Bali Building Index
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Interior design in Bali

22 firms listed updated Before you hire: what to check

22 interior design listed in Bali

22 firms

Before you hire what a quote should include, permits to ask for, warning signs

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Before you hire: buying guide for interior design in Bali

Interior design firms that design and fit out interiors: layouts, finishes, joinery, furniture and styling. Work that alters the building itself needs a PBG before it starts, and firms that carry out the fit-out works as well as the design are construction businesses.

This is information, not legal advice. Rules are cited with the date we read them.

What they do here

An interior designer plans the inside of the building: room layouts, finishes, lighting, built-in joinery, furniture and styling. Some only design and hand the drawings to a builder; others also buy the furniture and carry out the fit-out works. Many of the firms in this category are architects or builders who offer interiors alongside their main service.

Two rules decide what paperwork the job needs:

  • Changing the building needs a PBG. The PBG is the approval to build, alter, extend, reduce or maintain a building (PP 16/2021 Article 1 and Article 253(3)), and it is obtained before the works start (Article 253(1) and (4)). Moving walls, adding a mezzanine or changing services is an alteration; furniture and loose styling are not. Ask the designer which side of that line the scheme falls on.
  • Fit-out works are construction services. UU 2/2017 lists building finishing (“penyelesaian bangunan”) as a specialist construction classification (Article 14(3)), and any business that carries out construction services must hold a business certificate, the SBU (Article 30(1)). The law has since been amended by the Job Creation legislation, so ask the firm which certificates it holds today.

See also builders and contractors and building permits: PBG and SLF.

What a quote should include

  • The design scope: concept, drawings, finishes schedule, lighting, joinery details, furniture schedule, and how many rounds of revisions.
  • Whether the firm also supplies furniture and carries out the works, or only designs.
  • Design fees shown separately from the cost of furniture, materials and works.
  • For procured items: the supplier’s price, any mark-up or handling fee, delivery and installation, and who carries the risk until handover.
  • Any item that changes the building (walls, structure, plumbing, electrics), and whether a PBG is needed for it.
  • A payment schedule tied to delivered drawings and installed items.
  • The defects period for joinery and installation.

Permits and registrations to ask for

  • The firm’s NIB (business identification number), issued through OSS.
  • SBU, if the firm carries out fit-out works itself. The certificate states the type, nature, classification and qualification of the business (UU 2/2017 Article 30(3)); check it in the LPJK business search (lpjk.pu.go.id).
  • A PBG for any alteration to the building, in the owner’s name, before work starts (PP 16/2021 Article 253).
  • Updated as-built drawings after the works. When the SLF, the certificate that a building is fit for use, is renewed, the inspection compares the site with the as-built drawings, and the owner must bring the drawings into line where they differ (Article 297(4) and (5)).

Warning signs

  • One lump sum for design, furniture and works, with no breakdown.
  • Structural or service changes proposed with no mention of a PBG.
  • A large share of the price asked up front, before drawings or items are delivered.
  • No written list of what is supplied, by whom, and to what specification.

Typical timings

We have no published sample of interior design or fit-out durations in Bali yet, so we give none. Where the works need a PBG, the statutory technical review applies: for buildings other than a small single house, no more than five review sessions within at most 28 working days, the first within 3 working days of registration (PP 16/2021 Article 254(8) and (9)). Ask the designer for lead times on custom joinery and imported items.

Sources for this guide

Read
  1. PP 16/2021 on buildings (JDIH BPK) peraturan.bpk.go.id
  2. UU 2/2017 on construction services (JDIH BPK) peraturan.bpk.go.id
  3. LPJK construction business search (Ministry of Public Works) lpjk.pu.go.id
  4. OSS, integrated business licensing system oss.go.id