Is It Worth Using Design for an Apartment?

My neighbor on the landing spent 180 thousand on a design project for a two-room apartment. After three months of renovation, the outlets ended up behind cabinets, and the refrigerator didn’t fit in the kitchen niche. Had to redo everything — another 90 thousand on top.

My acquaintance decided differently: she downloaded a free program, drew the layout herself, chose tiles from Pinterest pictures. Seemed like a savings of 200 thousand. But when the builders started work, it turned out: the wall she wanted to demolish was load-bearing. The redevelopment couldn’t be approved. The plan went in the trash, had to start from scratch — now with a specialist.

In 2025, a professional design project in Moscow costs from 2,500 to 5,000 rubles per square meter. For a standard two-room apartment of 50m², that’s a quarter million. But the DIY approach can also result in redos costing more than the project.

The paradox is that nobody calculates the real economics of the decision. Let’s figure out when a design project pays off, and when it’s just a beautiful but useless expense.

What a Professional Design Project Really Includes

When you pay a designer, you’re not buying “pretty pictures.” A design project is an instruction manual for builders and the client, a comprehensive package of documents with layouts, diagrams, 3D visualization, and material specifications.

Here’s what’s included in the full package:

Technical drawings — the most important but invisible part. Demolition and wall construction plans, electrical diagrams with precise location of every outlet, plumbing layout, bathroom wall elevations with tile layout accurate to the millimeter. Designers often create projects without considering technical solutions, indicating the approximate location of the air conditioner with words like “somewhere here it will be,” which becomes a problem during implementation.

Layout solutions — 3-5 variants of furniture arrangement and zoning. Flat layouts are uninformative for clients who don’t understand technical details — they don’t understand black and white drawings. That’s why professionals create 3D visualization.

3D visualization — photorealistic images of each room. You see the wall color in your lighting, understand whether the sofa fits between the window and door, evaluate the overall atmosphere. This allows you to change decisions on screen, not in the middle of renovation.

Material specifications — precise list with article numbers, quantities, and links where to buy. How many squares of laminate, how many liters of paint, which exact faucet model. The reserve for finishing materials with drawings is minimal — 5-15% depending on the material, although builders usually require 25-30%.

Budget estimate — detailed calculation of all material costs and approximate work costs. No surprises in the middle of renovation when money has run out and the finish line is still far away.

A typical project for a two-room apartment is an album of 40-60 sheets. Of these, photographs (visualizations) — maximum 10-12. The rest are boring but critically important diagrams and drawings.

Why Most People Refuse Professional Design

A design project from professionals cost 3,000₽ per square meter, had to wait three months for it while continuing to pay for a rental apartment — this is a real story of a person who decided to do the project himself.

Three main reasons for refusal:

Price seems unjustified. When you’re quoted 150-250 thousand rubles for “drawings,” it’s perceived as extortion. Especially if the total renovation budget is 800 thousand — a third goes to a project you don’t even touch with your hands.

Development timeline. A full design project for apartments takes 1.5-3 months. If you’ve already received keys to a new building or moved out of your apartment for renovation and are paying rent for other housing — each month of waiting is minus 30-50 thousand from your pocket.

Distrust of the result. Looking at the results of some renovations, you get the impression that designers are experimenting on the client, doing something “glamorous.” Fear of getting a beautiful picture that’s uncomfortable to live in.

But there’s a fourth, hidden reason — people don’t understand the economics of mistakes.

The Real Cost of Mistakes in DIY Planning

Redos — that’s where the real expenses hide.

Outlets made in random places can be blocked by furniture against the wall, reducing functionality to zero — you have to buy extension cords. That’s a trifle. But there are more serious mistakes.

Layout mistakes. You decided to move the kitchen to the living room for a studio. If you don’t look in advance at the solutions for erected partitions and the location of wet zones, you can face serious problems after renovation — the redevelopment may turn out to be non-approvable. Result: either you roll everything back (100-200 thousand for demolition and new walls), or live with illegal redevelopment (problems when selling).

