The Interior Design Software I Use to Run My Business Efficiently

Interior Design Business Podcast, Interior Design Career Podcast, Interior Design Business Mentor

If you’ve ever looked at another interior designer’s business and thought, “Maybe I just need better software,” you’re not alone.

There is always a new platform, app, or shiny software promising to make your projects run more smoothly, save you time, or help you make more profit. And with AI becoming part of almost every software platform, it can be even harder to know what you actually need.

But after years of running an interior design business, I’ve learned that software is only as effective as the systems behind it. Before you start investing in expensive platforms, you need to understand how you want your business to operate. In the early stages, especially when you have zero or one client, simple spreadsheets can be enough. They can help you learn how you like to manage projects before you invest in more sophisticated interior design software.

In this episode, I’m opening up my toolbox and walking you through the software I currently use to run my interior design business—from project management and time tracking to accounting and interior design operations, including drafting, client presentations, client intake, file management, communication, and even AI support. My goal isn’t to tell you there is one perfect software solution. Instead, I want to give you a real-world look at how these tools support my systems and workflows.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why strong systems matter more than software

  • How I use Asana for projects and time tracking

  • Why Studio Designer supports my design business accounting

  • Which software I use for drafting and presentations

  • How I manage clients, files, communication, and AI

The Interior Design Software I Use to Run My Business Efficiently

There isn’t one magic software that does everything I need. I wish there were! For now, my business uses a stack of different software programs, each supporting a specific part of my interior design process.

The key is making sure those tools support the way you already work rather than expecting software to create your systems for you.

1. Asana: My Project Management and Time-Tracking Hub

Asana is the backbone of my internal project management. We use it for task tracking, and every project starts with a template that includes the tasks required across all seven steps of our process.

That means we don’t have to rely on memory to figure out what needs to happen next. The tasks are already laid out, including deadlines, responsibilities, and the different phases.

Over time, we’ve continued to fine-tune our Asana templates. If we realize we forgot to include something, we add it. If a task doesn’t apply to a particular project, we simply mark it as complete. This has created a much more repeatable workflow and helps my team understand what needs to happen next.

We also now use Asana for time tracking. I previously used Harvest, but when its pricing changed based on the number of active projects, I evaluated whether Asana could handle the job. Because we were already using Asana for task management, adding time tracking made financial sense.

Time tracking is important whether you bill hourly or use flat fees. It gives you actual data about how long different phases of an interior design project take. I can look back at completed projects when estimating future projects, review time spent in a particular phase, and generate itemized reports when clients need to see where their time was spent.

You may not love tracking your time, but it needs to become part of your regular business systems.

2. Studio Designer: Accounting and Interior Design Operations

Studio Designer is the accounting and interior design operations software I use every day. When I started, I used QuickBooks for cash accounting, and it worked fine. But as my business grew and I became more involved with furniture projects, accrual accounting made more sense for how we operate.

Interior design businesses can be complicated from an accounting perspective because we’re often managing both services and products. Studio Designer is designed specifically around the way interior designers purchase, sell, track, and deliver products.

It supports proposals, purchasing, invoices, vendor payments, client funds, project accounting, shipping, freight, and delivery fees. That is particularly useful because freight and shipping costs can easily be missed if you aren’t tracking them carefully.

Another important benefit is having more accurate financial reporting. I recommend looking at your financial reports regularly—at least monthly, if not every couple of weeks—so you actually understand what is happening in your business.

When you have product that hasn’t yet been delivered to a client, for example, you need to understand how that affects your income and reporting. Having an accounting system built around the needs of an interior design business makes that process much easier.

3. AutoCAD, Photoshop, and PowerPoint: My Design Production Tools

For drafting, I use AutoCAD Lite. It gives me what I need for 2D plans, elevations, and design documentation. Because I don’t do a lot of commercial work, I don’t currently need extensive 3D capabilities. If I needed them, I would outsource that work.

AutoCAD is also useful because it is commonly used by architects, making it easier to share drawings and collaborate on projects. Other designers may use Revit, SketchUp, or Chief Architect, depending on their training and the type of work they do.

