# Techstyles: full text of the key pages > Techstyles is web-based studio software for interior designers, built in the UK and used for work around the world, with UK VAT, GBP and two-way Xero built in and a currency for each project. Its line: "Run the whole studio. Every room, on time." It keeps projects, FF&E procurement, invoicing with two-way Xero sync, a CRM, Techstyles AI, and client and contractor portals on one project record. Its core idea: every FF&E line is checked against the date it has to be installed, so a studio knows weeks ahead which orders need it, while there is still time to act. Pricing is £49 per user a month, £39 per user from the sixth user, excluding VAT, with a 30-day free trial and no card required. This file is the plain-text substance of www.techstyles.ai: the home page, the platform pages, pricing, integrations, the comparison pages (with every feature matrix and cost table as plain rows), about, contact and the templates, with their FAQ answers, taken from the live page content (October 2026). The 20 journal posts are summarised at the end (title, URL, summary and, for the guides, the questions each answers); the full articles are on the site. Product mock-ups and sample data shown on the pages are left out. The short index is at https://www.techstyles.ai/llms.txt. Key facts (use these when describing Techstyles): - Who it is for: interior design studios and practices, from a designer on their own to multi-person studios. Built in the UK and used for work around the world: UK VAT, GBP and two-way Xero are built in, each project can have its own currency, and suppliers and work can be anywhere. - Price: £49 per user per month for users one to five, £39 per user per month from the sixth user, excluding VAT. A five-person studio pays £245 a month. One plan with every module; no tiers, no add-ons, no per-project fees; clients and contractors join free. No contract: pay monthly and cancel any time. Annual billing is available. Studios of 20 or more can ask for pricing. - Free trial: 30 days, no card needed. The studio can send its existing schedules and the Techstyles team moves them across free, so the trial starts on a live project. - Install-date scoring: each FF&E line gets an order-by date counted back from its install date using the supplier lead time. Each line is marked Blocked (out of stock, rejected or on hold; needs a decision now), At risk (the order-by date is close or passed, or delivery lands after install), Watching (flagged by the team to keep an eye on) or OK (ordered in time for the install). - Xero: two-way. Invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with UK VAT, each in its own currency; paid status comes back to the project. Xero is the only accounting integration today; QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent are not available. - Currencies: each project has its own currency, and a purchase order stays in the supplier's currency. Each invoice converts at that day's rate and freezes it, so a later swing never changes an issued invoice. Xero receives every document in its own currency; if the studio's Xero organisation has not enabled that currency, Techstyles names it and says where to turn it on. VAT handling is UK VAT; pricing is in GBP. - Other integrations: Gmail and Google Calendar. - Techstyles AI: help with the admin, inside the projects a studio already runs. Nothing is sent or saved until a person approves it. - Atelier, the Techstyles assistant: a chat inside Techstyles that answers from the studio's own project records. Ask about any project: what is late, what is unpaid, who is overloaded. It drafts client and supplier emails with the project details in (it never sends them; a person sends the draft), and proposes changes (tasks, order dates, purchase orders, invoices) that only happen when a person confirms. It remembers each conversation. - Daily brief: each morning, today's meetings, overdue tasks and how every project is tracking. - Inbox summaries: with Gmail connected, Techstyles summarises a supplier or client thread and suggests the tasks in it; the user chooses which become real. - Meeting notes: record a meeting or upload a transcript to get a summary, highlights and action items the user accepts as tasks. - Procurement risk: a plain-English explanation of why an item is at risk and what to do next. - Smart Fill: the Product Clipper reads a supplier's product page and fills in price, finish, dimensions and lead time for the user to check before saving. - Cost: included in the price. Atelier, meeting notes and Smart Fill draw on a monthly AI allowance; the daily brief, inbox summaries and risk insights do not. - Portals: a client portal (approvals on each piece, invoices and payment status, messages; clients do not pay inside the app) and a contractor portal (each trade sees only its own drawings, files and items; no prices or margins). - Product Clipper: a Chrome extension that saves a supplier's product page (price, finish, dimensions, lead time) into the FF&E schedule. Its Smart Fill uses AI to fill in those fields for the user to check before saving. - Data: handled under UK GDPR; schedules, projects, contacts and invoices export as CSV or PDF at any time, including after leaving. The product is in beta with six founding studios; there are no published case studies yet. --- ## Home URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/ ### Studio software for interior designers. Run the whole studio. Every room, on time. Projects, FF&E