How to spot a bad interior designer before you sign anything.

Ask your designer for their last three closed contracts. If they hesitate, walk away.

Choosing an interior designer for a premium home is one of the highest-stakes decisions you will make outside of buying the home itself. The wrong choice can cost 30–50% of your budget in scope changes, delays, and quiet redoing of finished work. The right choice can, quite literally, add a decade of life to your home.

Here are the questions we would ask, if we were the client and not the designer. We would fail two of them ourselves — but we would only fail them if you asked them badly.

The seven questions

1. Show me the last three contracts you closed. With names removed. What did they cost, and how long did they take?

A serious studio has this information at their fingertips. A studio that hesitates is either disorganised or has something to hide.

2. How many projects will you be running at the same time as mine?

More than six is a red flag for premium work. More than ten is a definite no for anything that requires personal design attention.

3. Which of your recent clients would you be comfortable if I called?

The answer should include specific names, phone numbers, and permission to reach out. If it comes with a filter ("well, this one had some issues at the end") — respect the filter, but note it.

4. Show me a site you are currently working on. Today. Not photographed. Live.

A studio proud of their process will take you to an active site. A studio proud only of their outcomes will show you photographs.

5. What is your standard contract cancellation clause?

A fair studio's contract allows the client to exit with limited penalty at defined milestones. A predatory contract locks you in until the end.

6. Who is signing the drawings that come to my home?

The answer should be the founder or a named senior. Not "the design team." Not "our head of studio." A name.

7. What is the last mistake you made on a project, and what did you do about it?

Every honest studio has an answer within thirty seconds. A studio that claims not to have made mistakes is either lying or too junior to know.

Where Sky Arc would fail (if you asked badly)

Question 1: We would show you three contracts. But if you asked in the wrong way, we would hedge on scope changes — every project has them, and every studio explains them badly.

Question 7: We have made real mistakes. On one project in 2023 we missed a detail on the bathroom slope. The floor pooled. We rebuilt it at our cost. If you asked us for _the biggest mistake we have ever made_, we would tell you this story. If you asked us _have you ever made a mistake_, we would be tempted to soften it.

The lesson: ask the specific version of the question. Not the polite version.

A designer who admits limitations is a designer worth working with. A designer who claims none is a designer you should not.

What good looks like

A designer who answers directly. A designer who admits limitations. A designer who volunteers information you did not ask for. A designer whose previous clients call them by first name and pick up on the third ring.

If you are meeting a designer next week, take this list. Ask the seven questions. The answers, and the way they are given, will tell you what you need to know.