Interior designer charges per sq ft in Bangalore: the ways designers charge, and which square foot they mean.
Interior designers in Bengaluru charge ₹50 to 250 per sq ft for the design alone. The rate should be on carpet area, the floor inside your walls, which is smaller than the super built-up figure on your agreement. And the fee is the small part: the build itself costs ₹800 to 2,500+ per sq ft of carpet area.
Interior designer charges per sq ft in Bangalore
Across the market, the design alone costs ₹50 to 250 per sq ft. Less experienced freelancers sit at the low end of the per sq ft range, and hiring a freelance interior designer goes through what they give for it. Design-led independents, the small studios that sell the design as a service of its own, charge ₹150 to 250.
Typical Bengaluru rates, mid-2026.
A design-led independent's fee comes to about ₹1 to 2 lakh for a 2BHK and ₹2 to 3 lakh for a 3BHK. We set out who is who in interior designers in Bangalore compared.
The ways interior designers charge for a home
A quoted fee of ₹150 per sq ft with nothing on the materials can cost less than a design called free. We go through the trade-off in is an interior designer worth it?
Which square foot? Carpet area, built-up and super built-up
A flat has three areas, and a per sq ft rate means very different money on each.
Carpet area is usually 70 to 80% of the super built-up area on your agreement. A flat sold as 1,500 sq ft super built-up has about 1,050 to 1,200 sq ft of carpet area, so the same ₹100 rate gives two fees for the same work.
A designer designs the floor inside your walls, and nobody puts a wardrobe in the lift lobby. So ask which area the rate applies to, and get it in writing, with the number of sq ft printed on the quote. If two designers quote ₹100 and ₹130, check the areas first. The lower rate on super built-up can come to more than the higher rate on carpet area.
Design fee by home size: 1,000, 1,200, 1,500 and 2,000 sq ft
The design fee alone, at four rates across the market, on carpet area. A 1,000 to 1,400 sq ft home is usually a 3BHK. At 1,500 and 2,000 sq ft you are into a large flat or a house.
Fee only, before GST. Typical Bengaluru rates, mid-2026.
Interior design cost per square foot: the fee against the build
The build is where most of the money goes. A lean but complete build in Bengaluru costs about ₹800 to 1,100 per sq ft of carpet area, a typical one ₹1,200 to 1,600, and a premium one ₹1,600 to 2,500 or more. Against that, a design fee of ₹100 per sq ft is a small share of the total.
Typical Bengaluru rates, mid-2026. Before GST, without appliances or curtains.
Lean gets you a laminate kitchen, laminate wardrobes with lofts, a false ceiling in the living room only. Typical adds ceilings in the bedrooms, a TV unit, better hardware, one acrylic or PU finish and loose furniture. Premium means veneer, acrylic or PU across the home, a quartz or stone countertop, more lighting and more of the furniture made to order. We go through what fits in each band, room by room, on budget interior designers in Bangalore.
So the fee matters less than how the build money is spent. A designer at ₹100 instead of ₹150 saves ₹60,000 on a 1,200 sq ft flat, while one wardrobe that ignores a pillar can lose 5 to 10 sq ft of floor, worth ₹75,000 to 2 lakh.
What the fee should cover, and what to ask before you sign
Two quotes at the same rate can cover very different work. Ask each designer these questions and get the answers on paper.
- Drawings. Which drawings come with the fee, for which rooms, and can a contractor build from them without redrawing?
- Product list. Will every laminate, handle, tile and light be named with its brand and code, so you can buy it anywhere?
- Revisions. How many rounds of changes are in the fee, and what does a change cost after that?
- Site visits. How many, and for what: measuring, or checking the work as it goes up?
- GST. Is the rate before GST, and will GST be shown as its own line on the invoice?
- Payments. How much is due to book, and what is each later payment tied to?
- Markup. Does the designer earn any margin or commission on materials, vendors or the contractor?
- Area. Which area is the rate on, and how many sq ft is that for your home?
Where we sit: ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area
Tomorrow Homes charges ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area for the whole home, which is ₹1.2 lakh for a 1,200 sq ft 3BHK. We take no margin or commission on materials or vendors, so the fee is all we earn on your home. You pay 50% to book and 50% after you sign off the model, and GST is extra. The detail is on our pricing page, and what to do from possession to move-in is on new home interior design in Bangalore.
Questions people ask
Is the design fee charged on carpet area or super built-up?
It should be carpet area, the floor inside your walls that the designer actually designs. Carpet area is usually 70 to 80% of the super built-up area on your agreement, so at ₹100 per sq ft a flat sold as 1,500 sq ft comes to ₹1.05 to 1.2 lakh on carpet area and ₹1.5 lakh on super built-up. Ask which area applies, in writing.
Do designers charge per sq ft for a single room?
Some do, but a single room more often gets a flat fee, or a per sq ft rate with a minimum charge. Ask for the fee as one sum before you agree. We design whole homes only, at ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area for the full flat or house.
What is the 70/30 rule in interior design?
People use it two ways. For the look: 70% of a room in one calm scheme and 30% in accents, so the room feels like one thing. For money: 70% of the budget on fixed work that is hard to change later (kitchen, wardrobes, wiring, ceiling) and 30% on things you can buy or swap over the years. On a tight budget, the second one is more useful.
Is GST included in the design fee?
Ask, and get the fee and the GST as separate lines, so two quotes compare on the same basis. Our ₹100 per sq ft of carpet area is the fee before tax. GST is extra and shown on the invoice.
How much does it cost to design the interior of a 1,500 sq ft house?
With 1,500 sq ft of carpet area, the design fee is ₹75,000 to 3.75 lakh at market rates, or ₹1.5 lakh at ₹100 per sq ft. The build runs about ₹12 to 16.5 lakh lean, ₹18 to 24 lakh typical and ₹24 to 37.5 lakh or more premium. If 1,500 sq ft is the super built-up figure, the carpet area is nearer 1,050 to 1,200 sq ft, and every number comes down with it.
Seen at full size, before anything is bought
Whatever a designer charges, the money is lost or saved at one moment: when a decision gets checked, on a drawing or on delivery day. We build your whole home at full size before anything is bought, every surface a real product, and you walk through it at the studio in Whitefield. If the wardrobe stands into the room, you see it there, and moving it takes a minute. The drawings your contractor builds from come out of the same home you walked. Have a look at a finished studio home to see the level of detail.
Free, 45 minutes, online on Google Meet or at the studio. Bring your floor plan and we'll work out the fee with you on the call.