The market is crowded with studios that look identical on Instagram. What to ask at the first meeting, what should give you pause, and why a private portfolio signals the level of the clients — not a lack of work.
Dubai has hundreds of design studios, and in their advertising they're indistinguishable: everyone has renders, everyone is "luxury", everyone is "turnkey". The differences surface in month two of a project, when switching is already expensive. So the filtering has to happen at the first meeting — here's the working list.
Question 1: who will build it
The most important question, and almost nobody asks it. Many studios produce only the design package and hand construction to outside contractors. Formally you'll be told this; practically, you'll receive a beautiful album and years of arguing over why what was built doesn't match what was drawn.
The right answer: concept, design, construction, furniture and handover inside one team. When the authors of the interior and the builders work in one structure, there are no handoffs between them — and no gap for quality to fall into.
Question 2: who handles the permits
Any serious renovation in Dubai requires approvals — from the community, from the building management, for the scope of works. A studio that says "permits are the client's side" is selling you half a service: the paperwork consumes weeks and nerves, and it's exactly where self-managed renovations stall.
The right answer: documentation handled end to end, with the owner filing nothing.
Question 3: show me the portfolio — and why "on request" is a good sign
Here's the counterintuitive part. A studio whose Instagram is wall-to-wall client interiors works with clients who don't mind publicity. Above a certain level it inverts: villa and penthouse owners close their projects under NDA, and their homes never appear online.
So a private portfolio, shown in person at a meeting, isn't an absence of work — it's a signal of whose work it is. Our significant projects are under NDA at the owners' request; at a meeting we show as much as the decision needs. The same will be true of your home.
Question 4: what will I see before construction starts
The answer should be: a full 3D visualisation of the future interior. Decisions made on a building site cost multiples of decisions made on a render. If a studio proposes to "figure it out as we go" — the budget will be figured out as you go, too.
Red flags, briefly
- A budget quoted at the first meeting, before a survey or a scope discussion — whatever they're pricing, it isn't your project
- Any deadline you name is "no problem" — realistic timelines depend on scope and approvals
- Discounts and promotions — this segment doesn't work that way
- Design supervision as a fine-print extra — meaning by default, none of the authors watches the construction
- No engineers on the team — design without engineering ends at the first bulkhead that has to hide the AC
Talk to us
We've spent 20+ years in the UAE market, with more than a hundred projects behind us — villas, penthouses, hotels, restaurants. The team is architects, designers and engineers trained at leading European design schools. Put every question on this list to us in person — start with WhatsApp.