Interior design agreement: what it should contain, clause by clause.
An interior design agreement should say exactly what you are buying, what you pay and when, by which date, and what happens when something changes or goes wrong. In practice that means a dozen or so clauses: the scope, the specifications, the price and GST, the payment stages, the dates, changes, exclusions, the warranty, handover, cancellation and disputes. Read it before you pay the booking amount, because that is when you can still ask for changes.
Design only, or design and build
There are two kinds of interior design agreement in Bengaluru, and they carry different risks. A design-only agreement is with a designer or studio: you pay a fee for the layout, the drawings and the product list, and a contractor builds from them. Most of what can go wrong is in the scope: how many drawings, how many changes, how many site visits.
A design-and-build agreement is with a chain, a contractor or a studio that also builds. Most of the money is in this one, so it needs the specifications, the payment stages, the dates, the warranty and the snag list in full. If a designer hands you drawings and your contractor builds, you sign two agreements, and the drawings and product list go into both.
This is a checklist from the client's side, written from what we see in Bengaluru homes. It isn't legal advice. For a large build contract, have a lawyer read it before you sign.
What an interior design agreement should contain
These are the clauses to look for, in the order they usually appear. A design-only agreement needs the first four, the payment stages, changes, cancellation and disputes. A design-and-build agreement needs all of them.
| Clause | What it should say | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| The parties and the home | Your name, the firm's registered name and address, and the home: flat or house number, society, and the carpet area the price is worked out on. | A brand name with no company behind it, or an area that says only "approx". |
| Scope of work | Every room and every item in it, with sizes: each wardrobe, the kitchen run, the TV unit, the false ceiling. For design, the drawings you get, how many rounds of changes and how many site visits. | "Complete interiors as discussed", or a scope that lists rooms but not the items in them. |
| Specifications | For each item: the board (BWP plywood, BWR or HDHMR, with the brand and grade), the laminate or finish with its code, the hardware brand and series, the countertop and the edge band. Attach the product list. | "standard" or "premium quality" in place of a brand and code. |
| Price, and how it is measured | The total, and how each line is measured: per sq ft of shutter, per running foot of skirting, per sq ft of ceiling, or a lump sum. A design fee should name the area it is on, which should be carpet area. | A single total with no item list, or a rate on super built-up area. |
| GST | Shown as its own line, at the rate that applies, usually 18% on interior work. Ask whether every figure in the quotation is before or after GST. | A price that turns out to be "plus GST" only when the first invoice arrives. |
| Payment stages | Each payment tied to something you can see: booking, design sign-off, materials on site or production started, installation, handover. | More than half the total before anything is made, or stages tied to dates instead of work done. |
| Dates and delays | A date for the drawings, a date for handover, and what moves them (your changes, the site not being ready). A late-delivery clause says what you get if the firm is late, often a fixed amount per week, up to a cap. | No handover date at all, or "approximately 45 days" with nothing if it runs to 90. |
| Changes | How a change is asked for, priced and approved, in writing, and what it does to the date. After the drawings are signed, every change should come with its cost before work starts. | Changes agreed on WhatsApp or on site, and priced on the final bill. |
| Exclusions | What the price leaves out: civil work, electrical and plumbing, painting, appliances, loose furniture, curtains, transport, debris removal, and society deposits or lift charges. | No exclusions listed. Whatever isn't written down becomes an extra later. |
| Warranty | What is covered (carcass, shutters, hardware, workmanship), for how many years, what voids it, and who you call. Hardware brands give their own warranty on top. | "As per company policy", with the policy nowhere in the agreement. |
| Handover and snag list | A joint walk-through at handover, a written list of what needs fixing, and the days the firm has to fix it. The last payment falls due after that. | Handover counted as the day the last cabinet is fixed, with the snags left for later. |
| Cancellation and refunds | What you get back if you stop at each stage, and who owns the drawings you have paid for. | The whole booking amount forfeited at any stage, or drawings you can't take to another contractor. |
| Disputes | How a disagreement is settled (talking first, then mediation or arbitration) and that it is settled in Bengaluru. | A clause that sends disputes to another city, or gives one side the final word. |
The specifications clause is the one most often left loose, and the one that costs the most. A wardrobe in "BWP plywood" can be built from several grades and brands at very different prices. We go through the grades and marks to ask for in the best plywood brands, and which grade to ask for, and the hardware series in Hettich vs Hafele.
