Who provides the initial price to the designer in the pricing flow?

• A. The designer.
• B. The end user.
• C. The supplier.
• D. The manufacturer.

Answer: (C)

The initial price the designer uses comes from the supplier. In interior design pricing, items are sourced through vendors who provide the wholesale or trade price to the designer. That base price from the supplier (often via the manufacturer’s products routed through a distributor) is what the designer uses to build the project quote. The designer then adds markup to cover services, deliverables, and overhead, and presents the final price to the client. The end user pays the final price, not the initial wholesale price, and while manufacturers may publish suggested retail prices, the price a designer initially sees and bases their quote on typically comes from the supplier.