Why We Don't Charge Interior Designer Fees (And How You Save 30–50%)

For three decades, we built carpentry for Singapore homes through interior designers. It was just how the industry worked. The homeowner hired an ID, the ID hired us, and the ID marked up our price before presenting the quote.

We're not doing that anymore. Here's why — and what it means for you.

How the interior design industry works in Singapore

When you engage an interior designer for a full renovation, you're typically paying for:

• Design fees: $3,000–$15,000 depending on scope and firm. This covers mood boards, drawings, and project management.
• Contractor markup: The ID coordinates all the trades — carpentry, tiling, painting, electrical. Each contractor's price is marked up 25–60% before appearing in your quote.
• Material markup: IDs often supply materials and fixtures directly, marking them up above retail.

The total markup on carpentry specifically is typically 35–60% above what the carpenter charges directly. On a $15,000 full-house carpentry project, that's $5,000–$9,000 going to the intermediary layer.

What IDs actually do well

Interior designers add genuine value in specific situations:

• Complex full-home renovations with 5+ trades running simultaneously — coordination is genuinely hard.
• When you truly have no design direction and need someone to create the vision from scratch.
• High-end luxury projects where material specification, space planning, and custom fabrication are deeply integrated.
• When you don't have time to manage the process at all and want a single point of accountability.

For a homeowner who knows what they want — who comes with a Pinterest board, has a floor plan, and needs good carpentry executed reliably — the ID layer adds cost without adding value.

What changed

AI tools have democratised design inspiration. You no longer need a designer to show you what's possible. Design references are everywhere — Pinterest, Instagram, Houzz, AI renders. Customers come to us knowing exactly what style they want.

What they need is a skilled carpenter who can translate that vision into built furniture, give them an honest price, and deliver reliably.

The direct model: what you get

When you work with WoodStudio.sg directly:

• You speak to the people building your furniture. Our foreman who visits your site is the same person overseeing production. No message going through three layers.
• Line-item transparency. Every quote shows materials, labour, hardware, and transport separately. Nothing is bundled to obscure margin.
• 30 years of craft. Same team, same techniques, same suppliers — minus the markup.
• Free consultation and site visit. We measure, discuss, and design with you at no charge.

What you won't get

To be honest: we're not going to design your entire flat. We don't do flooring, painting, or electrical. If you need full renovation coordination across multiple trades, an ID may still be the right choice for that scope.

But for carpentry — wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, built-in storage, TV consoles — direct is the better path for most homeowners who know what they want.

The numbers

A typical HDB bedroom carpentry project (wardrobe + study desk + shoe cabinet) might cost $6,000–$8,000 from us directly. The same scope through an interior designer typically appears in the quote at $9,000–$14,000 — and you'd be invoiced by the ID, not the carpenter.

That gap is real. It represents 30 years of our craft subsidising someone else's project management overhead.

We'd rather that money stay with the homeowner.