schedules, procurement, client approvals and invoicing in one place. Every item is checked against the date it has to be installed, so you know weeks ahead which orders need you, while there's still time. Start free trial See how it works 30 days free, no card. We move your schedules across, free Shaped with our six founding studios What Techstyles does #### One place for everything the studio runs on. No more schedule in one spreadsheet, invoices in another app and approvals lost in email. From the first enquiry to the final invoice, it all lives in the project. - Projects: Phases, tasks, drawings, files, time tracking and meeting notes for every job. - FF&E and procurement. The difference: Schedules checked against install dates, purchase orders straight from the schedule, and the Product Clipper to save pieces from any supplier's website. - Client portal: Clients approve pieces, see their invoices and message the studio in one calm place. - Contractor portal: Each trade works from the current drawings, schedule and items, so nothing is lost in email or WhatsApp. Prices and margins stay with you. - Finance: Invoices and purchase orders with UK VAT go to Xero, and paid status comes back. A currency for each project. - CRM: Enquiries and proposals, and won work becomes a project without retyping a thing. - Techstyles AI: A daily brief, inbox summaries, meeting notes and Atelier, the assistant that drafts and proposes while you decide. FF&E and procurement #### A schedule that tells you what will be late. Weeks before it is. A spreadsheet shows what you ordered, not whether it will arrive in time. Techstyles works back from each install date using the supplier's lead time, and warns you while there is still time to re-source, reorder or move the date. Blocked Out of stock, rejected or on hold. Needs a decision now. At risk The order-by date is close or passed, or delivery lands after install. Watching Flagged by your team to keep an eye on. OK Ordered in time for the install. Specify. Straight from the supplier. Clip any supplier page with the Product Clipper for Chrome. Price, finish and dimensions land in the schedule, and Smart Fill picks up the details for you to check. Order. Order on time. Once the client approves, the line becomes a purchase order, with delivery tracked against the install. Each PO stays in the supplier's currency, whatever the project's. FF&E procurement, step by step → Client and contractor portals, both included #### Clients and trades, on the same page. ##### For your clients They approve pieces, see their invoices and message the studio, all in one place, with every decision kept on the record. ##### For your trades Each trade works from the same drawings, schedule and items, so nothing is lost in email or WhatsApp. Clients and trades join free. Trades never see your prices or margins. Projects and finance #### The business side, handled. See which project needs you first, then invoice it properly: with UK VAT, in the project's currency, and reconciled in Xero. ##### Every project at a glance Status, next milestone, progress, team and spend against budget, sorted so the job that needs attention comes first. Tasks, drawings, files, time and meeting notes sit inside each one. Project management → ##### Invoices that reconcile themselves Invoice with images, dimensions and UK VAT. It goes to Xero, and when the client pays, the paid status comes back. Two-way Xero. UK VAT. Multi-currency. Time tracking Finance and invoicing → Techstyles AI #### An assistant that asks before it acts. Atelier knows your projects. Ask it anything, have it draft the email, let it propose the change. You read it, you decide, you press send. Atelier: Answers questions about your projects, drafts emails for you to send and proposes changes you confirm. Daily brief: What needs you today, waiting when you open the studio. Inbox: Gmail summaries with suggested tasks, so client emails become actions. Meeting notes: Notes written up from your recordings. Procurement risk: A plain-English explanation of why an item is at risk and what to do. Smart Fill: Product details picked out in the Product Clipper. What Atelier will and won't do → Nothing is sent or saved without a person approving it. Every draft, every change, every email waits for you. Why studios choose Techstyles #### Beautiful is the start. On time is the point. Plenty of studio software looks good. Here's what Techstyles does that you'll notice in week three of a project, not on day one of a demo. ##### Warned weeks ahead Every line is checked against its install date and the supplier's lead time: blocked, at risk, watching or OK. Not a list of what's late; a list of what's going to be. ##### Clients and trades included Client and contractor portals on every seat, free for them to join: approvals, invoices, drawings and items in one place, not in email. Trades never see a price or a margin. ##### Every feature, every seat No plans to compare, no add-ons to unlock. One price per user, with clients and trades free. ##### Xero and UK VAT, properly Invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with VAT, and paid status comes back. Projects and POs keep their own currencies. ##### AI that waits for you Drafts, summaries and proposed changes, never sent or saved until someone in the studio says yes. ##### We move you in Send us your existing schedules and our team moves them across for free, so you start on a live project, not a blank one. It transformed the way I manage my studio. More