The Essential Tool Every Interior Designer Needs
This may seem like a less than romantic choice for Valentine’s Day, but this subject is near and dear to my heart. I’m talking about SPREADSHEETS. Yes, I am an interior designer who looooves spreadsheets. As an equal part Type-A/Type-B personality, I revel in creating designs, and managing and implementing them. My secret to staying on top of hundreds of details and enjoying myself along the way? The humble spreadsheet.
Budgets
This budget is the cornerstone of every Huntley & Co. project. It’s where we can view all items – comprehensively and in detail, calculate pricing, and track purchasing. I developed a very specific procurement color-coding* system for our budgets, as seen here.
* Color-coding is a love language all its own. If you get it, you get it ; )
Schedules
A renovation or construction project is only as good as its schedules. There are the basics like the plumbing schedule and the paint & finish schedule. But we have also generated bulb schedules, switch/plate schedules, and decorative hardware schedules – like this one. Each is unique. The objective is to transform an “information assault” into easy-to-read, easy-to-implement data.
Timelines
If a client requests a firm deadline, we generate a production schedule (aka reverse timeline) for the project. We plug in key dates — presentation, approval, payments, etc. and correlate that with realistic leadtimes and construction to calculate the installation day. Showing a client the ‘why’ of how long a project will take helps mitigate the sting of unrealistic expectations.
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Are you are interested in learning how to implement spreadsheets into your own interior design business? I will be hosting a free webinar this spring …
I will teach you how to create your own customizable budget and how to use it to outline costs, track orders, and stay on top of all those details!
Fill out the form below and include #spreadsheetsuccess in your Message to receive updates and an invitation to sign-up.
Happy Valentine’s Day. Today is about celebrating love in all forms, not just spreadsheets!
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