The real cost of running a design studio (overhead breakdown)

When I started researching this article, I looked for a comprehensive breakdown of what it actually costs to run an interior design studio in Singapore or Dubai. Plenty of articles about renovation costs for homeowners. Almost nothing about the business side of the studios doing the renovations.

That's a problem, because the gap between "I can design a beautiful home" and "I can run a profitable business designing beautiful homes" is mostly about understanding your numbers. Every experienced studio owner knows this. Most learned it the hard way.

So here's the breakdown. All figures are monthly, based on a studio of 3 to 5 people (one owner-designer, one to two junior designers, and one to two support staff for admin or coordination). I'm covering both Singapore and Dubai because those are the two markets we know best. Your numbers will vary, but the categories won't.

You can run a design studio from your living room. Some very successful designers do. But once you have staff and need to meet clients somewhere that isn't a coffee shop, workspace becomes your single largest fixed cost.

Singapore

• A small unit in a co-working space like JustCo or WeWork runs S$800 to S$1,200 per desk per month. For 3 to 5 people, that's S$2,400 to S$6,000.
• A dedicated studio space, typically in a shophouse, light-industrial building, or commercial HDB unit, costs S$2,500 to S$5,500 for 400 to 800 sq ft. The popular design clusters around Jalan Besar and Bencoolen range from S$4 to S$7 per sq ft.
• Budget option: some studios use HDB-licensed home offices for the first year or two. Costs nothing beyond your existing rent, but you can't legally hire employees to work there, and meeting clients in your flat gets awkward fast.

Dubai

• Free zone offices in Dubai Design District (d3) or Dubai Internet City run AED 4,000 to AED 10,000 per month for a small office. These come with trade licence benefits but typically require annual contracts.
• Mainland commercial space in areas like Al Quoz or Business Bay costs AED 5,000 to AED 12,000 for a similar-sized unit.
• Flexi-desk setups (AED 1,500 to AED 3,000/month) exist, but most municipalities require a physical office for your trade licence.

Typical monthly range: S$3,000 to S$5,500 (Singapore) or AED 5,000 to AED 12,000 (Dubai).

People are usually 50% to 65% of total overhead. This is where studios either make or break their margins.

Singapore (monthly, per person)

• Junior interior designer: S$3,500 to S$5,000 base salary
• CPF employer contribution (17%): add S$595 to S$850
• Admin or project coordinator: S$2,800 to S$3,800 base + CPF
• Skills Development Levy (SDL): S$2 to S$11.25 per employee per month (small, but it adds up)

For a 4-person team (owner + 2 designers + 1 coordinator), staff costs run roughly S$11,000 to S$17,000 per month excluding the owner's draw.

Dubai (monthly, per person)

• Junior interior designer: AED 8,000 to AED 15,000
• Admin or coordinator: AED 5,000 to AED 8,000
• No income tax or social contributions (the upside of Dubai)
• Health insurance: AED 250 to AED 500 per person per month (mandatory for all employees)
• Visa costs: amortise AED 5,000 to AED 7,000 per employee across 24 months, so roughly AED 210 to AED 290 per person per month

Same team structure in Dubai: roughly AED 24,000 to AED 42,000 per month.

A note on the owner's compensation: most small-studio owners in Singapore pay themselves S$5,000 to S$10,000 per month in the early years. In Dubai, the equivalent is AED 15,000 to AED 30,000. These amounts should be included in your overhead calculation, even if you're tempted to skip your own pay during lean months. If the business can't afford to pay you, it's not yet sustainable.

Individually small. Collectively, they add S$2,000 to S$4,000 per month that people forget to budget for.

Software subscriptions

• AutoCAD or SketchUp Pro: S$120 to S$350/month per seat
• 3D rendering (V-Ray, Enscape, or cloud-based) adds S$50 to S$200/month
• Project management tools like Monday, Asana, or Notion run S$30 to S$80/month per user
• Accounting (Xero, QuickBooks): S$50 to S$120/month
• Do you need a CRM? HubSpot, Pipedrive, or a studio-specific tool will cost S$0 to S$200/month
• All-in-one platforms like Open mAIson (disclosure: ours) or Houzz Pro range from S$0 to S$200/month, potentially replacing several of the above

Total software: S$300 to S$1,000 per month depending on how many seats and whether you consolidate.

Insurance

• Professional indemnity insurance (PI): S$1,200 to S$3,000 per year, so roughly S$100 to S$250 per month. This covers you if a design decision causes damage or a client sues over a defect. If you skip it, you're betting your personal assets. Most clients with budgets above S$100,000 will ask for proof of PI coverage.
• Public liability: S$500 to S$1,500 per year (S$40 to S$125/month). Covers injuries at your studio or on site visits.
• In Dubai, PI and general liability combined typically run AED 3,000 to AED 8,000 per year.

Accounting and legal

• Singapore: a bookkeeper or outsourced accounting firm charges S$200 to S$600 per month. Annual corporate tax filing (IRAS) adds S$500 to S$1,500 one-time. GST registration is compulsory if revenue exceeds S$1 million annually.
• Dubai: accounting costs AED 500 to AED 1,500 per month. VAT filing (quarterly) is handled by most accounting firms as part of their retainer. Trade licence renewal runs AED 10,000 to AED 25,000 per year depending on your free zone or mainland setup.

These are the categories that balloon when you're not watching.

