Interior Design Project Budget Template: Procurement Method

An interior design project budget template works when every line carries the same fields: what the item is, how much to buy, what you pay the supplier, what the client pays, when to order and what is already paid. Build it room by room, keep the purchase price and the client price in separate columns, and add the lines that are easy to forget: delivery, installation and a contingency. Below are the structure and the order of work.

Decide what the budget must answer

One list of items has to serve three readers, and most budget problems start when one sheet tries to serve all of them without separating the views.

• The client wants to know what each room costs and what has been approved.
• The procurement manager wants to know what to order first, from whom, and when it must arrive.
• The studio wants to know the purchase cost, the markup and the profit per item.

Design the template so that the same rows can show a client view (name, photo, quantity, client price) and an internal view (purchase price, markup, profit). If you have to maintain two separate files, they will drift apart within a few weeks.

Set up the template columns

Start with one sheet per project and one block per room. Add a category for each row (furniture, lighting, finishes, textiles, services). Totals by room and by category are both needed: the first for the client conversation, the second for comparing against the approved budget.

Column group	Columns	Purpose
Identification	Room, category, item name, photo, link, SKU, dimensions	Unambiguous order and acceptance
Quantity	Net quantity, reserve %, unit, pieces or m² per package, quantity to buy	Correct purchase volume
Price	List price, supplier discount, purchase price, markup %, client price, profit	Studio income and client total
Supplier	Supplier, currency, quote number	Grouping orders and payments
Logistics	Lead time, needed-on-site date, order-by date, planned and actual delivery	Avoiding delays
Status and payment	Approval status, ordered, delivered, accepted; invoice, advance, balance	Tracking and cash planning

Keep two price scales apart

The purchase price and the client price are different numbers with different owners. Never overwrite one with the other. Calculate the client price from the purchase price and the markup, so a supplier discount change moves the whole line consistently.

Fill in quantities, prices and markup

Work through the sheet in a fixed order. Doing quantities before prices prevents the most common error: a correct unit price multiplied by a wrong quantity.

1. List all items by room. Take them from the approved concept, the drawings and the room schedule. Mark items that are still undecided as preliminary, not as approved.
2. Enter net quantities. Use the unit that matches how the item is used: m² for tiles, running metres for skirting, pieces for lamps.
3. Add the reserve. Materials that are cut or matched (tiles, wallpaper, flooring) need a reserve. The percentage depends on the layout and the pattern, so set it per item, not for the whole project.
4. Round up to whole packages. You buy boxes and rolls, not exact square metres. The quantity to buy is the number of packages, and the price is calculated on it.
5. Enter the list price, then the supplier discount. The result is the purchase price. If the price is not known yet, mark the line as «price on request» and keep it out of the confident total.
6. Apply the markup and calculate the client price. Check the profit per line and for the whole project.
7. Check totals against the approved budget by room and by category.

Example: quantity to buy

Example values for floor tiles: net area 22 m², reserve 10%, so 24.2 m² needed. One box covers 1.44 m². 24.2 / 1.44 = 16.8, so buy 17 boxes, which is 24.48 m². At 48 EUR per m², the line costs 1,175.04 EUR at purchase price.

Example: price, markup and profit

Markup and margin are different numbers, and mixing them up is a frequent source of wrong client prices. The table shows one line with illustrative figures. You can test your own numbers in the markup calculator.

Step	Value (example, EUR)
List price	1,000
Supplier discount 15%	−150
Purchase price	850
Markup 30% on purchase price	+255
Client price	1,105
Profit	255 (about 23% of the client price)

Decide once whether your studio talks about markup or margin, and use that term in the template header and in conversations with colleagues.

Add the lines that usually go missing

A budget built only from product lines is almost always too low. The missing costs are not exotic; they simply do not have a product page. Add them as separate rows so they stay visible and can be approved by the client on their own.

• Delivery to the site, and separately to the studio or warehouse if goods are consolidated.
• Lifting, carrying and unpacking, especially for large furniture and stone.
• Installation of lighting, built-in furniture, plumbing fixtures and curtains.
• Measurement visits for windows, doors, wall panels and built-in furniture.
• Fixings, trims, profiles, adhesives and other small materials that the product does not include.
• Customs, duties or import fees if goods cross a border, as applicable to your project.
• Studio fee or other service lines, kept apart from supplier items.
• Contingency, shown as its own line, not hidden inside item prices.

