How long does an interior design project take?
A flat takes three months at minimum, a large residence up to a year. Where that time goes — and why calling too late is the most expensive mistake.
The most common planning mistake has nothing to do with budget. It concerns the calendar — and it consists of bringing the architect in too late.
Realistic timelines
A flat — three months at minimum.
The interior of a house — two to six months, across eleven steps in four stages.
A house together with its interior — three to seven months, twelve steps.
A residence over a thousand square metres — up to a year.
Those are design timelines. The build is a separate chapter with a separate calendar.
Where the time goes
Not into drawing. Drawing is fast.
Three things consume it: conversations and decisions on your side, the construction documentation, and checking that what we specify is actually available. Each can be shortened only at the cost of quality — and usually at the cost of what happens later on site.
There is a fourth that few people think about: delivery times. We order materials six to twelve months ahead. Stone, made-to-measure joinery and lighting do not come off a shelf.
When to get in touch
If you are building a house — at the same time as the architectural design starts. That is the only moment when walls can still be moved and services routed with the future interior in mind.
If you are buying from a developer — several months before you collect the keys. The design will be ready before you start paying a mortgage on an empty flat.
If you are renovating — before you book the contractors. Good teams are committed months ahead, and without a design nobody can price the work honestly.
What happens when it is too late
Nothing dramatic — it simply costs more. An interior designed around existing services is a sequence of compromises: the socket stays where it is, the load-bearing wall stays, and the ventilation forces a dropped ceiling exactly where the light was meant to hang.
Each compromise on its own is a detail. Together they are the difference between an interior that is good and one that merely fitted.
How we plan the works
We schedule site work two months ahead and meet on site once a week. With current delivery times that is the only way to stop a build stalling while it waits for tiles.