designers charge what they charge, and why they are entitled to charge what they charge.
Designing a custom home, office,kitchen, bath resort, jet or yacht is an extremely difficult and technical process in the best of times. There are hundreds of moving pieces and problems to be solved. It’s the luxury interior designer’s job to make it look effortless and easy to their client, but it’s not. It’s incredibly demanding and difficult and it’s being made even more so now due to the supply chain issues, which impacts everyone’s income.
I am sure this post might stir a little controversy, and that’s okay.
But remember, this post will live online forever, as will any comments where everyone, consumers and designers alike, can see those comments. Please, if you are a designer and you comment, keep any comments respectful towards all consumers who may see this post and may not have realized all of this before, since noone has explained it like this to them, in a blog post.
And if you are the luxury consumer reading this, please keep your comments respectful towards my designer clients and friends.
I hope this post will help you, the luxury consumer, understand that hiring a professional luxury interior designer is not about saving money on things. It’s about having a customized interior that nurtures your soul at the deepest level, and if it’s an office or business, that enhances productivity and well being and supports your ability to attract the very best employees and clients - and both things, as American Express would say… are priceless.
One last… if you are an interior designer reading this post, please PIN the below image, sized for Pinterest, so more consumers might be better informed and educated about the profession of luxury interior design.
If you would like to share the URL to this post, as a link behind your PIN, this is what to copy and paste:
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2022/1/26/-a-rant-consumer-education-re-markups-and-margins-for-luxury-interior-designers
I have also sized this image for an Instagram STORY, so if you’d like to share it that way, please continue to scroll. You have my permission to download and save either of these images. Please, if you share this on Instagram, tag me: https://www.instagram.com/lesliemcarothers and my company, https://www.instagram.com/savourpartnership and link to the post.
Again, that URL link is:
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2022/1/26/-a-rant-consumer-education-re-markups-and-margins-for-luxury-interior-designers
Remember, even if you only have 1 follower on Instagram, you can now link to a post or website in a STORY!
Thank you.
Leslie M. Carothers
Chief Energizing Officer
Savour Partnership
Sized for Pinterest
Sized for an Instagram Story
