NKBA/KBDN Designer Salary Survey Results
By Edward S. Pell
A joint salary survey conducted by the NKBA and Kitchen & Bath Design News found that owners, managers, and employees of kitchen and bath design-only firms earned an average of $80,000 last year,. That figure was about the same that mining engineers and real estate brokers earn, according to the Department of Labor. Certified personnel (Certified Kitchen Designers, for example) earn an average of $87,000, compared to $76,000 for non-certified personnel.
Income Breakdown
Owners of design-only firms earn an average of $114,000 per year with perks, or just over $50 per hour. Managers average $62,000 per year, or almost $27 per hour, and employees average $49,000 per year, or just under $23 per hour.
Employees with less than five years of experience earn an average of $39,000, or just over $18 per hour.
Design firm owners earn more in the South and West than their counterparts do elsewhere. A design firm owner in the Southern states earns an average of $120,000, while one in the West earns an average of $119,000. By way of contrast, a designer owner in the Northeast earns an average of $111,000; in the Midwest, $102,000; and Canadian design firm owners earn an average of $107,000 (all figures for Canada are stated in Canadian dollars).
Some 43% of owners, managers, and employees at design firms said their salary was their household’s secondary source of income. Almost 32% said their salary was their household’s primary source of income, while for the remaining 25% their salary was the household’s only source of income.
Benefits
Almost three out of four design firm respondents reported having a medical plan, and just over half had a dental plan. About 44% have a 401k plan, 41% have a prescription drug plan, and 33% have a vision plan. Almost 30% have life insurance, 17% have profit sharing, and 13% have an IRA.
For those with health insurance, the employer pays, on average, just under two thirds of the premium in single coverage, with the employee paying the remaining third. For family coverage, the numbers are almost exactly reversed, with employers paying just over a third on average and employees paying the remaining two thirds.
More than a third of those at design-only firms received a holiday or year-end bonus last year, with the average amount $1,700. A sixth received a performance bonus during the year, with the average amount given $8,500.
Just over a third received a raise during 2007, with the average raise reported at 5.5% of annual salary.
For those who didn’t receive a raise last year, nearly half had received a raise during 2006 and slightly more than a fifth had received one in 2005. However, 8% last received one in 2004, 3% in 2003, and 18% had not received a raise since 2002 or earlier.
Time Off
One out of five respondents from a design-only firm received no vacation days last year, 28% were company owners who took vacation as they wished with no set policy, 12% had between one and five days vacation, 18% had six to 10 days, 15% had 11 to 15 days, 4% received 16 to 20 days, and the remaining 3% had more than 20 days. The average vacation length for those who received any was 7.2 days.
Nearly one in three respondents had no paid sick days in 2007. Almost a third were owners who took sick days as needed without a set policy and more than a quarter were allowed between one and five paid sick days. About 8% had between six and 10 days, 2% between 11 and 15, and about 1% more than 15 paid sick days. The average number of paid sick days reported was 2.8.
Respondents received an average of 3.4 paid holidays in 2007, although 29% had none, and 27% of business owners took them as they wished without a set policy. Two thirds of owners say they offer their employees a flex-time arrangement, and about more than a quarter say they offer family leave to their employees. The average length of time offered is 8.4 days.
Business Income
Average annual revenue of the design-only firms respondents worked for was $1.4 million, and the average respondent accounted for $339,000 personally, or roughly a quarter of company revenues. The average number of room projects designed by respondents last year was 51.
Seven out of every ten respondents reported working with another companies’ showrooms while dealing with clients, with the average number 4.2 per year. Just 12% of respondents went to only one showroom last year.
Two in five respondents were business owners who design, and another two in five were employees who design. Some 13% were managers who designed, 2% were owners who didn’t, fewer than 1% were managers who didn’t, and the remaining half-percent or so were employees who didn’t design.
Some 29% of respondents are paid a salary, and 26% are owners who take from their business as needed. About 15% are paid a salary plus commission, 9% are paid an hourly salary, 8% are paid commission only, 3% are paid hourly plus commission, and 9% are paid in some other method, including various combinations of salary and bonuses.
More than half of respondents had one-person companies, and the average number of employees reported was just 2.7.
One of every two design-only firm owners has a company car; while only one in ten managers and one in twenty employees does.