UAE interior design
We design homes across Dubai and the UAE and build what we draw. Tell us the rooms on WhatsApp and we come back with a proposal and a fee.
The fees
Every interior design company in Dubai prices its work in one of three ways: a share of what the whole project costs, a rate for each square metre or square foot, or a flat fee fixed before the first sketch. The figures below are the ones those firms publish themselves. They are what we hold every design proposal against.
How much does an interior designer cost in Dubai?
Dubai design firms publish fees of 10 to 20 percent of the project value, rates from AED 120 per square metre on large villas, or flat fees of about AED 20,000 to AED 150,000 set by size and scope. A studio design package starts near AED 10,000, and design and build for part of a villa starts near AED 80,000. Every figure is dated September 2026 and credited to the firm that published it in our fee guide.
The method decides how the fee behaves once work starts. A percentage grows with every upgrade you sign off, so a marble floor raises the design fee as well as the build. A rate per area is fixed by the size of the home. A flat fee holds only as long as the scope written beside it holds, which makes that scope the real contract.
| Fee method | Published figure in AED | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| Share of project value | 10% to 20% of the project | AI Designs, Euphoria Interiors |
| Rate, villa of 1,000 sq m or more | AED 120 per sq m | Couture Luxury Interior Design |
| Rate, home of 500 to 750 sq m | AED 140 per sq m | Couture Luxury Interior Design |
| Rate, project over 800 sq m | AED 150 to 200 per sq m | Amitis Design |
| Flat fee, set by size and scope | AED 20,000 to 150,000+ | AI Designs |
| Design only, large villa | AED 40,000 to 150,000+ | Bestimate |
| Consultation, one-off | AED 2,000 to 6,000 | Algedra |
| Hourly | AED 500 to 1,000 per hour | AI Designs |
Two things in that table catch people out. Couture's rate is per square metre, about AED 11 per square foot, yet per-foot figures of AED 175 to AED 550 also circulate in Dubai as design fees. When two numbers for one service sit that far apart, ask whether the larger one includes the fit-out. The market muddles the two often enough that one Dubai firm's own cost guide places design-only above turnkey in one paragraph and below it in the next.
Send us the floor area and rooms
Design only buys a concept, layouts, 3D views and a drawing and specification set that any licensed contractor can price. You own that set, and the designer can stay on to check the builder's work against it. Design and build hands both jobs to one firm under one contract. That closes the gap between drawing and site, and gives up the independent check. Our design and build page sets out what that contract should cover.
In Dubai the licences make the difference concrete. Dubai Municipality lists Interior Decoration and Decoration Design and Implementation as secondary activities, while Building Contracting is the main activity that carries a graded category and the right to take building permits. A firm licensed for decoration alone can deliver joinery, ceilings and finishes. Structural change needs a building contractor and a registered consultant.
| Home and scope | Published band in AED | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| Studio, design and basic scope | AED 10,000 to 25,000 | Pine Tree Lane |
| One or two bedrooms, design and basic scope | AED 25,000 to 60,000 | Pine Tree Lane |
| Villa, partial design and build | AED 80,000 to 150,000 | Spazio |
| Villa, full design and fit-out | AED 250,000 to 1,000,000+ | Spazio |
| Villa, luxury turnkey | AED 600,000 to 2,000,000+ | Ray Fitout |
Turnkey means you receive a finished, furnished space with one firm answerable for all of it. The label does not fix the contents, so ask for the inclusions as a list. Xworks, a Dubai fit-out firm, publishes a base rate of about AED 1,500 per square metre that covers partitions, ceilings, flooring, MEP and furniture. Algedra publishes fit-out rates of AED 240 to 400 per square foot at a basic standard, AED 400 to 680 mid-range and AED 680 to 1,400 and above at the high end. Name curtains, appliances, art and styling one by one. A list that leaves them out has not priced them.
A majlis brief works through seating, flooring, walls, ceiling and lighting, plus one decision other rooms do not need: whether the majlis sits inside the villa or in an annex of its own. That choice is where the rules come in. The 2021 Dubai Building Code lets a villa annex serve as a majlis with no setback from the plot boundary, provided it stands at least 1.5 metres from the main villa, stays under 5.5 metres high and covers no more than 60 percent of the main building's gross area.
Abu Dhabi's capital development code caps a detached majlis at 6 metres, ground floor only, in its villa residential district. Community codes go further. In Nad Al Sheba Villas, Nakheel's design code offers fixed extension sizes for a driver's, maid's or majlis room, up to 36.11 square metres on a large five-bedroom plot, and an external majlis on big corner plots of five-bedroom villas. Our majlis seating design page takes the brief further.