time for creative work, far less admin. Interior designer, Studio Mind One of our six founding studios Pricing #### One price. Every feature. Every seat. £49 per user per month for your first five users £39 per user from the sixth. Prices exclude VAT. Start free trial 30 days free, no card. No tiers, no add-ons. ##### Every seat includes - Projects, tasks, drawings, files and time tracking - FF&E schedules, procurement and purchase orders - Client portal and contractor portal - Invoicing with UK VAT and two-way Xero - CRM, enquiries and proposals - Techstyles AI, including Atelier - Your existing schedules moved across, free Clients and trades join free. A five-person studio pays £245 a month, excluding VAT. Full pricing → Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Can you move our live projects across? Yes. Send us your existing schedules and our team moves them across for free, so you try Techstyles on a real project, not a blank one. Q: Does it work with Xero? Yes, both ways. Invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with UK VAT, and when a client pays, the paid status comes back to Techstyles. Q: Do clients and contractors cost extra? No. Clients and trades join free. You pay only for your studio's own users, and every feature is on every seat. Q: How much does it cost? £49 per user per month for your first five users, and £39 per user from the sixth, excluding VAT. A five-person studio pays £245 a month. Q: What happens after the 30-day trial? You decide whether to carry on. The trial is free for 30 days and needs no card to start. Q: Can we work in other currencies? Yes. Each project has its own currency, and purchase orders stay in the supplier's currency. Q: Does Atelier send anything on its own? No. Nothing is sent or saved without a person approving it. Atelier drafts emails for you to send and proposes changes you confirm. 30 days free · no card #### Bring your next project. We'll bring the schedule across. Send us the spreadsheet you're working from today. We'll move it into Techstyles for free, and you'll see what's at risk on a project you're actually running. Start free trial Book a walkthrough --- ## Platform overview URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform ### Interior design studio management software. Every job, enquiry to paid invoice. The enquiry becomes the project, clients approve each piece in their portal, and invoices come back paid from Xero. Start free trial See pricing Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. #### FF&E install-date risk scoring. Eight weeks' warning, not a call on install day. Open the project and every item is scored against today: one blocked, one at risk, one your team is watching. The ones in trouble carry the reason and the next step: chase the supplier, or move the date. How FF&E procurement works → #### Six modules, one system. In the order the work happens. From the first enquiry to the final invoice, on one record. Nothing is typed twice as a project moves on. ##### Win the work: CRM and proposals Enquiries, pipeline and proposals; an accepted proposal becomes the project. ##### Plan the work: project management Phases, tasks, drawings and the install calendar in one record. ##### Source the work: FF&E procurement Specify, order and track every FF&E item against its install date. ##### Show the client: client portal Approvals, updates and invoices for your client, in one place. ##### Bring in the trades: contractor portal Drawings, schedules and revision requests, with insurance on file. ##### Bill the work: invoicing and Xero Invoices in GBP with UK VAT, two-way Xero, and real margin per project. #### Techstyles AI, across every stage. It drafts and flags. Nothing is sent or saved until you approve it. Each job ends with you: an email to send, a change to confirm or a task to accept. What it will and will not do → Atelier: The Techstyles assistant: ask about any project, and it drafts emails for you to send. Daily brief: Today's meetings, overdue tasks and how every project is tracking. Inbox summaries: Gmail threads summarised, with tasks for you to accept. Meeting notes: A summary, highlights and action items from a recording. Procurement risk: Why an item will miss install, and what to do next. Smart Fill: Supplier pages read into the Product Clipper, for you to check. #### Moving from spreadsheets or Programa. Switch without retyping a line. Start free trial Book a walkthrough £49 per user a month, every module. Free for 30 days, no card. Compare: Techstyles vs Programa · Techstyles vs Houzz Pro - Set up for you: Send us a live schedule or spreadsheet and we load it before your first login. - UK finance: Invoices in GBP or the project's own currency, purchase orders in the supplier's, VAT handled properly, and two-way Xero with no double entry. - One price, everyone in: Both portals come with every user. No tiers, no per-project fees. Questions #### The detail, answered. