Free interior design invoice generator
Bill design fees, procurement with your markup, and installation as separate phases — so clients can see what is your work and what is their furniture.
Build your design invoice
Prefilled with a residential project phase plus procurement. Replace the rooms and items, then download.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|
What is an interior design invoice?
An interior design invoice mixes two completely different kinds of money: your fee for design work, and the cost of goods bought on the client’s behalf. Keeping them apart is the discipline the whole business runs on, because one is revenue and the other is largely pass-through.
Design fees come in three familiar shapes — a flat fee per room or project, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the project cost. Procurement is priced either at cost plus a stated percentage, or at retail with the trade discount as your margin. Whichever model you use, the invoice should be legible enough that the client never has to ask which is which.
Projects also run in phases: concept, design development, procurement, installation and styling. Billing by phase gives the client checkpoints and gives you cash flow, and it stops the final invoice from being the only real conversation about money.
What to include
Everything below is already in the generator above — this is what each part is for.
Project and phase
The project, the rooms in scope, and which phase this invoice covers.
Design fee basis
Flat fee, hourly with hours shown, or percentage — stated so the client can check it against the agreement.
Procurement, itemised
Each piece with quantity and price, so a $40,000 furniture invoice is a list rather than a number.
Markup or trade terms
Your procurement markup as a stated percentage or line, or a note that items are billed at retail less trade.
Freight, receiving and storage
Shipping, white-glove delivery, receiving warehouse and storage — real costs that belong on their own lines.
Deposits and lead times
Deposits required before ordering, what has been paid, and expected lead times for outstanding items.
Three steps to a finished PDF
Enter client and project
Your studio and the client, the project name and phase, and any letter of agreement date in the notes.
Bill fees, then goods
Design fee lines first, then each procured item, then freight and receiving. Set sales tax for goods.
Download and send
Download the PDF at the phase boundary, or when an order is ready to place — goods are ordered on deposit.
Fees, procurement and getting paid
Charge for design before you order anything
Design work — measuring, sourcing, drawings, specification — has real value before a single item is bought. Bill it as its own phase with a retainer up front. Studios that fold their fee into product margin end up giving away the part of the work only they can do.
Be explicit about markup
- Cost plus a stated percentage is the most transparent model and the easiest to defend.
- Retail less trade discount is also legitimate — but say so in the agreement, not by implication.
- Whatever the model, never present a marked-up item as if it were at cost.
Never order on your own money
Vendor deposits, freight and receiving are payable long before installation. Collect the full cost of goods, plus your markup and freight, before placing the order, and say so on the invoice. Designers who float client purchases are running an unsecured lending business alongside a design practice.
Invoice installation as its own phase
Delivery coordination, installation days, styling and the punch list are labour, not overhead. Bill them as a phase with a rate or a fixed fee, and hold final styling photography until the last invoice clears — stated in the terms, so it is a known condition rather than a standoff.
Three mistakes that delay payment
Fees hidden in product
It undervalues the design work and collapses if the client sources an item themselves.
Goods ordered before payment
A vendor deposit paid from your account is a loan you did not agree to make.
Freight absorbed
White-glove delivery and receiving are large, real costs. Bill them.