How Many Projects Can One Designer Realistically Handle Alone?

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Most designers hit a point in their early careers when they wonder if they’re juggling too much or if the chaos they feel is simply part of running a young firm. It’s hard to know where that line actually is. You see other designers posting a dozen projects on social media. You assume everyone but you is handling five kitchen remodels, two renovations, and a couple of new-build decorating projects without breaking a sweat. But the reality nothing close to that. One designer cannot carry an unlimited number of active clients without something slipping through their fingers. The question is how much is reasonable and how much is simply too much. When is it finally time to either say “no” to new projects or hire a team to help?

To get a clearer sense of this, we asked Melissa and Laura for their perspective earlier this week. If you’re new here, Melissa Grove and Laura Umansky are the cofounders of DesignDash and long-time leaders inside Laura U Design Collective. They have both watched designers stretch themselves thin, find balance again by delegating their workloads, and finally learn what they themselves can realistically support.

Is it time for you to bring in reinforcements? How many projects can one designer realistically handle alone?

There Comes a Point When You Can’t Run Everything Yourself, And That’s NORMAL

Most designers enter the industry with a solid work ethic and the belief that they can keep every plate spinning if they try hard enough. At the beginning, that might even feel true. You manage drawings in the morning, answer emails between errands, run to the tile showroom, and squeeze in proposals at night. You tell yourself it’s only temporary. Then the temporary phase sticks around far longer than you expected.

Laura remembers how fast the pressure outpaced her capacity.

“Because I launched with a retail store and studio, someone had to be there at all times. But my design projects didn’t stop. I still had to source, meet vendors, and visit job sites. By the end of month one, I already had active clients and realized I couldn’t be tethered to the studio and work in the field simultaneously. I hired immediately out of necessity and hired smart. My first employee wore many hats. They managed the shop, answered phones, and helped with bookkeeping and invoicing.”

It’s startling to realize how quickly you can reach the edge of your bandwidth. There is only so much one person can do, especially when each client expects attention, clear decisions, and thoughtful design. You can be talented, organized, and deeply committed, and still reach a point where handling everything alone is no longer sustainable. By trying to do too much, you might lose clients, hurt vendor relationships, or burn out so badly that it takes months to recover.

Don’t Blame Yourself. Everyone Has a Limit.

A lot of designers blame themselves when they feel overwhelmed. They assume they’re disorganized or not disciplined enough. In reality, they’re just carrying more than one person can reasonably manage. Capacity is not a measure of talent. It’s a measure of structure.

If you don’t have support with procurement, you will spend hours tracking orders.

If you don’t have help in the field, your studio work suffers.

If you don’t have someone managing client communication, your inbox fills faster than you can sort it, much less empty it.

You can tighten your process. You can strengthen your templates. But you can’t outrun the limits of time. When you’re doing everything yourself, the ceiling presses down on you far faster than if you had a team.

Three Active Projects Is Where Most Solo Designers Hit Their Limit

As designers with businesses to run and dozens of people (from vendors to clients to builders) depending on us, we want a concrete number. We want to know what the industry benchmark is. Are we doing too little or too much? Are we working our absolute hardest or is everyone stronger than us? We want to know whether feeling exhausted is a normal stage in building a design firm or a sign that we’ve taken on far too much. With all those questions swirling around you, we encourage you to consider Laura’s perspective.

“In terms of capacity, I believe one highly organized, skilled designer can handle up to three very active projects at once. Beyond that, something gives. Usually your bandwidth or the quality of your client experience.”

Three projects can be intense but manageable if the scopes are balanced and clients make decisions in a timely way. A fourth project can start to strain your communication. A fifth often pushes things into the zone where you’re apologizing and playing catch-up more than designing and delivering. You can try to hold everything, but something usually slips.

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You forgot to follow up with a vendor. You missed the change order deadline. You took a client call in the car on the way to the grocery store but forgot you needed presentation documents. The missteps might seem small but (forgive the pun) they are cracks in the already shaky foundation of a home built on one load-bearing column: you.

Now, the complexity varies depending on the scope. But still, a solo designer rarely thrives with more than three demanding projects at once.

Design Teams Can Manage More Because the Load Is Shared

Inside Laura U Design Collective, capacity looks very different. Their structure relies on small teams with clear roles, which allows them to take on a larger volume of work without stretching anyone beyond their limit. As Laura describes…

“In our studio today, we work in teams of three, and each team manages five to seven projects simultaneously, all in different phases. One might be kicking off, one is mid construction, and another is preparing for install. That mix is manageable because the work is shared across a team, not carried by a single person.”

When the weight of each project is divided, no single person has to remember every detail. One designer focuses on communication. One manages procurement. One handles drawings or technical oversight. The projects stay on task and on target because no one is carrying the entire load alone.

Melissa sees the same dynamic inside the firm she spearheads as COO.

“It depends entirely on the scope of the project. Each of our design teams handles four to five projects at a time, all full scale interior design projects. We make sure to stagger start times so not all of the sourcing or pricing or installing happens at once.”

That staggering is essential. Projects in different phases require different types of energy. A construction walkthrough drains you in a way that a concept meeting does not. A procurement phase demands sharp attention to detail that isn’t needed during early creative development. When those phases overlap thoughtfully, everything hums along (not absolutely perfectly but don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good).

You Don’t Need to Wait Until You’re Drowning to Ask for Help

Many designers wait until things fall apart (or are on the very verge of doing so) before they hire. Others hire too early and feel financially strained. The sweet spot is always somewhere in between. If you consistently struggle to respond to clients promptly, if your drawings lag behind schedule, or if your site visits keep pulling you away from your desk, you’re at the point where help would strengthen your business rather than burden it.

You can start small. A part-time assistant. A contract drafter. Someone who manages procurement a few hours a week. Remember, clients hire you for your ideas, your clarity, and your presence. When those things start to erode, your project count is telling you something. Listening early on saves you from repairing client relationships later.

If you honor that limit (which all of us naturally have), you’ll know exactly when to expand your team. And once you do, your capacity shifts from three projects to way more. Who knows, you might even be able to take a vacation!