FF&E schedule template: the columns a working schedule needs

Most FF&E schedules start life as a tidy list of what goes in each room. By the second month on site they have become something else: a record of what was chosen, what the client has agreed, what has been ordered, from whom, in which currency, and whether it will arrive before the installers do.

This guide sets out the columns a working FF&E schedule needs, why each one earns its place, and how to keep the sheet live once the project is moving. The column table below doubles as a template you can copy into a new spreadsheet.

What an FF&E schedule is for

An FF&E schedule (furniture, fixtures and equipment) is the single list of every loose and specified item on a project, room by room, with enough detail to price it, approve it, order it and install it. A finishes schedule records surfaces and materials applied to the building, such as paint, flooring, tiling and wallcoverings, and it is usually read by the contractor. The FF&E schedule records the things you buy and place, and it is read by you, the client, your suppliers and, in part, the installers.

Every line has to answer three questions. What exactly is it? Who has agreed to it? Will it be on site in time? Most templates answer the first well; fewer answer the third.

The columns a working schedule needs

Below are the columns we would treat as the minimum, in the order we would lay them out (column A to column P). If one is missing, that information ends up in an email thread instead.

Many studios also add a sell price, mark-up and client total. That is sensible if the schedule is also your client cost sheet. If it is, keep cost and sell in separate columns, and never send the cost columns to the client.

The columns that are easy to leave out

Published FF&E templates and guides generally handle identification, specification and cost well. Programa’s guide, for example, is thorough on specification fields, includes a compliance and fire-rating field, and covers lead time, expected delivery date, order status and client approval status. The columns below matter most for UK studios buying internationally and installing to a fixed date; check for them in whatever template you start from.

Currency

If you buy from Italy, Denmark or the US, a single “cost” column will eventually mix currencies. Keep the unit cost in the supplier’s own currency, add a currency column next to it, and convert in a separate column if you need a sterling total. The schedule then matches the supplier’s pro forma and your purchase order. For the import side, including VAT on goods from the EU, see buying furniture from overseas suppliers.

VAT rate

The UK standard rate of VAT is 20% and, according to GOV.UK, applies to most goods and services. HMRC’s guidance on VAT rates on different goods and services also lists reduced-rate (5%) and zero-rated items, often only where certain conditions are met, and some lines will come from overseas suppliers who do not charge UK VAT at all. A VAT column per line stops you assuming. How you charge VAT to the client on goods you buy is a separate question, covered in VAT for interior designers in the UK.

Required-by and order-by dates

This is the pair that changes how the schedule behaves. A schedule that records order dates tells you what has already happened. A schedule that records the date each item is needed on site, and calculates back from it, tells you what is about to go wrong. We go through the reasoning and the arithmetic in detail in how to calculate an order-by date.

In a spreadsheet the calculation is simple. With the columns in the order above, lead time in weeks sits in column J and the required-by date in column K. An order-by date in column L that also allows one week for delivery and inspection is:

=K2-(J2*7)-7

Format the cell as a date, then adjust the final figure for your own delivery and approval allowances. If a supplier quotes working days rather than weeks, convert it before it goes in, and say so in the notes.

Approval, with a date

“Approved” on its own is not enough. Record the date, and make sure the finish column holds exactly what was approved: the fabric reference, the colourway, the leg finish. Approvals have deadlines too, and they come straight off the order-by date; our guide to client approvals covers how to set and chase them.

Compliance notes

For upholstered furniture supplied for domestic use in the UK, the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 set fire-resistance requirements, with tests for fillings and covers, and require display and permanent labels. For overseas upholstery or a client’s own fabric, a short compliance note on the line helps. Confirm the position with the supplier rather than assuming.

How to keep the schedule live

The schedule is only useful if it is current, and that comes down to routine rather than formulas.

1. One owner. One person is responsible for the schedule on each project. Two uncoordinated editors is how a line gets ordered twice.
2. One copy. Keep it in one shared place. If a version is sent to a client or supplier, it is a snapshot, not the schedule.
3. A weekly review. Sort by order-by date and go through everything due in the next four weeks. Confirm lead times that are not yet confirmed in writing, chase approvals that are holding up an order, and check that every ordered line has a supplier acknowledgement.
4. Statuses that mean something. Agree what each status means and when it changes. “Ordered” should mean a PO has gone out, not that someone intends to send one.
5. Update dates when they move. When a supplier extends a lead time or the builder moves the install, change the date on the line the same day. The order-by date recalculates and the risk shows.

A simple risk scale

A status column says where an item is. It does not say whether that is a problem. A second, calculated column helps. Four levels are enough:

• Blocked: the order-by date has passed and the item is not ordered, or the confirmed lead time no longer reaches the required-by date.
• At risk: the order-by date is close and something is still missing, usually approval or a confirmed lead time.
• Watching: on track for now, but within a window where a small slip would matter.
• OK: ordered, acknowledged and due in good time.

Bespoke upholstery needs a wider window than stock items. An IF formula comparing the order-by date with TODAY() gives a rough version that puts the urgent lines at the top when you sort.

When a line does slip, the options are usually the same: wait, substitute, re-sequence the install, or install in stages. Our playbook on managing supplier delays goes through each.

Linking the schedule to purchase orders

Every ordered line should carry a PO number, and every PO should carry the schedule refs it covers. That cross-reference lets you check a supplier’s acknowledgement, and later the delivery note, against what you asked for. If you do not already have a purchase order format, our interior design purchase order template sets out the fields, including currency, VAT and a lead time confirmed in writing.

When a spreadsheet stops coping

A well-kept spreadsheet works for many studios, particularly with one or two live projects and one person running procurement. It strains in predictable ways:

• Several projects running at once, so there is no single view of what is due this week across the studio.
• More than one person editing, and versions drifting apart.
• Clients approving by email, so the decision and the schedule live in different places.
• Purchase orders and invoices rekeyed into accounting software by hand, in more than one currency.

None of these means you must change tools, but they are the points at which the weekly review starts taking an afternoon, and software built for this becomes worth a look. In Techstyles procurement, each FF&E line is scored against its install date as blocked, at risk, watching or OK, with the order-by date counted back from the supplier lead time, and the thresholds are set by the studio. Purchase orders stay in the supplier’s currency and go to Xero along with invoices.

Using this as your template

To set up your own schedule, open a new spreadsheet and put the sixteen column headings from the table above across row 1, in that order. Add the order-by formula in column L, format columns K and L as dates, and add a drop-down list for approval and status so everyone uses the same words. Then rename the rooms and start adding lines.

Download the template: FF&E schedule template (Excel, 59 KB). It has the columns above, with the required-by date as Install date, plus a supplier reference and calculated columns: the cost converted to GBP, the line total, delivery and approval buffers, the order-by date, the days left and a risk flag. Because of those extra columns its letters differ from the formula above. Rooms and Suppliers sheets total the schedule, and the first 30 rows are fictional samples to clear before you start. What each sheet holds is on the template page.

If you outgrow the spreadsheet, Techstyles has a 30-day free trial with no card required.