Is a fixed fee or percentage better for a restaurant?

A fixed fee usually suits a restaurant because the brief and area are defined early, giving cost certainty. Percentage fees are more common on larger projects where the fit-out scope evolves. Either model works if the scope and deliverables are defined precisely in writing.

What should a full-service design fee include?

Concept design, design development, tender documentation and site supervision through to handover. Within those stages: coordinated drawings, material and FF&E schedules, joinery details, tender support and site inspections. Anything less shifts risk onto the owner.

Why do design fee proposals vary so much?

Because the scopes differ. A low fee often excludes design development depth, tender documentation or supervision. Compare proposals deliverable by deliverable, not headline by headline, and ask what has been removed to reach the lower number.

Can design fees be negotiated?

The scope can be adjusted, and honest studios will restructure a fee around a revised scope. Simply discounting the same scope, however, means the same work done with fewer hours — and the hours usually come out of documentation and supervision, where they are needed most.

Hospitality Design Fees Explained: sqm, Fixed or Percentage

Q: How much do hospitality interior designers charge in Dubai?

Indicative market ranges run from AED 250–600 per square metre for full-service boutique studios, AED 150,000–500,000 as a fixed fee for restaurant-scale projects, or 8–15% of the fit-out cost. The final fee depends on size, complexity and the stages included.

Hospitality design fees in Dubai follow three models: a rate per square metre, a fixed lump-sum fee, or a percentage of the fit-out cost. Owners commonly encounter indicative market ranges of AED 250–600 per square metre for full-service boutique studios, AED 150,000–500,000 as a fixed fee for restaurant-scale projects, or 8–15% of fit-out cost. The right model depends on how clearly your scope is defined at the outset.

These figures are indicative market ranges, not quotations. Every brief differs, and a considered proposal should be built around your project, not a rate card. What matters more than the model is what the fee buys at each stage — and what it quietly excludes. For the construction side of the same budget, see our guide to restaurant interior design costs in Dubai.

What are the three fee models, and how does each work?

Per square metre ties the fee to the size of the space. A fixed fee sets one lump sum against a defined scope of work. A percentage fee links the designer’s fee to the final fit-out cost. Each distributes risk differently between owner and designer, and each suits a different kind of brief.

Per square metre: when is it the right choice?

Per-square-metre pricing works best when the floor area is settled and the scope is broad. Indicative market ranges sit around AED 250–600 per sqm for full-service boutique studios, with the upper end reflecting concept origination, bespoke detailing and full site supervision rather than drawings alone.

The strength is transparency. You can compare proposals line by line, and the fee scales rationally with the space. The weakness is that it rewards neither efficiency nor restraint — a tightly planned 200 sqm restaurant can demand more design intensity than a loose 600 sqm one. For projects where area is still shifting, the number becomes a moving target.

Fixed fee: what does it protect you from?

A fixed fee suits a defined brief: a restaurant, café or boutique with an agreed programme and a clear deliverables list. Market ranges for restaurant-scale projects commonly fall between AED 150,000 and AED 500,000, depending on size, complexity and the depth of documentation required.

The advantage is certainty. You know the cost of design before the first sketch, and the designer carries the risk of overruns in their own hours. The risk sits elsewhere: scope creep. Any change beyond the agreed scope — an added terrace, a second concept direction, a landlord redesign — becomes a variation. A good fixed-fee proposal defines its boundaries precisely. A vague one becomes a source of friction.

Percentage of fit-out: who benefits?

A percentage fee, typically 8–15% of fit-out cost in the market, ties the designer’s remuneration to the construction budget. It is common on larger hospitality projects where the fit-out scope evolves during design development.

The alignment can be healthy: the fee flexes as the project grows, and the designer is invested in the quality of the built result. The obvious tension is that a higher fit-out cost means a higher fee, so the model requires trust and a disciplined budget framework from the start. With fit-out costs in Dubai commonly ranging from AED 4,000–12,000 per sqm depending on specification, a percentage fee can vary enormously in absolute terms.

What should be included at each design stage?

A full-service hospitality fee should cover four stages: concept design, design development, tender documentation and site supervision. If a proposal skips or underprices any of these, the missing work does not disappear — it resurfaces later as cost, delay or a compromised interior.

Concept design. Spatial strategy, mood and material direction, initial plans and the creative idea that carries the project. It is the stage most often undervalued in cheap proposals, because its output is the hardest to quantify.

Design development. The concept resolved into coordinated plans, sections, elevations, joinery details, lighting and material selections, integrated with the MEP and kitchen consultants. Cutting corners here transfers the decision-making to the contractor, which rarely ends well.

Tender documentation. The drawings and schedules a contractor prices against. Incomplete documentation produces incomparable bids — you are not comparing prices, you are comparing guesses. A rigorous tender package is the owner’s most effective cost-control tool.

Site supervision. Regular inspections, shop-drawing review and response to site queries through to handover. Dubai fit-out timelines commonly run six to ten months from lease to opening; supervision protects the design intent across that period. A fee that excludes it prices the drawings but abandons the building.

What are the red flags in a fee proposal?

The clearest red flags are an undefined scope, no stage-by-stage breakdown, supervision offered as an optional extra, and a fee far below the market without an explanation of what has been removed. Each signals that the real cost will surface later.

Ask, specifically:

Which stages are included, and what are the deliverables at each?
How many design revisions does the fee absorb?
Are 3D visualisations, FF&E schedules and joinery documentation included?
Is site supervision weekly, milestone-based, or excluded?
How are variations priced?

A proposal that cannot answer these questions in writing is not a proposal. It is an opening position. Our owner’s guide to choosing a hospitality interior designer covers the rest of the due-diligence list.

Why does the cheapest proposal usually cost the most?

The cheapest proposal usually excludes the work that prevents expensive mistakes: coordinated documentation, thorough tender packages and site supervision. The saving is made on paper and repaid on site, through variations, rework and a finished space that drifts from the approved design.

The arithmetic is consistent. An under-documented project generates contractor assumptions; assumptions become variations; variations are priced at a premium mid-programme, when leverage has gone. A design fee that is 20% lower but 40% thinner is not a saving. It is a deferred invoice.

The more useful question is not “who is cheapest” but “whose scope is most complete”. The honest fee is the one that accounts for the whole journey from concept to handover.

If you are pricing design for a restaurant, café or hotel in the UAE, we are happy to walk you through how we scope and structure a fee. Studio By Three is a boutique interior design studio based in Al Quoz, Dubai, working across hospitality, F&B and luxury retail in the UAE and Oman. Reach us at [email protected] or +971 50 443 6236.

Hospitality Design Fees Explained: Per Square Metre, Fixed Fee, or Percentage?