Material mistakes. Without detailed drawings and estimates, builders round up the material reserve to 25-30%, although with precise calculations 5-15% is sufficient. For an apartment, that’s 30-50 thousand overpayment for extra tiles, laminate, paint.

Custom furniture mistakes. Ordered a kitchen set by “eyeballing” measurements — made a 5 centimeter error. After plastering, wall thickness increases significantly — on average for brick walls up to 5-7cm, people forget about this. The set doesn’t fit, factory remake — plus 40-60 thousand and a month of waiting.

Every fourth client comes to designers to redo renovation done without a design project. The average price of an apartment design project from scratch is significantly lower than when you need to demolish everything and start over.

Imagine: the project would have cost 180 thousand, you saved. But made three medium-severity mistakes — outlet remounting (25 thousand), replacing part of the tiles due to incorrect layout (35 thousand), kitchen set remake (50 thousand). Already minus 110 thousand. The “savings” turned into overpayment.

Economic Feasibility Matrix: When a Design Project Pays Off

Not every situation needs a full design project. I developed a simple matrix that helps make a decision.

Renovation Complexity × Budget

Important budget nuance: Design project implementation in a business-class house costs approximately 100 thousand rubles per square meter turnkey with all expenses, which is 25-30% of the market value of the apartment. If you’re spending less than 20% of the housing cost on renovation — perhaps the project will be excessive.

When You Can Do Without a Full Project

Cosmetics in a standard apartment without redevelopment, when you’re just painting walls, changing floors, and buying ready-made furniture — a full project is overkill.

Sufficient:

• Measure the apartment (can do yourself or call a measurer for 3-5 thousand)
• Draw a plan in a free program (Planner 5D, SketchUp Free)
• Draw a diagram of outlets and switches
• Calculate material quantities with 15% reserve

People create design projects themselves, armed with Google, Excel, and their own head — it’s real, but requires time for study. If you have 2-3 months of free evenings for self-education — quite a viable option.

When You Need a Minimum Package

Standard renovation with medium budget (500-800 thousand), without redevelopment, but with electrical and plumbing replacement.

A layout solution for an apartment costs 800-900 rubles per square meter (3-5 layout variants in 3D). For a two-room apartment of 50m², that’s 40-45 thousand.

What’s included:

• Layout with furniture arrangement
• Electrical diagram (outlets, switches, lighting)
• Plumbing diagram
• Bathroom elevations with tile layout
• Basic material specifications

No visualization, you choose interior style yourself, but all technical points are calculated. This is the golden mean: protection from mistakes exists, but price is 3-4 times lower than a full project.

When You Need a Full Project

Three situations where saving on a project almost guarantees overpayment:

1. Any redevelopment

Wall demolition, kitchen relocation, room combining, bathroom relocation — all this requires approval. Without a pre-checked solution for erected partitions and wet zone location, you can face non-approvable redevelopment. Remake — that’s minus 100-300 thousand and six months of lost time.

2. Renovation budget above 1 million

The more expensive materials and furniture, the more expensive mistakes. Ordered Italian tiles for 8,000₽/m² — miscalculated quantity by 3 squares. That’s 24 thousand + a month waiting for additional delivery (if still available). A properly selected interior helps rent or sell an apartment for more — good design increases value in “economy” and “comfort” segments.

3. Non-standard layout or small apartment

Apartments of complex shape, studios, attics, apartments with low ceilings — here DIY is especially risky. A designer knows how to properly zone space, select the type of finish and furniture of appropriate shapes and sizes to visually expand rooms.

Real Economics: Calculating Return on Investment

Let’s calculate with a concrete example — two-room apartment 52m², major renovation, budget 1.2 million rubles.

