Two proposals for the same 2,500 square foot restaurant can arrive $40,000 apart, and both can be priced honestly. Commercial interior design fees follow four basic structures, and each one distributes risk differently between the operator and the designer. Once you can read the structure, the gap between proposals usually turns out to be a gap in scope, not a gap in ethics.
How commercial interior design fees are structured
The industry recognizes a handful of standard compensation methods. The Minnesota chapter of ASID defines the main ones: a fixed fee, meaning "a specific sum to cover costs, exclusive of reimbursement for expenses," applied from concept through installation; hourly, meaning compensation based on actual time the designer spends; cost-plus, where the designer buys at cost and resells at cost plus an agreed percentage; and per square foot, which ASID notes is "used for larger commercial projects." The same page states plainly that "there is no such thing as a typical or customary fee." Hold on to that sentence. It explains most of the confusion you will meet.
The fourth structure you will see on hospitality work is a percentage of construction cost, borrowed from architecture. Here is what each model means in practice.
Percentage of construction. The fee scales with the build. One cost guide puts commercial design fees at 8 to 18 percent of construction cost, with boutique fit-out work nearer 6 to 15 percent depending on scope and service level. Another guide quotes 15 to 25 percent of total project cost for standard commercial projects, sometimes with a separate 5 to 10 percent project-management fee on top. The two guides do not even agree on what the percentage applies to (construction cost versus total project cost), which is exactly why ASID refuses to name a customary figure.
Per square foot. A flat rate multiplied by the area. Predictable and easy to compare, which is why large fit-outs favor it. Commercial interior design fees per square foot only make sense when the scope per square foot is roughly uniform; a dining room and a commercial kitchen are not the same square foot.
Fixed fee. One number for a defined scope, concept through installation. The safest model for the operator, provided the scope document is precise. A fixed fee against a vague scope is just a deferred argument.
Hourly. Reasonable for consultations, feasibility studies, and small interventions. Open-ended for a full build, because you carry all the schedule risk.
What the fee comes to in dollars
Percentages mean nothing without the construction number underneath them. Cushman & Wakefield's 2025 U.S. retail fit-out guide puts in-line store fit-outs at a national average of $155 per square foot, up 4 percent year over year, ranging from $117 in the Southeast to $211 in Northern California. That is the retail baseline; restaurants run higher because of kitchens and mechanical work. Sweeten's restaurant renovation data puts New York restaurant work at $216 per square foot against a $160 national mid-level average, with front-of-house at $300 to $350 per square foot and a 2,000 square foot New York space landing between $400,000 and $500,000 before furniture and equipment.
Run the arithmetic on a $450,000 New York build. At 8 percent, the design fee is $36,000. At 15 percent, it is $67,500. That spread is the honest answer to what commercial interior design fees cost in this city: the model and the scope matter more than the headline rate. We break the full budget picture down in what restaurant interior design costs.
What is included, and what quietly is not
Two fees that differ by half are usually not the same service at different prices. They are different services. The lower proposal typically excludes detailed construction documents, FF&E procurement, construction administration, and revision rounds. It stops at design intent: attractive drawings that a contractor cannot build from without interpretation, and interpretation on site is where budgets go to die. Restaurants compound this because they carry heavy code and MEP coordination that a concept-only fee never touches.
So before comparing numbers, compare deliverables. A full-service fee should name the drawing set, the number of revision rounds, procurement responsibility, and site presence during construction. If a line item is missing, it is not free; it is yours.
How scope changes bite
Every fee model has a pressure point, and scope change is where it shows. The AIA's own analysis of its B101 owner-architect agreement notes that the 2017 revision ties percentage fees to "the Owner's most recent budget for the Cost of the Work" rather than final construction cost, with additional fees available when the budget escalates because of a material change in the project. Read that twice if you are signing a percentage deal: the fee base can move when your budget moves, and restaurant budgets move. Sweeten reports restaurant budget overruns averaging 34 percent.
On a fixed fee, scope change arrives as a change order to the design fee structure itself. On hourly, it arrives silently, one invoice at a time. None of these are traps if the interior design contract defines what a scope change is and prices the mechanism in advance. Many scope changes trace back to the space itself, which is why we tell operators to read what to check before signing the lease.
How ORÉA prices its own work
ORÉA COLLECTIVE works on a fixed fee against a written scope, and the reason is sequence: we produce the complete drawing set before any trade is engaged, so the scope is defined before it is priced, not discovered during demolition. Both founders work on every project directly. At Sesilya, a Georgian restaurant in Park Slope, that meant the contractor bid from finished documents rather than intent sketches, and every material was approved standing in the room's own light before it was ordered. We stay through installation, because a drawing set is a promise and installation is where it is kept. How the studio runs a project end to end is on the studio page.
A clear fee is not the cheap one or the expensive one. It is the one where you can name what every dollar buys.
Questions to ask before signing
The interior design contract is where fee structure stops being theory. Ask these before you sign:
- Which fee model applies, and if it is a percentage, what number does it apply to: the bid, the current budget, or final cost?
- How many revision rounds are included, and what does an additional round cost?
- Are full construction documents included, or only design intent drawings?
- Who handles FF&E procurement, and is there a markup on purchases?
- Is construction administration included, and how many site visits does it cover?
- What counts as a scope change, and how is the additional fee calculated?
A firm that answers these in writing, quickly, is showing you how it will run your project. For how to evaluate the studios themselves, see how to hire an interior designer in New York.
The fee conversation is the first drawing a studio ever shows you; precise pricing tends to precede precise work. If you are weighing proposals for a hospitality space in New York, start with a conversation.