No, I Will Not Share My Trade Discount With You
Here's Why
I’m a little nervous to post this. I don’t want to come across as paternalistic or condescending. But I have a background in accounting, I’ve spent years advising organizational leaders on pricing and running businesses, and I’m more comfortable talking about money than most people. So I hope I can help clients understand where most of us are coming from, and help designers who aren’t as comfortable having these conversations.
So here we go.
How Designers Actually Make Money
The design business has two primary revenue streams:
First: Design fees. We charge for our time and expertise: sometimes hourly, sometimes flat fee, sometimes by square footage. Different designers use different methods depending on whether it’s new construction or remodel, design phase or construction phase. This covers the actual hours we put into creating your design and shepherding it through the construction process.1
Second: Trade discounts. Almost every vendor we work with offers trade pricing, typically ranging from 15% to 40% (sometimes higher). We then charge full price to clients. This income is an acknowledgement that we’re doing work that the vendor or the client would otherwise have to do.
Here’s what that work actually looks like:
Getting estimates and managing vendor relationships
Handling all the accounting and invoicing
Making sure both we and vendors are paid on time
Tracking shipments and coordinating delivery timing
Inspecting every single item for damage or defects
Managing returns, remakes, and problem-solving when things go wrong
Ensuring contractors have materials when they need them
Holding products and timing delivery so clients aren’t receiving things piecemeal
Providing white-glove service so you don’t have to think about any of this
We depend on that spread, the difference between our trade price and retail, to make our businesses function. We cannot run profitable businesses on design fees alone. And we would not be compensated fairly for all that extra service without trade discounts.
My Pricing Model
Currently, I charge retail for products. Whatever trade discount I receive from the vendor is my profit on that item. That markup pays for all the white-glove service I just described, the invisible labor that makes your project run smoothly.
And no, I’m not willing to share that with clients.
“But Can I Get a Deal?”
We get asked this all the time. “Will you share your trade discount with me?” “Can I get a better price?”
Look, there’s nothing wrong with wanting a good price for what you’re paying. I get it. But here’s why the answer is no:
I’m trying to run a profitable business. Not a greedy one. A sustainable one. One that can employ people, weather slow markets, and provide stability for me and my team.
When other designers share their trade discounts (and yes, some do), it makes it really hard for the rest of us. Maybe they have another income source. Maybe they don’t have staff. Maybe they don’t have to deal with cash flow. That’s fine for them but it creates unrealistic expectations for clients working with designers who actually need these margins to survive.
Remember, you’re not just paying for a product you could get anywhere. Every designer has their own point of view. Yes, there are consumers out there who are great designers but no consumer knows what we know about what’s possible, or our expertise in managing a large, complex project to completion. We bring experience, knowledge, vision, and a particular way of seeing. That’s what you’re hiring us for.
We deserve to be compensated for that expertise. We deserve to be compensated for taking all the administrative weight off your shoulders, tasks that are time-consuming and expensive if you had to hire them out separately.
The Clients Who Get It
Here’s the thing: we have clients who understand this innately. They don’t ask for price breaks. They don’t ask us to share our trade discount. They see the value in what we do and they’re happy to pay for it.
And honestly? We’re going to favor working with those people.
If you don’t see the value in working with a designer, that’s completely okay. No judgment, no hard feelings. I’ve had clients start a project and then say, “You know what? I don’t think this is worth my money.” And I get it. I’ll hand over everything I’ve done, set them up for success, and send them on their way with genuine good wishes.
It’s not personal. It’s just reality.
I want to work with people who see the value in what I’m doing and the prices I charge. I don’t want to work with people who are unsure, who might get resentful, or who think they could do it themselves. Not because I’m defensive but because I want to make a real difference for my clients. I want to transform not just the quality of their design, but their entire experience from start to finish.
If you don’t value that, it’s totally fine to not work with a designer.
But I can’t share my trade discount with you. I can’t discount my hourly fees. I can’t pretend I didn’t work the hours I worked when I bill you.
Why I’m Unapologetic About This
I have to charge what I charge because I’m running a business. Because I have to pay myself. Because I’m trying to build wealth not just for me, but for my family, for the people who come after me, for the legacy I want to leave for the people I love.
That’s not greed. That’s the whole point of running a business.
So please don’t ask me to share my trade discount with you.
Because the answer is going to be no.
Have thoughts on this? I’d genuinely love to hear from both designers and clients. Let me know where you stand – I promise I can handle disagreement. Let’s connect on social media
By “shepherding”, I mean both communicating the design to the people implementing it, and also continuing to tweak the design through construction. Every day on a work site, we are making important artistic decisions that affect the quality of the final look.