Search the English-language web for interior design costs and almost everything you find is American or Indian. US guides quote 100 to 400 dollars per hour and 5 to 12 percent of project cost; Indian sites talk in rupees per square foot. Neither helps an Austrian family refurbishing a Vienna apartment, a Swiss developer planning a boutique hotel, or a German entrepreneur opening an office in Berlin. This guide fixes that gap. It sets out what interior design actually costs across the major European markets in 2026, how the main fee structures work, and how international clients should plan a realistic budget — including the cross-border cost advantage that has made Central European studios the quiet winners of the last five years.
The three fee structures used across Europe
European interior designers use three pricing models. Studios sometimes mix them — a fixed concept fee plus hourly extras, for example — but every quote you receive will be built from these three building blocks.
1. Fixed-price (lump sum)
The studio quotes a single fee for a defined scope: concept, 3D renderings, technical drawings, supervision. This is the dominant model for residential projects across Europe and the safest for clients, because the price is locked before work begins. It only works when scope is genuinely defined — vague briefs lead to change orders that erode the fixed-price logic.
2. Hourly
Rates run roughly 80 to 120 euros per hour in Germany and Austria, 100 to 180 pounds per hour in the United Kingdom, 150 to 250 francs per hour in Switzerland, and 35 to 70 euros per hour in Central and Eastern Europe. Hourly is appropriate for short consultations — a colour review, a layout opinion, a single room — but exposes clients to open-ended billing on full projects. Avoid hourly contracts longer than two weeks unless the studio commits to a not-to-exceed cap.
3. Percentage of construction cost
The dominant model in Germany via HOAI, and common across continental Europe for larger projects. Fees run 10 to 18 percent of construction value, distributed across project phases. This model aligns the studio’s incentive with delivering the brief: more work means more fee, but unnecessary specification inflation is constrained by client approval at every phase. It is the right model for commercial projects above 500,000 euros in construction value.
HOAI explained for English speakers
If you are working with a German studio, you will hear HOAI mentioned in the first conversation. The Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure is the official fee schedule for architects and engineers, and most German interior designers use the same logic for pricing. It splits a project into nine phases — from initial brief through to documentation — and assigns a percentage of construction cost to each phase.
- Phase 1 — Brief and consultation: 2 percent
- Phase 2 — Preliminary design: 7 percent
- Phase 3 — Design development: 15 percent
- Phase 4 — Permit drawings: 3 percent
- Phase 5 — Working drawings: 25 percent
- Phase 6 — Tender preparation: 10 percent
- Phase 7 — Tender management: 4 percent
- Phase 8 — Construction supervision: 32 percent
- Phase 9 — Handover and documentation: 2 percent
For an interior fit-out without structural work, phases 1 to 5 plus 8 typically apply — roughly 84 percent of the full HOAI scale. Since the 2021 revision following a European Court of Justice ruling, HOAI rates are reference values rather than mandatory minimums, but the structure remains the standard way German studios calculate and explain fees. Austrian and Swiss studios often use a similar phased logic, even when they are not bound by an equivalent statutory framework.
Residential fees: real numbers by project type
The figures below are mid-market, based on European studio rates collected through 2025 and projected for 2026. They cover full-service design including concept, 3D visualisation, technical documentation, and basic on-site supervision. Bespoke service, signature designers, or unusually large floor plates can push these figures considerably higher.
- Studio apartment (under 50 m²): 1,000 to 2,500 euros design fee
- One- or two-bedroom apartment (50 to 100 m²): 1,500 to 4,000 euros
- Family apartment (100 to 150 m²): 2,500 to 5,000 euros
- Townhouse or villa (150 to 300 m²): 4,000 to 12,000 euros
- Large house (300 to 600 m²): 8,000 to 25,000 euros
- Luxury residence (over 600 m²): 20,000 to 80,000+ euros
These figures are for design fees only. Construction and fit-out costs are separate and typically run 4 to 10 times the design fee depending on finish level. A standard rule for European residential refurbishment in 2026: total project cost (excluding designer fee) lands between 1,200 and 3,000 euros per square metre for mid-market work, 3,000 to 6,000 euros per square metre for upper-tier finish, and 6,000 to 15,000 euros per square metre for genuinely luxury work.