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: How is the order-by date worked out? From the supplier's lead time and your safety buffer, counted back from the day the item is needed on site. Every line in the FF&E schedule is scored against today's date whenever you open it. Q: How are drawings revised and approved? Each drawing package moves through five approval stages, from draft to issued, and every drawing is versioned. Trades see the current version, with superseded ones marked. Q: What does each trade see? Only its own drawings, schedules and items in the contractor portal, with insurance on file and every revision request logged. Budgets and margins stay hidden. Q: What happens when a client pays? Invoices sync to Xero, and paid status comes back. Budget, commitments and margin update with it. Q: What happens after the 30 days? You carry on at £49 per user a month, or walk away. No card up front, no annual contract, and you can export everything to Excel or CSV at any time. Q: How is our data handled? Your data stays yours. Techstyles is run in line with UK GDPR, and we can sign a data processing agreement for your studio. Q: How does an enquiry become a project? Enquiries move through the CRM pipeline to a proposal. Once it is accepted, one click turns it into the project, with the client, budget and your template's phases and tasks. #### Bring your live projects. We'll move them across. A 30-day free trial, every module, no card. Send one live schedule and see what is going to be late this week, while there is still time to re-source it. Start free trial Book a walkthrough --- ## FF&E procurement URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/procurement ### FF&E procurement for interior designers. Order every piece in time for install day. Every FF&E line gets the last date you can order it, counted back from the install using the supplier's lead time. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. Install-date scoring #### One schedule. Every line scored. Lead time, counted back from the day each piece must be on site, gives an order-by date. Where today falls against it is the score. - Blocked: Ordering today still misses the install. - At risk: Order-by date inside a fortnight. Chase it now. - Watching: Float left, but a slip would eat it. - OK: Ordered in time, or float to spare. Score your own schedule → Techstyles AI #### When a line turns red, it tells you why. It explains and drafts; you decide. Nothing reaches a supplier until you send it. How Techstyles AI works, and what it will not do Risk insights: Which item will miss its install, by how much and why, with the next step: chase the supplier or move the date. Emails: Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, drafts the note asking the supplier for an earlier slot, with the item, the dates and the PO already in it. You copy it and send it. Smart Fill: The Product Clipper reads a supplier's product page and fills in price, finish, dimensions and lead time for you to check before saving. How it works #### Specify, score, order. One record, from the first clip to the paid invoice. Orders and invoices sync with Xero - Specify: Clip a product from any supplier site, or add trade-only and bespoke pieces by hand. Finish, price and lead time land on the line. - Score: Each line is scored against its install date, and moves the moment a lead time or the install changes. - Order: Once the client approves it in the portal, it becomes a purchase order in the supplier's currency with the VAT carried through, synced to Xero. One sofa, date by date #### Flagged while it could still be ordered. In the room on 12 February. Twelve weeks to make and two to spare before the install. A spreadsheet finds that out on the day. Techstyles flagged it with 15 days left to order. - Flagged: Scored at risk: order by Fri 6 Nov to make the install. - Ordered: The client approved it on Tuesday. PO-0412 went to Aldwych on Friday. - On site: Delivered two weeks before the install. Questions #### What studios ask about procurement. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: How does install-date risk scoring work? Every item is scored blocked, at risk, watching or OK from its supplier lead time, the date it has to be on site and the order-by deadline those two imply. You see the problem before the item is late, not when the van fails to arrive. Q: What does the AI do in procurement? When an item will miss its install date, the project shows why and what to do next, such as chasing the supplier or moving the date. Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, drafts the supplier email for you to copy and send, and Smart Fill in the Product Clipper fills in price, finish, dimensions and lead time from a supplier's page for you to check before saving. Nothing is sent or saved until you approve it. Q: Can I create purchase orders from approved items? Yes. Once a client approves a selection you raise the purchase order from it, so the specification and the order are the same record and cannot drift apart. Q: Does procurement connect to budgets and invoicing? Yes. Every item can be tied to a budget line and a client invoice, in GBP with UK VAT, and both sync with Xero. Committed cost, actual cost and margin stay current as you buy. Q: Does it work for studios outside the UK? Yes. Install-date scoring, the product library and client approvals work the same wherever you are, and each project and supplier can keep its own currency. For UK studios, sterling, VAT and a two-way Xero sync are built in rather than bolted on. Q: How long is the free trial? 