For image editing, we use Photoshop. We primarily use it to remove backgrounds, manipulate product images, change colors or materials, and create more polished floor plans and elevations. We can add photographs of actual materials to our drawings to create a more finished presentation.

I suspect AI will eventually replace some of the Photoshop work we currently do, but for now, it remains part of our design workflow.

Then there is PowerPoint, which we use for client presentation boards, client binders, and job site binders. I like it because it is flexible, easy to edit, and simple to organize into presentation sheets that can be converted into PDFs.

You could use Google Slides, Canva, or another presentation program. The important thing is having a tool that lets you create repeatable, professional client presentations efficiently.

4. Dubsado and Typeform: Managing Client Intake

For the front end of my client experience, we use Dubsado. It manages our inquiry and client intake process and helps us track where potential clients heard about us.

Dubsado also supports our client onboarding workflow. We use it to schedule discovery calls, send reminder emails, deliver contracts for digital signatures, and send our initial client onboarding documents.

Once the project begins, we transition into Studio Designer. So Dubsado handles that front-end client experience, while Studio Designer takes over once the project is underway.

We also use Typeform for our style quiz, which has become a popular lead magnet for us. It gives potential clients a more polished experience while allowing us to collect and track their responses.

Having software support your client intake and onboarding systems can save you from manually repeating the same tasks with every new inquiry.

5. Pinterest, Dropbox, LastPass, Slack, Zoom, and ChatGPT

There are several other tools that support our day-to-day interior design business workflows.

We still use Pinterest for design curation. At the beginning of a project, we use private client boards to help visualize the design direction. As we source furniture, we can save potential pieces to the board and return to them later if something doesn’t work. It’s also a helpful way to manage all those open tabs when sourcing furniture online.

For file management, we use Dropbox. I’ve considered moving to Google Drive, but migrating an established file system can be a major project. Since Dropbox is working well for us, I don’t see a reason to change it simply because another option exists.

For password management, we use LastPass. This becomes particularly valuable once you have a team and multiple vendor accounts. Instead of sharing passwords manually, we can manage them securely in one place.

For internal communication, we use Slack. We have channels for individual projects as well as internal management conversations. I find Slack better for quick questions and conversations, while Asana is better for actual tasks and responsibilities.

And, of course, I use Zoom for meetings, podcast recording, and other communication.

Finally, my AI platform is ChatGPT. I use it to support different areas of my work, and my team can also use it and share conversations around projects and ideas. Like any other software, I want AI to support the systems I already have rather than completely rebuild the way I work.

How to Choose the Right Software for Your Interior Design Business

The most important thing I want you to take away is this: don’t chase software as a substitute for systems.

If you’re constantly changing platforms because you think the next one will magically make your business more profitable, you may actually be creating more work for yourself. Switching software means migrating data, creating new templates, building new workflows, learning a new program, training your team, and sometimes running two systems in parallel during the transition.

Instead, I recommend doing a software audit regularly. I evaluate my software annually and ask whether I’m being redundant anywhere, whether something could work better, and whether consolidating platforms would genuinely make my work easier.

I also consider the financial cost, the implementation time, the impact on my team, potential disruption for clients, and the possibility of losing information during a transition.

And remember: the software I use today may not be the software I use several years from now. There are always new options emerging, including platforms such as Programa and other interior design-specific tools. Do your research and find the tools that fit your business and your workflow.

Final Thoughts

There is no single magic bullet when it comes to software for an interior design business. The goal isn’t to have the newest or most impressive software stack. The goal is to have systems that work, supported by software that makes those systems easier to manage.

Start simple, learn how you like to work, and then choose software that supports your process. You don’t have to chase every new platform that comes along. Sometimes the software you already know how to use is more valuable than the theoretically perfect software you haven’t implemented yet.

Your Next Steps

If you’re serious about building your interior design career or growing your interior design business, you don’t have to figure everything out alone.

My Design Mentor is designed to give you the support, education, and community you need to keep moving forward. Inside, you’ll find 12 learning modules, a book club, special projects, a community of designers for feedback, and monthly one-on-one coaching calls with me where we can focus on the specific challenges you’re facing in your career.

Join My Design Mentor and let’s build your design career together.

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