Option 1: With full design project

Full design project cost: 52m² × 3,500₽ = 182,000₽

Expenses:

• Project: 182 thousand
• Materials per specifications (with 7% reserve): 480 thousand
• Builder work: 520 thousand
• Furniture: 180 thousand
• Total: 1.362 million

Time: Project (2 months) + renovation (3.5 months) = 5.5 months

Redos: 0₽ (or minimal 10-15 thousand)

Result: Got exactly what you wanted. All outlets in place, furniture fit, wall color looks like in the picture.

Option 2: DIY

Expenses:

• Project: 0₽ (did yourself)
• Materials (25% reserve, 20% overpayment): 576 thousand
• Builder work + additional work: 580 thousand
• Furniture + kitchen remake: 220 thousand
• Redos (outlets, tiles, replastering): 85 thousand
• Total: 1.461 million

Time: Planning (3 months) + renovation (4 months) + redos (0.5 months) = 7.5 months

Stress: Countless arguments with builders, redos, fixes, misunderstandings.

Result: Generally okay, but there are issues (outlet behind cabinet, one wall wrong shade, slightly different tile layout).

Comparison

Paradox: by “saving” 182 thousand on the project, you overpaid 99 thousand, lost 2 months of time (if renting housing — that’s another minus 60-80 thousand) and got a worse result.

Real project savings = 99 thousand (redos and overpayments) + 60 thousand (2 months rent) = 159 thousand rubles. The 182 thousand project paid for itself 87%.

Alternative Options: Between “All Myself” and “Expensive Designer”

If a full project is expensive, and doing it yourself is scary — there are intermediate solutions.

Standard project for your layout

For popular house series (P-44, P-3M, COPE) there are ready-made solutions. Standard solutions for apartments are appearing on the market — already developed examples for typical housing.

Price: 30-60 thousand for adaptation to your apartment Minus: Doesn’t fully account for your individuality Plus: Technically competent, 3 times cheaper, ready in 2 weeks

Online designer

Remote work with designer through video calls and messengers. Online service works quickly, at fixed prices calculated per number of rooms, not area — no need to carve out time for numerous office meetings.

Price: 20-30% cheaper than office studio (1,800-2,500₽/m²) Minus: No in-person meetings, you take measurements yourself Plus: Studio office savings pass to you as discount

Consultation + DIY work

You can make a quite complete design project yourself using a program like Remplanner, doesn’t take much time, costs around 400-500 rubles.

Scheme: Buy 2-3 designer consultations for 5-8 thousand, do the rest yourself in the program.

What the designer does:

• Checks feasibility of your redevelopment
• Points out gross layout errors
• Recommends materials

What you do:

• Draw plans
• Calculate materials
• Make layouts

Price: 15-25 thousand (consultations + program) Suitable for: Standard renovation without redevelopment, if you have time to figure it out

Dangers of Working with Designers: What They Don’t Tell You

A professional project is not a guarantee of perfect result. There are risks you need to know about in advance.

Novice or self-taught designer

The most common beginner mistake: designer didn’t find out what exactly the client wants. Client is then dissatisfied: “Everything is so simple, so little furniture, there’s no coffee table we saw.”

How to check: Look at portfolio with implemented projects (not visualizations, but photos of finished renovations). Ask for contacts of 2-3 previous clients.

Beautiful but non-functional

Apartment design — just a magazine picture, but upon close inspection errors are noticed: not enough outlets or they’re located in inconvenient places.

How to protect yourself: In the terms of reference, describe your daily life in detail. How many gadgets you charge simultaneously, where you like to work on laptop, where you put vacuum cleaner. Designer should account for all this, not just aesthetics.

Designer doesn’t know building codes

Another beginner designer mistake — lack of stylistic cohesion in different rooms: living room in classical style, dining room in ethnic style, hallway in modern style.

Red flag: Designer doesn’t ask about load-bearing walls, isn’t interested in which floor the apartment is on (for kitchen relocation), doesn’t clarify the year the building was constructed.

Hidden surcharges

Unscrupulous designers may understate initial cost or offer additional paid services at each stage.

How to avoid: Require a contract with fixed price and clear list of services. If “additional work not included in base package” appears during the process — that’s unscrupulous practice.