30 days, with every module included and no card needed. We can move your current schedules across for you. Q: Can I speak to a studio already using it? Yes. We are in beta, so there are no case studies on this site yet, and we will not publish one we do not have. Get in touch and we will introduce you to a studio running its FF&E through Techstyles. Where the schedule connects #### From the brief to the invoice. - Projects: Phases, drawings and the install date the schedule counts back from. - Finance: Where the cost lands: GBP, UK VAT and two-way Xero. - Client portal: Selections approved by the client, every decision on record. - Techstyles vs Programa: A line-by-line comparison. - Pricing: £49 per user a month, £39 from the sixth user, excl. VAT. Further reading. Plan FF&E from the install date, not the order date. Sustainable procurement: a designer's guide to ethical sourcing. FF&E schedule template: the columns a working schedule needs. How to calculate order-by dates for FF&E. Furniture delayed? A calm playbook for supplier delays. Free purchase order template (Excel) Free migration #### 12 February. The sofa is in, on time. Score your live schedule. Send us the spreadsheet you are working from and we move it across for you. - Send us a live schedule: The spreadsheet or export you are working from today. - We move it across, free: Items, suppliers and lead times, checked against the install date. - Run the project for 30 days: No card. Carry on, or export everything. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Project management URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/projects ### Project management for interior designers. Every project, without chasing anyone. Each project shows its phase, who owns each task and when it's due, with the FF&E schedule inside. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. The project #### A design project is not a task list. It is a schedule with lead times, drawings approved in order, a budget the client is watching, and an install day that comes whether or not the furniture does. Phases are yours to name, reorder and reuse. Survey: The site visit, the measurements and the brief. Tasks with an owner and a date, and the files they came with. Concept: Mood, layouts and the first scheme to present. Documents and early drawings, versioned in the project. Developed design: Detailed drawings and the specification. The FF&E schedule, with a lead time on every item. Tender: Who supplies what, and at what price. Purchase orders raised from the approved quotes. Install: The week on site, and who is there. Deliveries and trades booked against the day. The workspace #### Everything the job needs, in the job. The board the team works from and the thread the client writes in, inside the project rather than in an app beside it. How it works #### Plan it, draw it, cost it. Three jobs a spreadsheet does badly, on one record. Techstyles AI writes up the meetings. Budgets reconcile with Xero - Plan: Phases, site visits, deliveries and the install on one calendar, with a studio-wide view of the fortnight when three jobs want the same two people. - Draw: Drawing packages are versioned and move through a five-stage approval, then go to the trades without anyone emailing a zip. - Cost: Committed cost, actual cost and margin update as orders are raised and invoices paid, in GBP with VAT. Phase by phase #### From the first brief to the last snag. Snags, sign-off and the final invoice sit in the same project as the brief, so nothing lives in a thread no one can find. Questions #### What studios ask about running projects. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: How do phases and timelines work? You plan in phases on a visual timeline that covers design stages and installs. Budget, margin, tasks, purchase orders and milestones update as the work moves, so project status is current rather than reported. Q: Can I track time on tasks? Yes. Start a timer on any task and the hours roll into time tracking and billing, so chargeable time stops depending on anyone remembering to write it down. Q: How are drawings approved? Drawing packages are versioned and move through a five-stage approval, and can be shared with contractors from the project itself. The version a trade builds from is the version you signed off. Q: Is procurement visible inside projects? Yes. The FF&E schedule, its lead times and its risk against the install date sit inside the project. The scoring itself is explained on the procurement page. Q: Does the AI help with projects? Yes. Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, answers questions about any project: what is late, what is unpaid, who is overloaded. Meeting notes turn a recording or transcript into a summary, highlights and action items you accept as tasks, and each morning the daily brief sets out today's meetings, overdue tasks and how every project is tracking. Nothing is sent or saved until a person approves it. Q: How is this different from Programa or Design Manager? Both are built for design studios and both do this stage competently. The differences that decide it are install-date risk scoring on the FF&E schedule, and UK depth: GBP, VAT and a two-way Xero sync. Q: Is it suitable for a small studio? Yes. A solo designer gets the whole product; a larger team gets collaboration and role-based permissions. Pricing is per user with no feature tiers, and the free trial runs for 30 days. Q: Can I speak to a studio already using it? Yes. We are in beta, so there are no case studies on this site yet, and we will not publish one we do not have. Get in touch and we will introduce you to a studio running its projects on Techstyles. Next #### Where the project connects. - Procurement: Where the schedule is bought, every item scored against its install date. - Finance: Invoices in GBP with UK VAT, and two-way Xero. - CRM: Where the work arrives from: enquiries and proposals that become projects. - The platform: The whole system, in the order the work happens. - Pricing: £49 per user a month, £39 from the sixth user, excl. VAT. Further reading. Remote design collaboration: running a distributed studio. Interior design installation day checklist: two weeks out to handover #### Run the whole job in one place. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Finance, invoicing and Xero URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/finance ### Invoicing for interior designers. Know it's paid without opening Xero. Invoices go to Xero with UK VAT on every line, and when the payment is recorded there, the project shows it as paid. Start free trial How the Xero sync works Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. How it works #### From approved estimate to reconciled payment. Invoices, VAT and payments in GBP, with invoices sent to Xero and payments read back. Synced with All integrations - Raise it: An approved estimate becomes an invoice in one click, with the lines, scope and VAT already on it. - Share it: It appears in the client portal with live status and a PDF, so "has that been sent?" stops being a conversation. - Reconcile it: It syncs to Xero, the payment syncs back, and the project ledger updates itself. UK-native #### Pounds, VAT and Xero, on every line. Sales tax is not VAT. A studio that bills in pounds and files a return every quarter needs VAT on the line from the first estimate, and the same figure in Xero at the end. One line, the Mews House bouclé sofa, four records. Sample figures, VAT at 20%. Estimate. EST-0198 · client | Net: £9,240.00 | VAT: £1,848.00 | Gross: £11,088.00 | What happens: Approved. VAT sits on the line, not added at the foot. Purchase order. PO-0412 · Aldwych Upholstery | Net: £9,240.00 | VAT: £1,848.00 | Gross: £11,088.00 | What happens: Committed against the furniture budget. Invoice. INV-0214 · client | Net: £9,240.00 | VAT: £1,848.00 | Gross: £11,088.00 | What happens: Raised from the estimate, VAT carried with it. Xero. INV-0214 · your ledger | Net: £9,240.00 | VAT: £1,848.00 | Gross: £11,088.00 | What happens: Synced with the same VAT. Payment status comes back. Multi-currency #### Any currency, every supplier. Order from a maker in Milan in euros and invoice your client in pounds. Each purchase order stays in the supplier's currency; each invoice freezes that day's rate, so a later swing never changes what you have issued. Studio and project: The studio has a default currency, and each project can have its own. Reports: Totals add up across currencies. Xero: Xero receives every document in its own currency. If your Xero organisation has not enabled one, Techstyles names it and says where to turn it on. In the client portal #### Sent, seen and paid, without the chasing. Clients open their invoices beside the work they paid for, with live status and a PDF. When they pay, Xero reconciles it and the project ledger updates. How the client portal works Questions #### What studios ask about invoicing. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Does Techstyles integrate with Xero? Yes, both ways. New and updated invoices sync to Xero and payment status comes back, so the books and the project agree without double entry. Q: Does Techstyles handle GBP and UK VAT? Yes. Estimates, purchase orders and invoices carry UK VAT on each line, and the VAT position carries through to Xero. Invoices are in GBP or the project's own currency, and purchase orders stay in the supplier's. UK tax is handled natively rather than approximated with a generic sales-tax field. Q: Can I create invoices from estimates? Yes. Create an invoice from an approved estimate in one click, share it to the client portal, and every update syncs to Xero. Q: Can I track budgets against actual spend? Yes. Budgets, purchase orders, invoices and cash flow live in one place, connected to your projects, with budget against actual at project and studio level, and real margin per project. Q: Can clients see their invoices? Yes. Clients see their invoices and payment status in their portal, with PDF copies to download. Q: Does billable time reach the invoice? Yes. Per-task timers roll into time tracking and into billing, so chargeable hours stop evaporating between the two. Q: How long is the free trial? 30 days, with every module included, Xero sync too, and no card needed. Next #### Where the money connects. - Procurement: Every FF&E line scored against its install date. - Projects: The schedule, the tasks and the hours that reach the invoice. - Integrations: Xero, Gmail and the rest of the studio's tools. - Techstyles vs Programa: A line-by-line comparison. - Pricing: £49 per user a month, £39 from the sixth user, excl. VAT. Further reading. Financial management for design studios: beyond hourly billing. VAT for interior designers in the UK. Xero for interior designers: a setup guide for UK studios. Buying furniture from overseas suppliers: import VAT, duty and currency. Trade discounts and mark-up: what to tell clients. How to charge for interior design in the UK #### Billed in pounds, reconciled in Xero. GBP alongside any supplier's currency, UK VAT and two-way Xero, included. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Client portal URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/client-portal ### Client portal for interior designers. Clients approve from their phone. Send one link. They approve each piece or send it back, and the answer is saved on the item with the date. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. How an approval travels #### A decision should leave a record. The costly part is rarely the choice. It is the argument about it eight months later. - Share it from the schedule: Send a room or a single piece from the project. The client sees the image, the specification and the price as you set them. - The client decides: Approve, send back for review, reject, or order it themselves. Review and reject ask for a reason, so you are not left guessing. - The decision stays on the item: Dated, with the client's own words, and the procurement schedule moves on from it. No email to act on afterwards. Invoices #### What is due, in plain sight. Every invoice sits in the portal with its status, a PDF on your letterhead and the date it falls due. Fewer "has that been paid?" emails, in both directions. How invoicing works Access #### Everything the client needs. Nothing more. You decide what each client sees, project by project. Further reading. Client communication that keeps a project on track. The client approval process: deadlines that protect lead times One link: Your link opens the client's project, and only theirs. They can keep a password too, if they prefer one. Six screens: Dashboard, procurement, finances, documents, drawings and messages. Procurement, documents and messages can be switched off per project. One thread: Questions about a piece sit on the piece, with photos. Nothing is agreed in a WhatsApp only one person can find. No extra cost: Clients are not seats. Invite every client on every project at no charge. Questions #### Questions about the portal. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: How do clients approve selections? Selections are grouped by room. For each piece the client can approve it, send it back for review, reject it or say they will order it themselves. Review and reject ask for a reason, which you see straight away, and the decision is recorded against the item with the date. Q: Do clients need an account or a password? No. A link from you opens their project directly. Clients who prefer a password can sign in with one, and each client only ever reaches their own project. Q: Can clients see invoices in the portal? Yes. Clients see what is due next and every invoice with its status, and can download each one as a PDF with your studio's details on it. Q: Does it cost extra to invite clients? No. The portal is included in the subscription, with no per-client or per-project charge. Q: Is the portal secure? Each client reaches only their own project, and you choose which parts of it they see, project by project. It transformed the way I manage my studio. More time for creative work, far less admin. Interior designer, Studio Mind One of our founding studios #### Give your clients one place to say yes. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Contractor portal URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/contractor-portal ### Contractor portal for interior designers. Each trade gets their drawings. Never your prices. Your joiner, electrician and decorator open only their own drawings, files and items, always the current revision. They join free, with nothing to install. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. Compliance #### Covered, before they are on site. Each trade keeps their insurance and trade certificate current in their own portal, with the expiry dates. You see who is covered without asking for the PDF again. From invite to site #### One set of drawings, and everyone on the same one. The trade opens the revision you issued, not the one they saved in March. - Invite the trade: Add them to the project and choose their scope. They sign in from a browser with a password or a six-character access code. Nothing to install. - They work from the current set: Drawings carry their revision and date. When you issue a new one, the old one is marked superseded, not lost in a thread. - Site comes back to you: A trade raises an issue on an item or requests a revision on a drawing, with the reason written down, against the project. Group chat or the record #### Three things a group chat cannot do. Trades coordinate well by phone. What a phone cannot do is prove what was current, and who was covered. Which drawing is current: In a group chat. Whichever attachment the fitter downloaded. Who was covered on the day: In a group chat. A certificate emailed at some point. What this trade can see: In a group chat. Everything anyone pasted into it. Questions #### What studios ask about trades. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Do contractors need to install an app? No. The portal opens in a browser on a phone or a laptop on site. Trades sign in with an email and password, or with a six-character access code you give them. Q: Can I keep contractor insurance documents on file? Yes. Each trade uploads their public liability insurance and trade certificate with the expiry dates, and keeps them current. Each document shows as valid, expiring soon, expired or missing. Q: What does a contractor see, and what stays hidden? The drawings, files and items you share with them, and a conversation with the studio. Prices, budgets and margins are never shown to a trade. Q: How do drawing revisions work? Every drawing carries its revision and issue date. A trade can request a revision with a written reason, and when you issue the new one the earlier revision is marked superseded and kept in the version history. Q: Does it cost extra to invite contractors? No. Contractor access is included in the subscription. There is no per-project fee and no charge per trade invited. #### Put the site on the record. