This guide answers the questions clients in Pakistan ask most often about interior design, from fees and timelines to hiring a female designer and working remotely from overseas. Each answer is practical and based on real project experience. Use it to prepare before you approach any design practice.
Over the years the same questions come up in almost every first meeting, whether the client is furnishing a first apartment in Islamabad or restoring a large family home. Below we have answered them directly and without sales language, because informed clients make better decisions and better decisions make better projects.
At Living Solutions Global we begin every relationship with a consultation rather than a proposal. Our Interior Design and Fit Out team walks you through scope, realistic cost, programme and responsibilities before anything is signed, so you understand exactly what you are buying. If our approach is not right for your project we will say so. You can review the full range of our interior design in Pakistan services and then ask us anything that this guide leaves unanswered.
If your space is small, your requirements are simple and you enjoy the process, you may manage well on your own. A designer becomes valuable when the project involves layout changes, custom joinery, multiple trades, a meaningful budget or a fixed deadline. The value is not decorative advice, it is preventing costly errors such as a kitchen with no working space, wiring in the wrong positions or furniture that does not fit through the door.
Three models are common in Pakistan. A percentage of total project cost, typically between five and fifteen percent depending on complexity and supervision. A rate per square foot of designed area. Or a fixed lump sum against a clearly defined deliverable. Each is legitimate. What matters is that the scope attached to the fee is written down, including how many revision rounds are included and how many site visits you will receive.
Yes, and it is a very common request in Pakistan. Many families prefer a woman to lead design work involving bedrooms, kitchens, dressing areas and children's rooms because it makes communication with the women of the household easier and site visits more comfortable. We support this openly and clients who prefer it can work with a female interior designer in Islamabad from our team, with identical technical standards and the same documentation across every project.
A cosmetic refresh involving paint, lighting and furnishing usually takes two to four weeks on site. A single room renovation with joinery takes four to six weeks. A full apartment fit out generally runs eight to sixteen weeks. A large villa with structural work should be planned across six to twelve months. Add four to eight weeks before site work begins for briefing, design, documentation and procurement. Long lead or imported items can extend this considerably.
There is no universal floor, but there is a threshold below which professional involvement adds little. If your budget only covers paint and a few furniture pieces, spend it on the furniture and choose the paint yourself. Once the project involves joinery, electrical changes or several rooms, professional planning pays for itself by avoiding rework. Always reserve at least ten percent as contingency.
Almost always, and we encourage it. Good pieces can be reupholstered, refinished, repositioned or repurposed. Retaining a few familiar items also keeps a home feeling like yours rather than a showroom. We audit what you own at the briefing stage and tell you honestly what deserves to stay.
We do both, and we usually recommend both. When design and execution sit with the same team there is nobody to blame for a coordination failure and drawings are actually followed. If you already have a trusted contractor we can supply the design package and supervise, but split responsibility does introduce risk. Our fit out services exist because most clients prefer single point accountability.
Yes. A significant share of our work is for overseas Pakistanis in the United Kingdom, the Gulf, North America and Australia. Remote projects work well provided the process is disciplined. We conduct video surveys and site walkthroughs, share drawings and material boards digitally, send regular photographic progress reports, arrange local representation for approvals and hold formal sign off at each stage. Clear documentation matters even more when the client cannot visit, which suits our way of working.
For most projects yes, because visuals help clients approve a scheme with confidence. Understand though that a rendering is a communication tool rather than a photograph of the future. Lighting, material texture and scale always read slightly differently in reality. We pair visuals with physical samples so you judge materials by touch as well as by screen.
Four disciplines. Cost from measured drawings rather than assumptions. Itemise every line with quantities and specifications. Freeze selections before ordering. And price any variation in writing before it is executed. Overruns are rarely caused by market prices. They are caused by undefined scope and mid project changes.
We normally procure on your behalf because we can verify quality on arrival, hold suppliers to specification and reject substitutions. Some clients prefer to purchase directly and that is workable, though it shifts responsibility for quantity errors and delivery delays onto them. Either way, every item should be listed and approved before purchase.
This is why staged approval exists. If a finish, colour or layout was approved in writing and correctly installed, changing it is a variation and carries cost. If the installed work does not match the approved specification, correcting it is our responsibility. The distinction is clear when documentation is thorough, which protects both parties.
Frequently yes, but with different priorities. Tenants respond to functional kitchens, sound wiring, good light and adequate storage rather than feature walls. Keep finishes neutral, durable and easy to maintain. Well presented properties let faster, attract better tenants and sustain higher rents, which usually recovers the investment within a few years.
Yes. Islamabad and Rawalpindi are our home market and we deliver projects across Pakistan, coordinating local trades under our own supervision and documentation standards.
Bring existing floor plans if available, photographs of the space, a note of who uses each room and how, a list of what frustrates you today, any furniture you intend to keep, reference images of schemes you admire, your target completion date and a budget range you are comfortable discussing. Clients who arrive prepared save weeks.
If your question is not covered here, ask us directly. We would rather spend an hour explaining the process honestly than begin a project built on assumptions. Contact our team and we will give you straight answers about what your space needs and what it will realistically cost.
Written by the Living Solutions team
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