Our interior design project schedule template is perfect for newer designers who are just starting out, or for more experienced designers needing a template refresh. Download for free! 

Keep reading to find out how software programs can provide additional, long-term benefits over using a template — especially for established designers needing more flexibility. Software helps maximize your business efficiency and offers many features that static templates can’t offer, including space planning, project management capabilities, adjustable visual project timelines, invoicing and much more.

What is an Interior Design Schedule?

Your interior design work schedule template is your map and guide for each stage of the project journey, including what work will be required and knowing how long each step will take in the timeline.

Why are Interior Design Timelines Important?

Using an interior design project schedule template gives you many benefits that will help contribute to the success of your project, and ultimately your business. 

Keeping you organized

Interior design projects have countless moving parts and details. Your interior design timeline and schedule helps you organize every aspect of your project, helping to reduce costly errors while increasing work efficiency to improve your bottom line — and peace of mind!

Establishing a realistic project schedule

Breaking down your template into sections of work with their own timeline expectations and deadlines will help you establish a realistic schedule throughout your project’s lifetime, which is key to better time and resource management. 

Budgeting your time and resources

Your time and resources (materials, contractors, staff, etc.) have value. With an interior design schedule template, you can better budget your own time needed to be spent on a project so you’ll know if you can take on more business concurrently or when you’ll be able to finish one project and move onto the next. You’ll also be able to know what materials you’ll be needing to order and when and what kind of support will be required from your team.

Meeting deadlines for clients

Your interior design finish schedule template will help you do exactly that — finish on time for your client. With your schedule in place, you’ll know how long each phase will take and when you can realistically finish your project overall, leading to better client satisfaction and word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

When Do You Create an Interior Design Timeline?

Creating your finalized interior design timeline should take place after your initial consultation with your client who is ready to move forward with your business. In this schematic design phase of your project, you’ll want to fill out your interior design project timeline template before space planning and establishing design ideas as timing will set the pace for each stage of your work.

Milestones to Include in an Interior Design Schedule 

Use the milestones below to create your interior design schedule of work template along with our example timelines provided. 

Discovery call

The client discovery call comes in the pre-consultation phase of your interior design schedule. In this phase, the client may still be feeling out working with different designers (while you’re also determining if they’re a good fit for your business). You can include this in your schedule template if you like, or keep separate. Timeline = 20 minutes to 1 hour

Client Questionnaire 

Your client questionnaire may also fall into the pre-consultation phase or in the consultation phase of your timeline when you’re likely to begin charging for your time and work. Your questionnaire should be thorough enough to understand the full needs and scope of the project, so it’s best to give your client a good window of time to complete, while also setting turnaround expectations. Timeline = 1 week

Initial Consultation

You’ll likely be charging for your initial consultation and either going over the client questionnaire with your client or clearing up any remaining questions. This can take a range of time depending on how you’d prefer to set up your consultation, but typically consultations are more hands-on, on-site, and require a lengthier meeting with your client. Timeline = 1 to 3 hours

Creating Your Timeline

After you’ve met with your client and have all your questions answered, you’re ready to start planning your project timeline. This can take a range of time to complete based on the project scope. (Tip: Download our free interior design schedule template to get it done faster!) Timeline = 2 to 6 hours

Space Planning/Mood Board Creation

You’ll start planning your space and design in the schematic phase. The timeline of this phase will also vary based on your process as a designer and the needs of the project at hand (whether it’s just one room or a whole house, etc.). Timeline = 1 to 2 weeks

Product Sourcing

It will take some time to source all the products and materials needed for your design, so this milestone is essential to include and account for. Timeline = 1 to 2 weeks

Proposal

Now that you’ve established your timeline, created your design and sourced products, you have all the information you need to create a detailed proposal with cost estimates for your client. Timeline = 3 days  to 1 week

Design Presentation

Once you have your design, products and proposal in place, you’ll create your final design presentation to show your client. Timeline = 3 days to 1 week

Complete Purchase Orders

After your client has approved your plans and made their design and material selections, it will take some time to complete all the necessary orders. Timeline = 1 to 3 weeks

Procurement

Furniture, window treatments, decor and other custom design items will all vary in how long it takes for your vendors to create and/or ship. Allow for some procurement variance with enough time range as possible. Timeline = 6 to 12 weeks

Installation

With all your design items ready to install, your project is almost complete. Actual installation time will depend on the size of your team and project size/scope. Timeline = 1 day to 1 week

Invoice

If you’re invoicing your client in stages, you’ll want to include an invoice step after each major phase. Keeping organized records along the way will help make it easier to create invoices and save you time. Timeline = 1 to 3 hours

Request Payment

When you send your final invoice to request payment for your project, you’ll also want to include a “thank you” note to your client (either virtually or by mail), which can help for establishing repeat business or better word-of-mouth. Timeline = 10 to 15 minutes

How Do You Establish a Timeline for an Interior Design Project?

The following steps will help you build a project plan using your interior design project timeline template.

1. Choosing tools to use

When creating your interior design schedule template, you’ll need spreadsheets, gantt charts, or visual project timeline tools to help map out each stage of your project. It’s best to use digital tools versus making a hand-drawn timeline, as you’ll want to be able to share this easily with your client and make adjustments as needed.

2. Organizing your timeline 

Use the “milestones” section above in our guide to help you organize your timeline into each project phase and group segments together (such as Phase 1, 2, 3 etc.). Label and name all segments clearly along with the projected timeline for each. Consider color coding each phase for better visual clarity, which you can also use in your calendaring and other organization tools.

3. Estimating how long each phase will take

Breaking your timeline down into each task required, step-by-step, will help you estimate the length for each project phase. Rely on your experience with design projects thus far for how long it takes you to draft plans, create a mood board, source products and materials, etc. Be realistic in your estimates, allowing some room for contingencies, while still keeping your project as time-sensitive as possible for your client. 

4. How to back into a client’s requested project end date

If your client has a firm end date needed for their project, it’s best to establish your timeline starting from the end and working backward. After you’ve added each project milestone and tasks required, start at the completion date and move back through each step and phase adding the estimated time for each until you arrive at the starting date. If you need more time, then adjust the time needed to complete each milestone accordingly. 

5. Sharing your timeline with vendors and clients, etc.

Your clients, vendors, contractors and staff will also need to be easily able to view the project timeline. You can share via email, shared Google Sheet, PDF or link sharing if your timeline is hosted online. Keep in mind you’ll want your timeline able to be shared and viewed through mobile as your stakeholders, like you, are often on the go.  Interior design software providers like Houzz Pro make this step easy.

Alternatives to Interior Design Schedule Templates

There are a lot of online tools that provide more features than a static interior design project schedule template can allow. These include free collaboration tools from Google like Docs, Sheets and Calendar to online gantt charts for timeline building. More advanced programs like Houzz Pro’s project management software can help you easily create a visual project timeline, track time and expenses, keep your client updated via the client dashboard and much more, including full-feature mobile capabilities.

Conclusion

You now have a thorough understanding of how to use an interior design schedule template for your business and are ready to plan your next project! Continue reading Project Management Tips for Interior Designers for more great project planning strategies. 

Sign up for a free trial of Houzz Pro’s interior design project management software to explore our project tracker, project collaboration and task management features — all of which can help you better manage your interior design work and complete projects on time. Schedule a free demo to explore these features and more when it's convenient for you.