Plainly, and up front
What an Interior Designer Costs in Houston
Houston designers charge in one of four ways: by the hour, a flat design fee for a defined scope, a percentage of the project budget, or cost plus a markup on what they buy for you.
We charge by the hour. The onsite design consultation is $300 an hour. Contracted design time, once a project is under way, is $175 an hour. Furnishings, materials and construction are quoted separately, and they are the larger part of any renovation.
Most firms in this market publish no figure at all. Ours have been on the process page since it was written, and this page explains what sits around them.
Before you compare two proposals
The four ways designers charge
They are not interchangeable, and two firms quoting the same project can produce very different numbers without either of them being wrong.
- Hourly
- A stated rate for time
- You pay for the hours the work takes. Easy to verify against an invoice, harder to forecast at the start. It suits a scope that is still moving.
- Flat design fee
- One price for a defined scope
- Agreed up front, which makes it predictable. It is only as firm as the definition of the scope, so ask what happens when the scope grows.
- Percentage of project
- A share of what you spend
- The fee is a proportion of construction and furnishings. It scales with the project, which also means the fee rises as the budget does.
- Cost plus
- Trade price plus a markup
- The designer buys at trade pricing and adds a stated percentage. What you pay for a sofa is the trade price plus that markup, not the retail price.
Three questions compare firms better than an hourly rate does. Which of the four do you use. What is inside the fee and what is billed separately. What happens to the fee if the scope grows.
What we charge
Our design rates
- Onsite design consultation
- $300 an hour
- The first visit. We walk the space with you, talk through what is possible and what it will take, and you leave with a clear read on the project.
- Contracted design
- $175 an hour
- Design time once the project is under way, through the nine stages of the process.
The first step is a complimentary discovery call, then the paid on-site consultation if it is a fit.
The bigger number
What the renovation costs, as opposed to the design
When people ask what a designer costs, they usually mean what the project costs. Design time is a fraction of it.
Houston kitchen remodels cluster in the mid $30,000s, and two methods with nothing in common agree within about eight per cent. 729 Houston building permits filed between March 2021 and January 2026 average $36,841, against a national average of $46,623 (Block Renovation, from Houston Department of Buildings open data via BuildZoom). A separate sample of 1,054 recent projects across the Houston, The Woodlands and Sugar Land metro averages $34,100 (RenovCost, June 2026). Both put Houston below the national number.
Mid range work in those datasets lands around $28,300 to $41,300, which buys semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters and stainless appliances. Drawn millwork and slab stone, which is what the kitchens in this portfolio are, sit in the tier above: $62,900 to $80,300, with a luxury tier above that nobody publishes a figure for.
We do not publish a figure for a primary bath. The Houston sources we could find disagree by a factor of three and one of them contradicts itself inside a single page, so there is no number here worth repeating. We will give you a real one at the consultation, for your room.
What moves the number
Three things that change a Houston budget
Scope that crosses into architecture or engineering
Texas statute draws this line rather than leaving it to custom. Under the Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1053, Section 1053.003, interior design registration does not authorise planning or designing architectural interior construction, engineering a building system, or practising architecture or engineering. Moving a load bearing wall or re-routing mechanical, electrical or plumbing work means an architect or an engineer alongside the designer, and a separate fee. Knowing that at the consultation is cheaper than discovering it at framing.
Review, where the address is subject to it
The Heights has three historic districts, not one: East, West and South, designated between 2007 and 2010. A Certificate of Appropriateness applies to work that alters the exterior appearance of a designated property, and the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission meets once a month, with a complete application due twenty two days before the meeting. In River Oaks the Architectural Review Committee sees plans, elevations, site layouts and landscaping before anything is built. Neither changes an interior fee by itself; both change the calendar, and a calendar is a budget.
Lead times, which are longer than people expect
Custom millwork, stone and upholstered pieces drive more of a schedule than demolition does. It is why we specify early and why procurement sits inside the firm rather than with the contractor. A design that is approved but waiting on a single backordered vanity is the most expensive kind of delay there is.
Common questions
What people ask about cost
How much does an interior designer cost in Houston?
Houston designers charge in one of four ways: by the hour, a flat design fee for a defined scope, a percentage of the project budget, or cost plus a markup on what they buy for you. Jennifer Kizzee Design charges by the hour. The onsite design consultation is $300 an hour and contracted design time is $175 an hour. Furnishings, materials and construction are quoted separately and are the larger part of any renovation.
Do you charge a percentage of the project?
No. We charge hourly, at the two published rates, so what you pay tracks the hours the project actually takes rather than the size of the budget. A percentage fee rises when the budget rises, which is worth understanding before you compare two proposals.
What is not included in the design fee?
Everything that is not design time. Furniture, lighting, plumbing fixtures, tile, stone, cabinetry, appliances, fabric, freight, receiving, storage and the construction itself are all quoted separately. Design time is a fraction of what a renovation costs.
Do I need an architect as well as an interior designer?
Sometimes, and Texas statute draws the line. Under the Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1053, Section 1053.003, interior design registration does not authorise planning or designing architectural interior construction, engineering a building system, or practising architecture or engineering. A project that moves structure or re-routes mechanical, electrical or plumbing systems needs an architect or an engineer alongside the designer, and that is a separate fee. We work with both regularly and will say so at the consultation.
What does a kitchen renovation cost in Houston?
Houston kitchen remodels cluster in the mid $30,000s, and two methods with nothing in common agree within about eight per cent. 729 Houston building permits filed between March 2021 and January 2026 average $36,841, against a national average of $46,623 (Block Renovation, from Houston Department of Buildings open data via BuildZoom). A separate sample of 1,054 recent projects across the Houston, The Woodlands and Sugar Land metro averages $34,100 (RenovCost, June 2026). Mid range work lands around $28,300 to $41,300. Drawn millwork and slab stone, which is what this portfolio is, sits in the tier above: $62,900 to $80,300, with a luxury tier above that nobody publishes a figure for.
What is the first step, and does it cost anything?
A complimentary discovery call, then a paid on-site consultation if it is a fit. The consultation is the $300 an hour visit. We walk the space, talk through scope and budget honestly, and you leave with a clear read on your project whether or not you hire us.
Start here
Tell us about your project
The first step is a complimentary discovery call, then a paid on-site consultation if it's a fit. We walk the space, talk through scope honestly, and you leave with a clear read on what your project takes.