Pricing remains one of the biggest challenges facing interior designers in Kenya today.
While the industry continues experiencing rapid growth across residential, hospitality, commercial, and retail sectors, many designers still struggle with underpricing, unclear project scope, poor cost control, and profitability challenges.
As client expectations increase and projects become more complex, conversations around value, authority, and sustainable business practices are becoming increasingly important within Kenya’s interior design industry.
These conversations formed the foundation of the 2026 IDSK Roundtable Series masterclass led by Quantity Surveyor Patience Mulondo under the theme:
Beyond Aesthetics: Mastering Value, Authority & Pricing
Hosted by the Interior Design Society of Kenya (IDSK), the session brought together interior designers, consultants, suppliers, and built-environment professionals for a practical and highly relevant discussion on the business side of interior design.
The masterclass explored one of the most misunderstood concepts within the industry — the difference between cost and price.
Patience Mulondo explained that cost refers to the internal investment required to deliver a service or product, including labour, materials, time, transport, equipment, overheads, and operational expenses. Price, on the other hand, is the final amount charged to the client after accounting for those costs together with business sustainability and profitability.
For many designers, pricing is often influenced by market pressure, competition, or fear of losing clients rather than actual project costing. The session emphasized that without understanding true project costs, many designers unintentionally underprice their services and compromise long-term business growth.
The discussion highlighted how professional interior design extends far beyond aesthetics alone. Today’s interior designers are increasingly involved in:
- Procurement coordination
- Budget management
- Site supervision
- Project delivery
- Contract administration
- Supplier coordination
- Cost planning
- Client management
As a result, pricing should reflect not only creativity, but also the complexity and operational realities involved in delivering successful projects.
The masterclass also explored the hidden costs many designers fail to account for when preparing quotations.
These may include:
- Office overheads
- Insurance
- Transport
- Site logistics
- Storage
- Communication
- Utilities
- Taxes
- Permits and licenses
- Material fluctuations
- Risk exposure
- Time spent on revisions and coordination
Participants discussed how these overlooked costs often become the reason projects lose profitability even when they appear financially viable at the beginning.
Another major area of discussion was cost control and project monitoring.
The session emphasized that profitability is not determined only during quotation preparation, but throughout the entire project lifecycle. Tracking variations, managing scope changes, monitoring procurement, and documenting decisions are all critical aspects of successful project delivery.
The importance of proper contracts and documentation also featured strongly throughout the conversation.
Many interior designers continue facing challenges related to:
- Scope creep
- Delayed approvals
- Unclear deliverables
- Payment delays
- Verbal agreements
- Project disputes
The session reinforced the need for designers to adopt more structured systems through professional agreements, documentation, timelines, and communication processes.
Beyond pricing itself, the masterclass opened broader conversations around authority within the interior design profession.
Patience Mulondo emphasized that authority is built through:
- Professional delivery
- Technical understanding
- Clear communication
- Consistency
- Structured systems
- Confidence in pricing
- Understanding project value
The discussion challenged designers to move away from positioning themselves purely as decorators and instead embrace their role as strategic professionals within the built environment.
As Kenya’s interior design industry continues evolving, clients are increasingly looking for designers who combine creativity with professionalism, business understanding, and execution capability.
The strong turnout at the IDSK Roundtable Series reflected the growing demand for industry conversations focused not only on design inspiration, but also on business sustainability, profitability, and professional growth.
The event also highlighted the increasing importance of collaboration between interior designers, quantity surveyors, suppliers, consultants, and other built-environment professionals in shaping a stronger and more structured industry.
Through initiatives such as the Roundtable Series, the Interior Design Society of Kenya (IDSK) continues creating platforms that support education, networking, mentorship, and professional development within Kenya’s growing interior design ecosystem.
As the industry becomes more commercially sophisticated, conversations around pricing, value, authority, and project delivery will continue playing a major role in shaping the future of interior design in Kenya.
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https://idsk.or.ke/idsk-membership-application/
Official Website:
https://idsk.or.ke/
