To-The-Trade Episode Summary
Laura Hildebrandt, owner of Interiors by LH in the Washington, DC area, joins Laurie Laizure for a conversation about what it really takes to build a design business when the stakes are personal, the resources are thin, and the learning curve is steep.
Laura’s path into interior design started after a divorce in 2013. With three young children (ages 8, 9, and 2.5), no work history outside the home, and a degree in biology from a program that included graduate work at Harvard, she found that traditional employers were not interested. A realtor named Joan saw her talent and offered her staging work that fit around the kids’ school schedule. Laura staged homes using furniture from her own house, brought her children along on Saturdays, and studied design at night after bedtime.
What began as staging gradually became a full interior design business, one Laura did not even realize she had started until a lawyer friend told her it was time to set up an entity, get an EIN, and protect herself legally. She funded the early years entirely on credit cards, a debt she has since paid off.
From $75 an Hour to $250 and Counting
The conversation turns to pricing. Laura started at $75 an hour for staging work in 2013 and has steadily raised her rate over the years, moving through $100, $125, $150, and now $250 an hour, with plans to raise it again. Laurie reinforces that no designer anywhere in the country should be under $100 an hour and shares a cautionary tale about a builder who tried to get a designer to do full mood boards, specs, and technical drawings for three $5 million homes for just $12,000, a rate that would have been less than minimum wage.
A Client Process Built for a 95% Close Rate
Laura walks through her current client process in detail. Every prospect gets a complimentary 15-minute phone call. From there, she charges $600 for a two-hour in-home consultation. During that visit, she shares general design direction (no written materials), reviews her 15-page contract in person, and explains each clause. She reports a 95% close rate from those consultations, with clients leaving with a signed contract and a retainer check on the same day. The retainer covers the initial design phase, after which she presents mood boards, fabrics, finishes, and renderings. A second retainer follows for procurement and project management.
Boundaries That Protect the Work and the Person
A significant portion of the episode focuses on boundaries. Laura does not text with clients. Her phone hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. She gives herself 48 hours to respond to an email, and that policy is written into her contract. She redirects any client who texts to email, with only narrow exceptions for time-sensitive situations, such as a contractor question on site.
Both Laura and Laurie discuss the industry’s gendered dynamics. Laurie shares the story of a newer designer who underpriced a flat-fee project, took on extra project management work for free, dealt with a failed cabinet maker, and then had the client try to deduct the loss from the designer’s already-too-small fee. Laurie asks bluntly whether a man would have absorbed that cost, and both agree the answer is likely no. Laura reinforces the lesson with her own experience: she once ignored red flags, took on a difficult client to make money, and ended up hiring a lawyer.
Subcontractor Liability and Getting Paid Before the End
Laura offers a firm warning about subcontractors: do not run subs through your company unless you hold a general contractor’s license. Doing so can expose you to liability. She also stresses that designers should never wait until the end of a project to collect final fees, because clients will find reasons to withhold payment.
Work-Life Balance Is Not a Luxury
The episode closes with Laura’s philosophy on work-life balance. She pushes back against hustle culture, noting that exhausting yourself does not produce better work and that clients will never remember the Saturday night you spent fixing their problem. She encourages designers to set intentional work hours, protect family time, and remember that owning a business means you get to decide what it looks like. Laurie adds that designers are building equity in someone else’s home and should also pour into their own lives.
Laura’s business today runs almost entirely on referrals. She keeps her firm intentionally small, valuing personal connection and attention to detail. One client even officiated her wedding, a testament to the relationships she builds through her work.
00:39 – Introductions and Laura’s path from biology degree to interior design
01:46 – Starting a staging business with furniture from her own house
04:38 – Being a single mom of three and making design work around the kids
06:18 – Why no one would hire her after 16 years as a stay-at-home mom
07:19 – Accidentally starting a business and getting legal help to formalize it
09:16 – Gratitude, giving back, and the people who believed in her early
13:56 – Why motherhood is the best training ground for interior design
16:53 – Kids as product testers, CAD helpers, and sample sorters
19:57 – Pricing journey: $75 to $250 an hour
22:10 – Cautionary tale: a builder offering $12,000 for design on a $5 million home
24:57 – “Carrot opportunities” from realtors that never pan out
25:50 – Laura’s client intake process and 95% consultation close rate
27:37 – Reviewing a 15-page contract in person with every client
31:34 – Why you cannot manage a budget without a solid design plan
34:40 – Revenue streams: hourly rate, markup, and vendor commissions
36:44 – ASID involvement and the certification conversation
39:32 – Gendered dynamics in the industry: would this happen to a man?
40:39 – Warning: do not run subs through your company without a GC license
44:40 – Laura’s no-texting policy and firm communication boundaries
47:57 – Work-life balance, hustle culture, and valuing yourself