Commercial fees: per square metre and per key
Commercial work is rarely priced as a lump sum at scale. Studios use square-metre rates for offices and retail, per-key (per room) rates for hotels, and per-seat rates for restaurants. The numbers below are 2026 European mid-market design fees only — construction is excluded.
- Office: 30 to 60 euros per square metre design; 600 to 1,800 euros per square metre construction
- Retail: 60 to 120 euros per square metre design; 1,200 to 3,500 euros per square metre construction
- Restaurant: 80 to 150 euros per square metre design, or 800 to 2,500 euros per seat all-in (design plus construction)
- Café or bar: 60 to 120 euros per square metre design; 1,000 to 2,200 euros per square metre construction
- Boutique hotel: 25,000 to 80,000 euros per key all-in for mid-market; 80,000 to 200,000+ euros per key for luxury
- Dental or medical clinic: 80 to 180 euros per square metre design; 1,500 to 3,500 euros per square metre construction
- Co-working space: 35 to 70 euros per square metre design; 800 to 1,800 euros per square metre construction
For commercial clients, the meaningful number is rarely the design fee alone — it is design fee as a percentage of total project value. In 2026, a healthy ratio for European commercial work sits between 6 and 12 percent. Anything below 5 percent is usually a warning sign that the studio is undercosting and will cut corners during execution.
Country-by-country comparison
European interior design pricing varies more by country than most clients realise. The same studio quality and the same material sourcing produce dramatically different invoices depending on where the studio is based. The percentages below use Germany as the index (100). They cover full-service design fees for comparable mid-to-upper market projects.
- Switzerland: 130 to 145 — premium labour costs, strict regulation, and CHF strength push fees well above the German benchmark
- United Kingdom: 115 to 125 — central London projects can run 30 to 50 percent above German rates; regional UK is closer to parity
- Norway, Denmark, Sweden: 110 to 125 — Nordic premium driven by labour costs and design culture
- France: 100 to 115 — Paris commands a 20 to 30 percent premium over the rest of France
- Germany, Austria, Netherlands: 95 to 105 — the central European benchmark
- Italy, Spain, Portugal: 75 to 95 — strong design culture, lower overheads
- Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary: 55 to 75 — increasingly capable studios at meaningfully lower rates
- Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia: 40 to 60 — full Western European quality at half the fee, sourcing the same European materials
The variance is real but it does not mean Swiss work is “better” than German or Polish work is “worse” than UK work. It reflects studio cost structures — rent, salaries, taxes, regulation — not the quality of the design output. For international clients, this opens up a structural cost advantage that simply did not exist a decade ago.
Worked example: 120 m² Berlin apartment refurbishment
To make these numbers concrete, here is a realistic 2026 budget for a 120 m² family apartment in Berlin Mitte. Scope: full refurbishment including new kitchen, two bathrooms, replanned living area, fitted wardrobes in three bedrooms, mid-to-upper finish.
- Design fee (Berlin studio): 4,500 euros
- 3D visualisation (12 renderings): 1,800 euros
- Technical documentation: 2,400 euros
- On-site supervision (4 months): 6,000 euros
- Structural engineer (one wall removed): 2,200 euros
- Construction (general trades): 96,000 euros (800 euros per m²)
- Kitchen (mid-upper): 22,000 euros
- Bathrooms (two): 28,000 euros
- Fitted wardrobes (three): 14,000 euros
- Lighting and electrical upgrade: 9,500 euros
- Flooring (engineered oak): 11,500 euros
- Loose furniture and curtains: 18,000 euros
- Contingency (12 percent): 25,200 euros
- VAT (19 percent on applicable items): included in line-item totals above where appropriate
Total project budget: approximately 241,000 euros, of which the design and supervision fee represents roughly 6 percent. The same project specification delivered through a Kosovo-based studio (sourcing the same European materials) lands closer to 165,000 to 180,000 euros — a saving of 25 to 30 percent driven entirely by lower studio overheads, not by reduced quality.
