Interior Designer Salaries : Indian Design Industry 2018

How much will I earn as an Interior designer?

Does this question come in your way every time you think about Interior Design? Well, it is an important question for sure! After all, we also want money to keep our interests on track! And if you can’t wait to make a career out of your creativity, this question is definitely a decisive one. So, let us see where Interior Designer salaries stand in the current design Industry.

Interior Designer Salaries: Deciding factors

Like with any other industry, salaries in Interior design depend a lot on what exactly you do as a designer, where you work, nature of your work and so on. Let’s understand how it works.

1. Job Designation

Your job title, once you enter the design field, has a big role in your salary. You may begin as a draftsman in a firm and gradually may take the plunge to 3D visualizing. Or, you may join as a site supervisor for an ongoing project in a design firm. So, each designation has its own salary bracket.

Your earnings,if you happen to be a freelancer, fall in another category altogether. Well, lets talk about that later.

2. Location

Almost in sync with your designation, the location of your firm decides your income. So if you are a draftsman working in a city like Calicut or Pune, expect your starting salary to be Rs.10,000/- to Rs.12,000/- per month. However, if you happen to work in metropolitan cities like Delhi or Mumbai, you can start with a monthly package of Rs.15,000/- to Rs.20,000/-. This is equally true for 3D Visualizing and other job titles as well.

3. Experience

Of course, it goes without saying that the more experienced you are, the better you earn. But another aspect to consider is the nature of your experience. So expect a good package if both the Employer design firm requirement and your portfolio works are about residential designing, as an example. However, you may have to compromise a bit if you specialize in commercial designs and apply to a residential design firm.

4. Qualification

Your professional qualification is another point that influences your salary package. Of course, a Design degree fetches you more than a Design diploma. And one of the main reasons for this is the big difference in portfolios. Also,a degree program is almost always followed by internship or training, which gives you an edge in professional conduct.

5. Firm policies

A good firm is like good luck-tricky to find but worth it! So if you happen to land a job that gives performance based appraisals, then your quality of work can make it or break it! Also, there are firms that follow periodic appraisal policies, like an yearly increment. And of course, then there are firms that do not believe in appraisals at all… let us not keep our hopes high in those cases!

Earnings as a freelancer vs interior Designer salaries

The ultimate dream of any and every interior designer is to own a design firm eventually and become an entrepreneur. But both have their own pros and cons, like two sides of a coin.

As a freelancer, you enjoy the absolute freedom-to choose a work, to decide how to go about it, how to design and so on. Obviously,you tend to work on your own terms and you enjoy all the profits. And as you gradually establish your own design firm, you see to it that the works you undertake are as per your signature design statement. You many stand to make as much as six-figure package monthly depending on the number of fruitful projects you do.

But, when you run a business, you have to foresee a lot of things. And most importantly you have to keep the works flowing in. You are responsible for anything and everything that happens in the firm. Also, as is with any business, there is no fixed income guarantee.

Now, when you are a salaried professional, you enjoy certain privileges such as leaves,salaries and increments. Also, there is a sense of Job security. However, the growth is comparatively slower as compared to being an independent interior designer.

Interior designer salaries (monthly) for design professionals begin from 10,000 INR to 25,000 INR and these only keep increasing with experience and time. So now that you know you stand to earn, don’t waste any more time- go and kick start your design career!