Service 05 — Full-service
Full-Service Interior Design
One studio owns the whole thing from the first site visit to the last thing placed on a shelf. No mood board handed off to someone else to interpret.
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What's included
Full documentation set
Plans, elevations, ceiling plans, joinery drawings, finish schedule, and lighting plan a trade can build from.
Procurement and tracking
Everything sourced, ordered, and scheduled against the build, with lead times confirmed before commitment.
Trade coordination
We draw alongside your architect, engineer, and builder, and we answer the site's questions as they come up.
Site direction
Attendance through construction at the points where a decision becomes permanent.
Budget management
A written fee proposal and budget band up front, then variations flagged when they happen rather than at the end.
Styling and handover
Furniture, art, and the last layers placed on site, then handed over finished.
What 'full-service' actually means
The phrase gets used loosely, so here is the specific version. Full-service means the studio does the space planning, the drawings, the specification, the procurement, the trade coordination, and the site direction, and is accountable for the result. You make decisions. We do the work of turning them into a built room.
The alternative most studios sell is design-only: a concept, a palette, and a set of drawings you then hand to a contractor and manage yourself. That is a legitimate service and it costs less. It also means the hundred small decisions made on site during construction are made by whoever is standing there, and that is where most of the gap between a good drawing and a disappointing room opens up.
The stages, and what comes out of each
Discovery: the space measured, the building's constraints established, and a real conversation about budget. You get a written fee proposal and a budget band before committing to anything.
Concept: plans and a material direction, enough to agree what the project is before anyone draws a joinery detail.
Documentation: the full set — plans, elevations, reflected ceiling plans, joinery drawings, finish schedule, lighting plan. This is the largest stage and the one that decides whether construction goes smoothly.
Procurement: everything sourced, ordered, tracked, and scheduled against the build programme, with lead times checked before commitment rather than after.
Construction: we attend site through the build, answer the questions trades actually ask, and catch the things that would otherwise be discovered at handover.
Styling and handover: furniture, art, and the final layers placed on site, then the room handed over ready to use.
Who it suits, and who it does not
It suits people who want the project run rather than supervised, who are renovating while living somewhere else or working full-time, and who would rather make ten good decisions than a thousand small ones.
It does not suit everyone. If you enjoy sourcing, have time to coordinate trades, and want to be on site yourself, design-only or a paid consultation will give you better value and you will probably have more fun. We would rather tell you that at the first meeting than sell you the larger engagement and watch you resent it.
How it is priced
Full-service is priced on scope. In the Toronto market, design fees for a whole home start around $15,000 and rise from there, commonly with a procurement percentage of 10% to 20% on furnishings and materials bought through trade accounts. Commercial fit-outs are more often a percentage of the construction budget, typically 10% to 20%.
Those are published market ranges, not a quote. After discovery you get a fee proposal and a budget band for the build itself, both in writing, and both before you commit.
Questions, answered
What is the difference between full-service and design-only?
Design-only gives you a concept, drawings, and a specification, which you then hand to a contractor and manage yourself. Full-service means the studio also handles procurement, trade coordination, and site direction, and is accountable for the finished room. The drawings can be identical; what differs is who makes the hundred small decisions during construction.
How much does full-service interior design cost?
In the 2026 Toronto market, whole-home design fees start around $15,000 and rise with scope, usually with a 10% to 20% procurement fee on furnishings and materials sourced through trade. Commercial fit-outs are more often 10% to 20% of the construction budget. Those are market ranges; your fee proposal comes after discovery.
How long does a full-service project take?
A whole home typically runs nine to eighteen months from first meeting to handover, with two to four months of that in design and documentation. Custom millwork, stone fabrication, and permits are the reliable causes of delay, and we build the programme around them from the start.
Do I still make the decisions?
Yes. Full-service moves the work to us, not the choices. You approve the concept, the layout, the materials, and the furniture. What you are handing over is the coordination, the chasing, and the being-on-site-at-the-right-moment.
Can I start full-service partway through a build?
Yes, and a stalled project is a normal starting point rather than an awkward one. We would need to review what has been drawn, what has been ordered, and what has already been built before saying what is recoverable. Some things will be; some will already be set in concrete, and we will be direct about which.
Want the whole thing run properly?
Tell us about the project and where it currently stands. We reply to every enquiry within two working days.
We take this work on across both of our home cities — interior design in Toronto and interior design in Los Angeles.