Help! I Have a Difficult Interior Design Client Who Pays Really Well.

LIKE

8

LEAVE COMMENT 0

3 min read

Every firm owner has faced this dilemma: a client who generates significant revenue but drains energy from the team. Maybe they’re indecisive, abrasive, or prone to micromanaging. On paper, the account looks like a win. In practice, it can feel like a slow bleed of both your sanity and your carefully crafted firm culture. The question you must ask yourself: when is the relationship worth preserving, and how do you reset the dynamic if you’ve already done multiple projects together?

Five Strategies for Managing High-Maintenance, High-Value Clients

Run the numbers honestly

Do they really pay as well as you think they do? It’s easy to overestimate the financial upside of a difficult client because the top-line revenue looks impressive. But once you subtract the hidden costs (extra staff hours, extended project management, and the toll on morale), the margins may be slimmer than they appear.

Create a true profit-and-loss snapshot for the account. If the client’s demands require 50 percent more staff time than average, does the fee still make sense? Sometimes the numbers alone reveal that the relationship isn’t as profitable as it seems.

Redraw the contract boundaries

For repeat clients especially, firms often slip into “friend mode.” We view this as client maintenance or retention; the cost of doing “repeat” business. Firm owners do extra work without formal agreements. Resetting the relationship requires re-establishing boundaries.

On a new project, introduce tighter scope language, clearer billing triggers, and firmer revision limits. Position these changes as professional updates that reflect how your business has grown, not as punishments. A contract that holds both parties accountable is the first step in truly shifting the dynamic toward equality and away from bullying behavior.

Take control of communication

Difficult clients often dominate by flooding the inbox or expecting instant responses. Structure communication channels to protect your team. That might mean consolidating all correspondence through a project manager, setting weekly update calls, or using project management software where everything is documented.

When communication is systematized, it reduces the chance for emotional flare-ups and makes the client feel heard without consuming your entire week.

Use authority to reset the tone

If you’ve already completed multiple projects with the same client, the dynamic may feel entrenched. But authority can still be reasserted. If you start sending recaps after every meeting with decisive language: “Here is the agreed-upon direction,” your client will eventually adjust to the new structure.

Authority isn’t just about being confrontational and asserting dominance. Most of the time (and in work settings, certainly), it’s about demonstrating professionalism so the client understands your role as a leader, not a subordinate.

Know your walk-away point

Not every relationship can or should be saved. Define clear criteria for when a client ceases to be worth it, whether that’s repeated late payments, chronic disrespect, or a threshold of unbillable hours.

Share these criteria with your leadership team so the decision to walk away isn’t made in the heat of the moment. Walking away from a high-paying but corrosive client is often the very thing that creates space for healthier, more profitable work to come.

What to Do When You Stay

If you decide the client is worth keeping, focus on protecting your team. Make sure junior staff aren’t absorbing the brunt of bad behavior. Rotate responsibilities so no one person becomes the client’s permanent target. Establish escalation protocols: if a client crosses a line, the issue moves directly to the principal. Preserving morale is just as important as preserving revenue.

It can also help to reset expectations with a candid, professional conversation. For example: “We’ve noticed the last project ran significantly over hours due to repeated design revisions. In this next project, we’ll need to stick closely to the approved scope so we can deliver on time and within budget.” Framing it around efficiency and quality keeps the tone constructive rather than adversarial.

Fuel your creative fire & be a part of a supportive community that values how you love to live.

subscribe to our newsletter

_{*please check your Spam folder for the latest DesignDash Magazine issue immediately after subscription}

Subscribe

Join the DesignDash Community for Peer-to-Peer Support

Difficult clients are a reality of the industry, but they don’t have to define your firm. With clear boundaries, structured communication, and an honest look at profitability, you can decide whether the relationship is worth continuing—and if it is, you can reshape it into something healthier.

To hear how other firm owners have navigated these high-wire situations, join the DesignDash Community. Members share candid experiences about managing client relationships, setting limits, and knowing when it’s time to walk away.

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.