We ask each firm for a proposal in that shape before it reaches you, so three studios can be read side by side on one page. The cost breakdown lists every published band with its source and the month we read it.
Scope
Concept, layouts, 3D views and a full drawing and specification set that any licensed contractor can price. You own the design and choose who builds it.
from AED 10,000
One firm draws the space and delivers it: joinery, finishes, lighting and furniture under a single contract. It suits a villa where several rooms change together.
from AED 80,000
Design, fit-out, furniture and styling handed over ready to live in. Published villa bands run from AED 250,000 for full design and fit-out to above AED 2,000,000 for luxury turnkey work.
from AED 250,000
Why Corvana
An interior project can go wrong on the fee long before a colour is chosen. One studio quotes a percentage, the next a rate per square foot, a third a flat sum, and none of the three can be laid side by side. We fix that first. We turn your brief into one written scope, put the same scope to licensed design firms that work in your emirate, and ask each of them for the fee method, the figure and the deliverables. You see the published market band next to every proposal. Licensed UAE firms carry out the design and the build. Choosing the right one, on terms you can read, is the part we do.
How it works
Set the three fee methods against the size of your home. The price guide shows what each method cost in September 2026, firm by firm.
Which rooms, the floor area, the community, and photos if you have them. One WhatsApp message is enough to start.
Our designers return a fee method, a figure and a list of deliverables for your rooms.
You approve the proposal and we take it from drawings to finished rooms, with your questions answered along the way.
Where we work
The rules change at every border. Dubai lets most finishing work go ahead without a permit, while Ajman prices its maintenance permit at AED 1,000.
Dubai Municipality sorts interior work into simple maintenance, décor and modifications. Painting, flooring, doors and ceilings need no permit under Circular 3-12-1 of 2022, and décor inside a unit of up to 100 square metres needs none under Circular 3-8-1 of 2021, as long as a Municipality-accredited contractor does the work. Developers then set their own terms. Emaar asks no NOC for internal painting or new furniture, yet every contractor still needs an entry permit. The Dubai rules run community by community.
Abu Dhabi writes the line into the permit itself. Décor and finishes that leave the rooms, the openings and the structure alone run on a maintenance permit that the contractor files. Once a design changes the interior spaces, only a licensed design consultant can apply, and the job becomes a building permit. Aldar communities add written approval from the Owners Union Director before any alteration starts. The Abu Dhabi rules cover the documents and the majlis limits.
Sharjah City Municipality puts home renovation on a maintenance permit, issued by its Inspection and Follow-up Section against a refundable deposit. A design that changes the structure or the layout needs approved engineering drawings and a building permit, both filed by an engineering consultancy the Municipality accredits. No Sharjah developer publishes an alteration process of its own, so the Municipality's rules are the whole picture. Our page on Sharjah permits sets them out.
Ajman prints a fee and a duration beside most of its 94 municipal services. The maintenance permit costs AED 1,000, takes two days after a site inspection and can be requested by an individual owner as well as by a contracting company. A change to the architecture or the structure is a separate request at AED 200. The Ajman fees are listed in full.
Interior work often travels with a bigger job. If the whole villa is being renovated, start at Corvana Villa Renovation; for a flat, at Corvana Apartment Renovation. Kitchens and bathrooms have their own specialists at Corvana Kitchen and Corvana Bathroom. Every service we cover is listed at Corvana Renovation.
Common questions: Custom Furniture Lead Time in Dubai: What Sets the Calendar, Interior Design Licence vs Fit-Out Licence in the UAE, Does Interior Design Need DM Approval in Dubai? Job by Job, Furniture for UAE Humidity: Woods, Boards, Finishes, Fabrics, How Interior Design Fees Work in Dubai, Method by Method and How to Design a Majlis: Seating, Light, Floors and Ceilings.
Also Interior Design Contract in Dubai: Clauses to Get in Writing and How Much Does an Interior Designer Cost in Dubai?.
Comparisons: Interior Designer vs Decorator in Dubai: Roles and Fees and Top 10 Interior Designers in Dubai: How the Lists Are Made.
Send us the rooms. We come back with a proposal that states the fee method, the figure and what you receive.
Questions
Rooms, floor area, community and what you want designed. We come back on WhatsApp with a proposal and a fee.
