After hearing many bad experiences of fellow home buyers, we decided to do an exhaustive search for designers. We found that there broadly three options:
Large interior design companies: These are firms like LivSpace, DesignCafe who provide end-to-end solutions.
Initial experience: Their show rooms (design studios) looked very nice and beautiful. Their sales executives seemed very knowledgeable but were very aggressive. After the initial visit, the LivSpace executive kept calling back to check if we were interested, but DesignCafe executive didn't even bother calling after the initial visit.
Retrospect: Please see the detailed feedback on our experience. Though there are some advantages, it is best to avoid them if possible. You can consider them if you are based out of the city/country and want a totally remote experience. Another factor for choosing them could be if you are getting the interiors done for renting out your apartment and don't care too much about the design or build quality.
Boutique Designers: These references were mostly obtained via word-of-mouth, WhatsApp groups and friends.
Initial experience: They were very friendly and knowledgeable. They also shared various tips, interesting designs, gave their recommendations on our design ideas - in the initial visit itself. Some of the vendors tried to push their ideas and choice of materials very aggressively. Main problem with them was that they were very expensive. Their quote was almost 30% more than the quote given by the large interior design companies.
Retrospect: We have just seen pics and read the experiences of fellow home buyers who have chosen this category of designers. They seemed to be happy and for some of them, it cost less than what the large companies quoted. In retrospect, we too could have chosen this category.
Local Carpenters: After seeing the work in our current neighbour's apartment, we checked with that carpenter.
Initial experience: The carpenter seemed less knowledgeable, but had some good ideas and his execution was there to see for us. He had his preference for local shops where he would get a good margin. We are restricted by what is available there. The biggest constraint is his availability. He could do max of 1 major project and 2-3 minor projects at a time. He a single point of dependency.
Retrospect: No firm opinion here. If you know the carpenter well and can manage the other things on the ground, this option also would work well.