Design Fee or Renovation Cost? What You're Actually Paying For

In this guide

Someone tells you their condo cost RM90,000. Someone else says theirs was RM8,000. Both are telling the truth, and they are answering different questions.

This is the most common confusion we meet, and it is entirely the industry's fault. We quote two numbers, rarely explain which is which, and then wonder why people compare a fee to a build and conclude one of us is mad.

What is the difference between interior design and renovation?

Interior design decides what your home should be (the layout, the materials and the furniture), and renovation is the building work that makes it real; at Sundays in Bed the design is a flat RM3,565 per room, while the renovation is quoted separately by contractors and billed to you directly. Some firms are design-and-build and quote both together. We are a residential interior design and styling studio: we design, then gather and compare contractor quotes and manage the works on site.

What that looks like on a real home

Justin's is a two-bedroom condo, taken over new from the developer. The build (floors, paint, lighting, joinery and furniture) came to about RM85,000, including furniture.

The design fee is a different order of number. In a new condo the bathrooms usually come finished, so we count only the ones you want redone, at RM3,565 each. At our rates, a two-bedroom with an open-plan living-dining, a closed kitchen and one bathroom is RM9,495 to style or RM19,745 to design, and the two are not remotely interchangeable. The room is here.

What the design fee actually buys

It buys decisions, and the drawings that make those decisions buildable. Where the sofa goes and why. Which wall the television is not on. Whether the kitchen island fits once you allow for someone opening the dishwasher. Then the specification (the actual products, finishes and dimensions) and someone holding the contractor to it.

We charge a flat fee for each room rather than a share of your build: RM1,715 a room to style, RM3,565 a room to design. An open-plan living and dining is its own category, at RM2,635 or RM5,485. The fee is the same whether you finish that room modestly or expensively.

That last part matters more than it sounds, and it is the reason we price this way. On a percentage model, the designer's fee grows every time your build does, which means the person advising you to spend more is paid more when you do. We would rather not have that conversation at all. There is more on how the different pricing models compare if you want the detail.

What the build cost actually is

Everything else. Hacking, flooring, ceilings, paint, electrical, plumbing, waterproofing, aircon, kitchen and wardrobe carpentry, and the loose furniture that arrives at the end.

Where you land is mostly about finishes and how much of the developer's work you keep. If you have been quoted by the square foot, here is what published per-square-foot rates cover in Malaysia.

A worked example

A three-bedroom condo taken over from the developer, with both bathrooms redone: three bedrooms, an open-plan living and dining, a closed kitchen and two bathrooms. That is seven spaces by our count, because the open-plan area is one.

Now the part most studios would rather not print. On that entry-level build, our design fee works out at 20.5% of the build cost. Step the same home up to our mid finish level and the build becomes about RM266,500, while the fee does not move at all, because the rooms did not. Suddenly the same fee is 10.1%.

Build figures from our own estimator for a new-handover condominium in the Klang Valley with the rooms above, full scope of works, loose furniture included, September 2026. The estimator prices the media console, not the television, and includes no fridge, washer or dryer. Design fees are our published rates. Neither is a quote.

Why this matters when you compare quotes

Three things go wrong when the two numbers get muddled.

You compare a fee to a build and think one is cheap. A designer quoting RM12,000 and a contractor quoting RM120,000 are not competing. You will very likely pay both.

You assume a design fee includes the work. It almost never does. Ask plainly: does this number include construction and furniture, or is it your fee alone?

You forget the fee when you set the budget. If RM100,000 is genuinely all there is, the build has to fit inside RM100,000 minus the fee, not alongside it. Better to know that in week one than in week six.

Can interior designers do renovations?

Some can: design-and-build firms quote the design and the building work together, while Sundays in Bed designs your home for a flat RM3,565 per room, then gathers and compares contractor quotes and manages the works on site, with the contractors billing you directly. Neither model is wrong. The difference is whether you can see what the design cost, and whether the person advising you on the build is also the one selling it to you. There is a fuller comparison in interior designer vs contractor.

Which should you get first, the design fee or the build cost?

The build cost, always. It is the larger number and the one that decides whether the project is possible. The fee is the smaller number, and it will not change your mind about anything.

If you want just the fee (because you already have a contractor, or you only want a room styled), the calculator gives you that in about ten seconds. Count your rooms, pick styling or design, and the number appears. No email required.

If you want the real answer (fee and build together, for your actual home), that needs a few more questions: which rooms, their condition, and what standard of finish. That is what the estimate is for. And if you are trying to work out what a given budget stretches to, we have modelled RM100,000 room by room. For every fee and budget in one place, see how the fee fits the total budget.

Where to see this in practice

If you are setting a budget rather than just reading about one, here is where the two numbers in this piece come from:

• Justin's bedroom: the two-bedroom above, about RM85,000 including furniture
• Pricing: the per-room design fee, the smaller of the two numbers, room by room
• Interior Design: what the design fee buys, from the first call to on-site project management

Notes & further reading

This piece reflects ongoing work across Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

About Angelica Lee

Chief Home Maker and founder of Sundays in Bed, award-winning interior designer. Learn more about Angelica →