Best Project Software for Interior Designers

I work with a lot of interior designers and they use a variety of project management software including Ivy, Mydoma, Studio Designer, Design Manager and self-hosted.

Which one is best for you? Hopefully the information below will help. Mydoma was the only one I was able to locate new updates for 2020.

Ivy
Ivy’s website states - Our platform is designed to take the pain out of administrative tasks and allow designers to focus on the work they love. You don’t just get access to the Ivy platform, but also to our incredible industry resources, and the most powerful and supportive design community.

I’ve been told that Ivy has a low learning curve and is the user-friendlier version of Studio Designer. Ivy works well with direct integration with QuickBooks online including easily accepting credit cards. Ivy allows you to view project timelines without added data entry because estimated ship dates automatically go on the Project Calendar. Ivy will continue to add functionality to make it a strong candidate for the interior designer’s use.

Although it may be user friendly, it does take two programs to do what Studio Designer can do in one. Studio Designer is more customizable; however, Ivy is still very popular among interior designers.  

Key features:

Product Sourcing

Proposals & Invoicing

Room Boards

Project Tracker

Time & Expense Tracker

Online Payments

Reports

Mobile App

QuickBooks Online Sync

Pricing: Free $0/month

Starter $59/month

Essential $49/month when billed annually – Current Special Offer

Ultimate $199/month when billed annually

Try it: They offer a free demo at www.ivy.co. Ivy is owned by Houzz.  

Design Manager

Design Manager is an all in one software for project management, purchase order tracking, accounting, reports, inventory. Since Design Manager isn’t super user friendly it is often used by established design firms. Their website claims 70% of interior designers prefer Design Manager over QuickBooks.

Design Manager is the leading project management and accounting software for interior designers. Created in 1984 to respond to the requests of local interior design firms, it expanded into a nationwide software company and became one of the first providers of cloud-based design software. Because design firms have specific needs that cannot be answered by conventional software, it is our mission to provide a product that is dedicated to serving the design community. We deliver software that saves time, money, and frustration, while eliminating countless hours of paperwork.

Key Features:

Project management

Time billing

Enter spec info fees, markups and discounts

Client documents with payment links

Purchase orders

Order tracking

Receipts

Accounting

Reports

Inventory

Pricing:

DM Cloud $39.99/month

Pro Cloud $54.99/month

Save 10% by paying annually

Current offer: Save 50% off first 3 months.

Try it: They offer a free trial at https://designmanager.com/

Mydoma

Mydoma is great organizational tool for your interior design projects.  Many designers love the systems and process and creating automations so that your business runs easier and Mydoma helps with this.  The Mydoma platform helps with the onboarding process, a place to keep project info (ex: space info, before images, measurements, inspiration images), and a place to collaborate with your clients.  Using Mydoma you are creating an online design studio/project binder to collaborate with your clients.  You can have new clients sign contract, fill out onboarding questionnaire, and send initial payment all within the program.  Great if you do e-design or smaller design packages.

This software is limited if you run a full-service interior design firm.  And the accounting is in QuickBooks, so it requires double entry for products.  

Key features:

Orders, invoices & online payments

Design packages

Product sourcing

Time tracking

Client portal

Designers Toolkit

Pricing: $59 per month for Solo

$79 per month for Team (8 users)

$12 per month for Agency

Try it: Free 30-day trial. www.mydomastudio.com

Brand New Features 2020

• Ability to set categories to vendors - Suppliers or Service Provider

• Better organization & management of services

• Comprehensive proposals redesign

• The addition of “Grouped” products

• Ability to create purchase orders & work orders on the same window

• Creation of invoices on a proposal level

• Comprehensive reporting

For more information on Mydoma Studio 3.0 - Tulip

Studio Designer

Studio Designer claims to be the leading application for interior design professionals. It provides project management and accounting systems for its users. In 2016, it created a Vendor Portal and Client Portal. In 2019, version 2.0 is a new streamline look and efficiencies.

It is a very robust and extensive program for every operation a design firm could face.  This is a one-stop-shop for all your interior designer application needs.  Because of this Studio Designer can feel overwhelming for a novice designer.  It is an accounting program and project management program wrapped up in one.  You can manage your entire business from this program.  Accounting, Expediting, Ordering, Timelines, Reminders, Logistics, Inventory and so much more. 

This program is very technical, and you may need an accountant that specializes in the program.

Key features:

Project management

Studio capture

Time billing

Client portal

Integrated accounting

Reporting

Pricing: Basic - $35/month

Professional - $45/month

Try it: Studio Designer does not offer a free trial, but they do offer pro-rated refunds, if you wanted to try it for a few days for a few bucks.  www.studiodesigner.com/

Self-hosted

I know more and more interior designers that are going to a self-hosted type of program. They use landing pages on their websites to organize and communicate with clients, Pinterest boards for sourcing and communicating with clients, spreadsheets for orders, order tracking, expenses, budgets and processes to stay organized and on top of their businesses. This isn’t for everyone but if you are looking for a cost-effective way you may be interested in checking out a self-hosted system. Next week, I’ll be writing about how the self-hosted system works and why it might be beneficial to you!