Contingency as a visible line

The right size depends on how complete the specification is and how many lines are still on request. A project with approved prices and measured dimensions needs less than one with many preliminary items. State the percentage in the budget and agree with the client how it can be used.

Connect the budget to order dates and control it

A budget without dates tells you what the project costs but not when the money and the decisions are needed. For each item, calculate the order-by date backwards from the day it must be on site.

1. Take the date when the item is needed on site, from the construction schedule.
2. Subtract the supplier lead time, including production and shipping.
3. Subtract a buffer for delivery and for acceptance, so a defect can still be corrected.
4. Subtract the time the client needs to approve the item.
5. Sort the list by order-by date. The top of the list is what you chase this week.

Example: a sofa is needed on site on day 0, the lead time is 8 weeks, the buffer is 1 week and approval takes 1 week. The client must approve it 10 weeks before day 0. Dependencies between phases and purchases are easier to see on a procurement timeline than in a sheet column.

Review routine

• Update the status of each item when it changes, not at the end of the week.
• Record price changes with the reason, so that a difference between the first and the final budget can be explained.
• Record every payment against the item: advance, balance, date.
• Reschedule delivery dates in the sheet and note the reason; suppliers with repeated delays should be visible.
• Compare the estimate with the approved budget by room before each client meeting.
• Keep invoices and receipts attached to the line they belong to.

How to do it in ArchiBoard

The same structure is available as an estimate in the app: see estimates and specifications for the overview and the estimate import chapter for moving an existing sheet.

1. On the home screen click «New Project» and enter the name, the city and your studio’s role.
2. Open Project → «Rooms» → «Add room» for each room.
3. If you already have a budget in a spreadsheet, open Estimates → «Import», upload an Excel, CSV or PDF file or paste a Google Sheets link, check what each column means, choose a room or keep the breakdown from the file, and click «Import». A mistake can be reverted in «Activity Feed» with «Undo import».
4. To add items from online stores, click «Add item», paste the product link, click «Auto-fill», check the fields and click «Save item». The web clipper does the same from the store page.
5. In the item card enter the net quantity, the reserve in percent and «Pieces per package» or «m² per package». The «Qty» column then shows how much to buy in whole packages.
6. Switch «Estimate view mode» to «Economics» to see the chain from MSRP through supplier discount, procurement, markup and profit to the client price. «Specification» shows the version without internal finances.
7. Use the «Preliminary» and «Approved» switch to separate what is only proposed from what the client has agreed.
8. Open «By order priority» in the estimate, or the «Upcoming purchases» block in «Timeline», to see what must be ordered first.
9. In «Project Finances» enter the approved budget. A warning appears when the estimate exceeds it.
10. To send the client a version, click «Export to PDF», choose the rooms and click «Download PDF». Purchase price, markup and profit are not included in the client PDF.

FAQ

What should an interior design project budget template include?

At minimum: room, category, item with link or SKU, quantity to buy, supplier, purchase price, markup, client price, lead time, order-by date, approval status and payment status. Add separate rows for delivery, installation, services and contingency. Without these, the budget covers products only and understates the real cost of the project.

Should the client see purchase prices and markup?

That depends on your contract and your fee model. If you work with markup or a share of the supplier discount, most studios show the client the final price only. Whatever you choose, keep internal columns separate so that the client export can be produced without them and without manual deletion.

How do I handle items whose price is not known yet?

Mark them as price on request and keep them visible in the list. Do not enter a guess as if it were a quote. If you need a working figure, put it in a clearly marked estimated line, and replace it as soon as the supplier answers. Review such lines before every client meeting.

How much contingency should I add?

There is no universal figure. It depends on how complete the specification is, how many prices are still open, and how complex the site is. Show it as a separate line with a stated percentage and agree with the client what it covers. Reduce it as items are approved and ordered.

Is a spreadsheet enough, or do I need a dedicated tool?

A spreadsheet is enough for a small project with one person maintaining it. It becomes hard to manage when several people edit it, when you need client and internal views from the same data, or when payments and delivery dates must be tracked per item. Choose based on how many people and projects depend on the file.

How often should the budget be updated?

Update it whenever a price, quantity, status or date changes, and review it fully before each client meeting and each ordering round. Small, frequent updates take less time than a monthly reconciliation, and they keep the order-by dates reliable.