Which one binds: the quotation's terms or the agreement?
A quotation is an offer: the price for a list of items, on the terms printed with it. Its terms usually cover how long the price holds, GST, how each line is measured, the payment terms and what is excluded. Once you sign an agreement, the agreement is what binds. Anything you were promised only in the quotation, a WhatsApp message or a meeting is hard to hold anyone to after that.
So carry everything you need into the agreement, and attach the rest. A good agreement lists its annexures (the quotation, the drawings, the product list) and says which one wins if they disagree. If the quotation says one laminate code and the drawing says another, that clause decides it, in writing, before the panels are cut.
Seven things to check before you sign
- Every item has a size and a code. If the scope says "kitchen" and the specification says "premium laminate", the real decisions are being left for the factory or the site.
- The price has an item list. A single lump sum can't be checked against what arrives. Ask for each line with its unit and quantity.
- Payments follow the work. More than half the total before anything is made leaves you with little to hold on to if the dates slip.
- There is a handover date, and a cost to missing it. Without one, a 45-day job can run to 90 with nothing owed to you.
- Changes are priced before they're made. A change agreed on site and priced on the final bill is how budgets slip by lakhs.
- The warranty is written out. What is covered, for how long, and who you call. "As per company policy" isn't a warranty you can hold anyone to.
- Verbal promises are in writing. The soft-close drawers, the free chimney, the 30-day handover: if it isn't in the agreement or an annexure, it isn't agreed.
Most of these come down to deciding the home fully before you sign, so the agreement can say exactly what is being built. If you're weighing a freelancer against a firm, we go through what each usually gives in hiring a freelance interior designer in Bengaluru, and what a hidden margin costs in is an interior designer worth it?
How our own agreement works
Ours is a design-only agreement. The fee is ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area for the whole home, written into the agreement before you book, so a 1,200 sq ft 3BHK is ₹1.2 lakh. You pay 50% to book and 50% after you sign off the model, and GST is added on the invoice. The scope is the layout, every finish, furniture and lighting as real products, the full-scale model you walk through at the studio in Whitefield, the drawings your contractor builds from, and the product list with each item's brand and code. We take no margin or commission on anything you buy. Until our own execution launches, your build contract is with your contractor, and our drawings and product list are what you attach to it. The detail is on our pricing page and in how it works.
Questions people ask
What are the terms and conditions for interior design services?
The ones that matter to you as the client: the scope with every item and its size, the specifications with brands and codes, the price and how it is measured, GST, the payment stages, the dates and what happens if they slip, how changes are priced, what is excluded, the warranty, handover, cancellation and how disputes are settled.
What are the basic terms and conditions for a quotation?
How long the price holds, whether it is before or after GST, how each line is measured, the specifications it assumes, the payment terms, and what it excludes. A quotation is an offer. Once you sign an agreement, the agreement is what binds, so carry anything you need from the quotation into it.
Which binds, the quotation or the agreement?
The signed agreement. If the quotation, the drawings and the agreement say different things, the agreement should say which one wins, usually itself, with the quotation and drawings attached as annexures. Anything promised only in a quotation, a WhatsApp message or a meeting is hard to hold anyone to later.
How much advance should I pay an interior designer?
For design alone, a booking amount and the rest at sign-off is common. We charge 50% to book and 50% after you sign off the model. For design and build, a common pattern is about 10% to book, around half when production starts and the rest on delivery and installation.
Is a late-delivery penalty normal in an interior agreement?
It should be. Many agreements leave it out, so ask for one: a fixed amount per week of delay, up to a cap, with the agreed reasons the date can move, such as your own changes or the site not being ready.
Who should I sign the build contract with?
With whoever builds and is answerable for the work. If one firm designs and builds, that is one agreement. If a designer hands over drawings and your contractor builds, you sign the design agreement with the designer and the build contract with the contractor, and the drawings and product list go into both.
An agreement that can say exactly what gets built
An agreement can only be as exact as the design behind it. We build your whole home at full size before anything is bought, every surface a real product with a brand and a code, and you walk through it at the studio in Whitefield. The drawings and the product list come from that same home, so the contract you sign with your contractor can name every size and every code. The fee is ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area. See a finished studio home for the level of detail.
Free, 45 minutes, online on Google Meet or at the studio. Bring your floor plan and any agreement or quotation you've been given, and we'll go through it with you on the call.