Hidden costs international clients consistently miss
Almost every cross-border project we see arrives with a budget that has missed at least three of the items below. Build them into your initial planning, not into the contingency.
- VAT: 17 percent in Luxembourg, 19 percent in Germany, 20 percent in the UK and France, 22 percent in Italy, 25 percent in Denmark, up to 27 percent in Hungary
- Structural engineering: required for almost every wall removal — 1,500 to 5,000 euros
- Building services coordination: HVAC, electrical, and plumbing engineering bills that rarely sit inside the designer’s fee
- Permits and approvals: vary widely by country and city; budget 500 to 3,000 euros plus three to twelve weeks of timeline
- Bespoke joinery lead times: 8 to 16 weeks; rush fees on faster delivery can add 15 to 30 percent
- Specialist trades: stone fabrication, art handling, custom upholstery — each priced separately
- Cross-border logistics: shipping bespoke pieces between EU countries, customs paperwork for non-EU items, transport insurance
- Snagging and second-fix: budget 4 to 6 weeks for the punch list at the end of construction
How international clients should plan a realistic budget
If you are based in Frankfurt, Zurich, London, or Dubai and planning a project anywhere in Europe — including in your home market — the planning logic is the same. Build the budget bottom up, in five stages.
- Define scope clearly before requesting quotes. Number of rooms, total area, level of finish, whether structural changes are involved, whether you need furniture procurement
- Ask three studios for itemised quotes. Compare not the bottom line but each line item — what is included, what is not
- Add VAT explicitly to every quote. European studios sometimes quote net (excluding VAT), sometimes gross — confirm which
- Add 12 to 15 percent contingency to construction, not to the design fee
- Budget for two cross-border site visits per quarter if you are not based in the project city
For a meaningful sense of how the European market is structured by region and segment, the data published by Statista’s furniture and living market reports remains the most accessible benchmark — particularly for tracking how labour and material cost trends are moving year on year.
The cross-border cost advantage
Five years ago, a German client hiring a Kosovo or Albanian studio was an unusual choice. Today it is mainstream. Three things changed: 3D visualisation became fast enough to make remote decision-making credible; cross-border project management tools matured; and Central European studios built portfolios of internationally credible work that could be evaluated against any Western European peer.
The arithmetic is simple. A studio in Prishtinë, Tirana, or Belgrade has labour costs roughly 30 to 40 percent of a comparable Munich, Vienna, or Zurich studio. Material sourcing is identical — the same European suppliers, same logistics — so the savings flow directly to the client. For a typical 250,000 euro Berlin project, choosing a Central European studio delivering the same scope and finish typically reduces total project cost by 60,000 to 80,000 euros without changing the build-out specification.
What you are actually paying for
Stripped back, an interior design fee buys five things: time, judgement, drawings, supervision, and risk transfer. The cost variance across Europe reflects how expensive it is to put those five things together — rents, wages, regulation, taxes — not the quality of what arrives at the client’s door. Once an international client understands this, the choice becomes much clearer: define your scope precisely, request itemised quotes, weigh the studio’s portfolio against their fee, and judge value by what is actually included rather than by sticker price.
Doyenne is a multidisciplinary studio based in Prishtinë, Kosovo, combining interior design, architecture, 3D visualisation, and on-site supervision under one roof. Over 230 completed projects, a multilingual team, and active work in both private and commercial categories across Kosovo, Albania, and the German-speaking region give us a pricing structure that is genuinely transparent — every quote is itemised, every line is explained, and every project is delivered against a written fixed-price contract. If you would like a real quote for a real project, request a no-obligation cost estimate. We will return a full itemised proposal within five working days.
Want to see comparable work? Explore our portfolio or read about our full service offering.
