The Usher Standard
Rate Checker — Layer 1
Your Working Year
Most designers price their services based on a working year that does not exist. This step builds your real working year so that every rate you set from this point forward is grounded in reality.
Working Pattern
Time Away from Work
Non-Billable Professional Time
Your Billable Reality
Even within your available hours, not every minute is chargeable to a client. Be honest rather than optimistic here. Your rates depend on it.
Your Studio Team
A sole designer carries all overhead on their own hours. A studio with multiple fee earners shares it. Getting this right is what stops the tool from penalising growth.
Your Studio Overhead
Overhead is every fixed cost your studio carries before a single hour of design work is done. Staff salaries are entered in your team above. This section covers everything else.
Overhead Summary
Your Profit Goals
Profit is not greed. It is what allows your business to survive a slow quarter, invest in better tools, and simply sleep at night. A business without profit is a business with an expiry date.
Gross Profit Target
Net Profit Target
Calibrating Your Rate by Tier
This step is not shown to your clients. It is your internal calibration — the working out behind your fixed rate. You are about to do this once, so you never have to justify your rate to yourself again.
Why we price by the square metre — not by the hour
Your minimum viable hourly rate tells you what your time costs. But you will rarely quote a client by the hour — and for good reason. An hourly rate puts the client on the clock. It creates anxiety around every conversation, every revision, every phone call. It also means a slow project punishes you, and an efficient one rewards the client at your expense.
A fixed per m² rate is cleaner, more professional and easier for a client to understand. It reflects the complexity of the space — not the complexity of the person commissioning it.
But not every room in a house is the same, and not every project is the same. A kitchen with fully bespoke joinery, integrated lighting and hand-selected stone requires a fundamentally different level of time and skill than a guest bedroom refreshed with new furniture and paint. Charging both at the same rate means one of them is wrong.
This is why The Usher Standard uses three tiers — Standard, Premium and Bespoke — each with its own per m² rate. You can apply the appropriate tier room by room, or across the whole project if the brief is consistent throughout. What we are doing in this step is making sure your chosen rates for each tier actually hold up. Not by guessing — by working backwards from your real hourly cost and the time each tier genuinely takes. Do this once, with honest numbers, and you will never undercharge yourself again.
Standard
Works within the existing character of a space. Furniture and finishes sourced from pre-existing ranges. A considered approach without the additional time and cost that custom elements bring.
Premium
Custom joinery, integrated feature lighting and a small selection of bespoke furniture. A more comprehensively detailed drawing package. The result is a luxurious, layered scheme.
Bespoke
A Bespoke tier design of complexity is the most demanding and detailed level of work. No limitations. The result is a truly unique environment featuring one-of-a-kind elements and the finest custom finishes.
Your Rate Verdicts
Standard
Premium
Bespoke
At this rate, you are not covering your costs. Before profit, before growth, before paying yourself properly — this rate is losing you money on every square metre you design. This is not a pricing problem, it is a business survival problem. You need to revise this rate before you take on another project.
Your costs are covered, but only just. There is little to nothing left for profit, reinvestment or the inevitable difficult month. You are working hard for a business that is barely breaking even. A small adjustment to your rate now will make a significant difference to your financial reality by the end of the year.
Your rate works. Your time is covered, your overhead is recovered, and your profit goal is achievable. This is where every designer should be as a minimum. Protect this rate. Do not discount it, do not apologise for it, and do not let a client negotiation erode it.
Strong position. Your rate not only covers your costs and hits your profit goal — it gives you room to breathe, invest and grow. This is the mark of a well run, confident design business. The Usher Standard is your floor, not your ceiling — and you are above it.