What buyers ask AI before choosing an interior design studio

Buyers ask what it costs to do up a flat of their size, how a designer charges, and what a turnkey quote leaves out. They also ask an assistant to compare a local studio against the big national interiors brands, and that comparison is where most independent studios quietly lose.

The questions, in the words buyers use

Cost

• "Interior design cost for a 2BHK and a 3BHK"
• "Modular kitchen cost per running foot"
• "False ceiling and painting cost per square foot"
• "How much should I keep aside for a full home interior"

How you charge

• "Do designers charge a percentage of the project or a flat fee"
• "Is the designer taking a commission from the carpenter"
• "Can I hire a designer only for the drawings and execute myself"
• "Payment schedule, how much is advance"

Scope and materials

• "What is included in a turnkey interior package"
• "BWP versus BWR plywood, and is MDF acceptable"
• "Which laminate and hardware brands are worth it"
• "Does plywood swell in coastal humidity"

Time and trust

• "How long does a 3BHK interior take"
• "Can we live in the flat during the work"
• "What are the society rules on work timings and debris"
• "What if a shutter sags after a year, who fixes it"

What a good answer looks like

On cost, a number attached to a scope and a date. "A 2BHK at this level of finish, with these items included, in this city, as of this month." A number without a scope is useless, and a scope without a number is what everybody else publishes.

On how you charge, an honest page, including the model you do not use. If you earn a margin on execution rather than a design fee, say so. Buyers already suspect it, and the studio that says it plainly is the one they trust.

On materials, explain the trade offs, including the places where the cheaper option is perfectly fine. A page that tells a buyer where not to spend is worth more than a page of premium adjectives.

On defects, publish an actual warranty: what is covered, for how long, and how to raise it. Very few studios do, and it is the fear behind the whole decision.

Where you are probably missing

• The site is a gallery. Beautiful and unreadable to an assistant.
• No prices, so the cost questions are answered entirely by the national brands.
• No comparison page, although "local designer versus a big interiors brand" is one of the most typed questions in your trade.
• No exclusions list, which loses you the query and causes arguments later.
• No warranty or service page.
• No city or climate page, even though humidity, society rules and labour rates all change the answer.

What to publish first

• A cost page per flat size and finish level, dated, with the scope written out.
• How you charge, plainly, including commissions if any.
• Inclusions and exclusions, line by line.
• Material specification with grades, brands and warranty.
• An honest comparison with the national turnkey brands, including when they are the better choice.

The last one feels risky and is the strongest page on the list. A studio willing to say when a buyer should choose somebody else is the studio an assistant can safely recommend.

A worked example of a materials answer

Buyers ask which plywood to use in a kitchen, and the usual answer is a brand name. A complete answer names the decision, not the product.

Say what the grades mean: boiling water resistant board for the kitchen carcass and for any unit near a wet area, boiling water proof grade where water contact is likely, commercial grade for wardrobes and internal units in a dry room, and medium density fibreboard only where it is sensibly used, for example a shutter that will be lacquered and kept dry. Then name the five things that decide how long the work lasts: the board grade, the edge banding and whether every cut edge is sealed, the hinges and channels and their warranty, whether the carcass sits on a skirting clear of the floor, and whether the wall behind a wet unit was waterproofed before installation.

Finish with the honest part: in a dry bedroom, the cheaper board is usually fine, and spending the difference on better hardware will matter more. A studio that says this is trusted on everything else it says.

What these questions leave out

They leave out style almost entirely. Buyers search for cost, scope, material and time. They choose style by looking, in person or in photographs, and no page wins that part. Your portfolio still matters to the human, it just does not travel into an AI answer.

They also leave out anything that requires a licensed professional. If a question involves breaking a wall, changing a beam, altering a facade or getting a building permission, the answer is a registered architect or a structural engineer, and your page should say so plainly rather than absorb the work.

Common questions

Which single page is worth writing first?

The exclusions page. It is the shortest, it prevents the disputes that cost you money, and it answers the most typed follow up question in the trade, which is what a turnkey quote leaves out.

How do we answer the cost question when every flat is different?

Publish bands against defined scopes and stated cities, not one number. Say what pushes a project to the top of the band: more carpentry, stone work, a false ceiling through the flat, imported hardware, or a tight timeline.

Should we publish the payment schedule?

Yes. It is asked constantly and it is a trust question in disguise. A stated schedule tied to stages, with what each stage means, reads far better than a large advance with no explanation.

What about the commission question, which buyers ask directly?

Answer it. Say how you are paid: a design fee, a margin on execution, or both. Buyers already assume the margin exists. The studio that states it is the one that stops being suspected.

Do we need separate pages for office and retail fit outs?

Yes. The buyer is a company, the questions become fire clearance, building management approvals, work timings, cabling, air conditioning and a deadline tied to a lease. Almost nothing on the residential page applies.

What to do first

Write the exclusions page this week and link it from every estimate you send. It will save you an argument within the month, and it answers a question thousands of people are typing.

How we know this

We read the assistants rather than guessing what they do. In our own audit of 1,260 saved answers from ChatGPT and Gemini across the United States, the United Kingdom and India, 82.0% of every citation landed on a site the business itself owned, and review directories took 0.7%. Counted as one domain per reading, 16,516 of 20,143.

That is the whole asymmetry: the pages you own are the pages an assistant quotes back to a buyer. See the dated readings and the method on our proof page.

Find out whether assistants name your business, on your own domain and your own buying questions.

By Aditya Goel, Founder, AI Knows Us. Reviewed 1 November 2026.