Marketing and lead generation

• Qanvast listing (Singapore): packages range from free to S$2,000+/month for premium placement. Most active studios spend S$500 to S$1,500.
• Homereno, Renopedia, and similar listing platforms add S$200 to S$800 each per month.
• Google Ads or Meta ads are wildly variable. Studios we've spoken to spend S$500 to S$3,000 per month. Cost per qualified lead through paid ads typically falls between S$50 and S$200 in Singapore.
• In Dubai, Property Finder listings and Instagram ads are the main channels. Budget AED 2,000 to AED 8,000 per month for a meaningful presence.
• Don't forget portfolio photography: S$300 to S$800 per completed project shoot. If you complete 8 to 12 projects per year, that's S$200 to S$800 amortised monthly.

Total marketing: S$1,000 to S$4,000 per month (SG) or AED 3,000 to AED 12,000 (Dubai).

Transport and site visits

In Singapore, expect S$300 to S$800 per month in Grab rides and parking fees if you're visiting sites 3 to 4 times per week. Studios with company vehicles add S$1,000 to S$1,500 for loan repayment, insurance, petrol, and parking. In Dubai, a vehicle is essentially mandatory. Budget AED 2,000 to AED 4,000 per month including Salik tolls, fuel, and insurance.

Samples, materials library, and miscellaneous

New fabric books, tile samples, and material swatches: S$100 to S$400 per month. Client gifts and hampers at handover: S$50 to S$150 per project. Printing (mood boards, presentation decks for client meetings): S$50 to S$200 per month. None of these will bankrupt you individually, but they add up to S$300 to S$700 per month if you don't track them.

Let's add it all up for a Singapore studio with 4 people (owner + 2 designers + 1 coordinator):

• Rent: S$3,000 to S$5,500
• Staff (excl. owner): S$11,000 to S$17,000
• Owner's draw: S$5,000 to S$10,000
• Software: S$300 to S$1,000
• Insurance: S$150 to S$375
• Accounting/legal: S$200 to S$600
• Marketing: S$1,000 to S$4,000
• Transport: S$300 to S$800
• Materials and miscellaneous: S$300 to S$700

Total monthly overhead: S$21,250 to S$39,975. Call it S$22,000 to S$40,000 to round.

If your average project margin (design fee minus direct project costs like contractor markup, procurement, and site management) is 35% to 50%, you need monthly revenue of roughly S$44,000 to S$80,000 to cover overhead and maintain that margin. At an average design fee of S$50,000 per project, that means closing roughly one project per month to sustain a lean operation, or 10 to 15 per year at a comfortable pace.

The same exercise for Dubai:

• Rent: AED 5,000 to AED 12,000
• Staff (excl. owner): AED 24,000 to AED 42,000
• Owner's draw: AED 15,000 to AED 30,000
• Software: AED 1,000 to AED 3,000
• Insurance: AED 500 to AED 1,500
• Accounting/legal: AED 1,000 to AED 2,500
• Marketing: AED 3,000 to AED 12,000
• Transport: AED 2,000 to AED 4,000
• Materials and miscellaneous: AED 500 to AED 1,500

Total monthly overhead: AED 52,000 to AED 108,500. Dubai is more expensive across the board, but project values are also higher, so the breakeven in project count is similar.

The mistake most new studio owners make is calculating breakeven based on revenue, not margin. S$50,000 in design fees does not mean S$50,000 in your pocket. After contractor coordination, procurement margins, and site management costs, you might keep 35% to 50% of that. Plan around the number you actually keep.

A few items that catch first-time studio owners by surprise:

CPF (Singapore only). If you've only ever been an employee, you're used to CPF being deducted automatically. As an employer, you pay 17% on top of every employee's salary. For a team of three at an average salary of S$4,000, that's an extra S$2,040 per month you might not have budgeted for. It's mandatory from day one of employment. No grace period.

In Dubai, visa sponsorship catches people off guard. Every non-freelance employee needs a work visa tied to your company. The initial cost is AED 5,000 to AED 7,000 per person, and it takes 4 to 8 weeks to process. If someone quits within the first year, you've spent that money for very little return. Emirates ID renewals, medical testing, and labour card fees add another AED 1,000 to AED 2,000 per person per year.

I mentioned professional indemnity insurance above, but it deserves its own callout. Many new studios skip it because it feels optional. It is optional until a client's S$15,000 marble countertop cracks because of a design specification error, or a built-in cabinet falls off a wall due to incorrect load calculations. One claim without PI coverage can exceed your entire annual profit.

GST registration threshold (Singapore). Once your annual revenue crosses S$1 million, GST registration becomes compulsory. You then need to charge 9% GST on all invoices and file quarterly returns. The accounting cost goes up, your pricing gets more complex, and you need systems that handle tax properly. Most studios hit this threshold around year 3 to 4.

And then there's cash flow timing, the silent killer. You might be profitable on paper but broke in practice because clients pay in stages (deposit, mid-project, completion) while your rent, salaries, and vendor invoices are due monthly. A studio earning S$600,000 per year can still run out of cash in month 4 if two large projects delay their second payment by 6 weeks.

None of this is meant to discourage anyone from starting a studio. These costs are real but manageable when you plan for them. The studios that struggle are the ones that plan for design fees and forget about everything else. Budget for the boring stuff first. The design will take care of itself.