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## CRM and proposals URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/crm ### CRM for interior designers. Every enquiry, through to the project. Your pipeline in design fees, where Atelier, our AI assistant, drafts the follow-ups and each win becomes the project. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. The handover #### The handover is where studios lose money. Sell in one system and deliver in another, and the day a proposal is signed someone spends an afternoon copying it across. Three things have to survive the win. The client record: One record. The enquiry and the project both point at it. In two systems: Entered once to sell, again to deliver, and the two drift apart. The project details: The name, type, location and start date come across from the deal. In two systems: Typed again into the project tool, a little differently each time. The fee you agreed: Becomes the budget the project is measured against. In two systems: Sits in a signed PDF that nobody opens again. How it works #### Enquiry, proposal, project. Priced by phase, signed, and run on the same record. The fee becomes the budget; invoices go to Xero - Capture it: Every enquiry lands with its source, from the website, Instagram, a referral or an event, and an owner. - Propose it: Price the brief line by line and by phase: stage fees, a percentage of spend or hourly. It goes out as a branded PDF in GBP with VAT. - Convert it: Won, it becomes the project in one step, with the client, name, location, start date and agreed fee carried across. Every relationship #### One record per client, from first email to final invoice. Clients, specifiers, suppliers and trades in one directory, with their emails, files and projects attached, and yours to export as CSV any time. Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, drafts the reply; you copy it and send it. Questions #### What studios ask about the CRM. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Does it connect to project management? Yes. A won deal converts to a project in one step, carrying the client, the project name, location, start date and agreed fee with it, so none of it is entered twice between selling the job and running it. Q: Can I track where my leads come from? Yes. Lead source is recorded on every enquiry, from the website, Instagram, a referral or an event, so you can see which channels bring the clients you want and stop paying for the ones that do not. Q: What does the AI do in the CRM? Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, drafts replies to enquiries and follow-ups with the client and project details already in them, for you to edit, copy and send. It never sends anything itself. Q: How is it different from Programa or Design Manager? Both cover this stage. The difference shows later in the job: install-date risk scoring on the FF&E schedule, and UK depth, with GBP, VAT and a two-way Xero sync. Winning the work is only worth it if the rest of the studio runs on the same system. Q: How is it different from Houzz Pro or Studio Designer? Techstyles is one system from enquiry through to install, priced per user with everything included, and it scores every FF&E item against the date it has to be on site. The comparison pages set out the differences line by line. Q: How long is the free trial? 30 days, with every module included and no card needed. Bring your contacts in by CSV on day one. Q: Can I speak to a studio already using it? Yes. We are in beta, so there are no case studies on this site yet, and we will not publish one we do not have. Get in touch and we will introduce you to a studio already selling work through Techstyles. Where the deal goes next #### Signed, then run on the same record. - Projects: Where a signed proposal becomes a live project, without re-keying it. - Procurement: Where the schedule is bought, every item scored against its install date. - Finance: Where the fee is billed, in GBP with UK VAT and two-way Xero. - Techstyles vs Programa: A line-by-line comparison. - Pricing: £49 per user a month, £39 from the sixth user, excl. VAT. #### Win the work, then run it. £49 per user a month excl. VAT, every module included. Book a walkthrough Start free trial Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles AI URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/platform/ai ### AI assistant for interior designers. The supplier email, already drafted. Ask Atelier, the Techstyles AI assistant, what is late. It answers from your own records and drafts the email; you check it and send it. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. What it does #### Six jobs, done quietly. It works on the records you already keep, inside Techstyles. Ask Atelier a question, or let the brief, the summaries and the risk insights come to you. Atelier: Ask about any project: what is late, what is unpaid, who is overloaded. It drafts client and supplier emails with the project details in, and proposes changes (tasks, order dates, purchase orders, invoices) that only happen when you confirm. It remembers each conversation. Daily brief: Each morning: today's meetings, overdue tasks and how every project is tracking. Inbox summaries: Connect Gmail and Techstyles summarises a supplier or client thread and suggests the tasks in it. You choose which become real. Meeting notes: Record a meeting or upload a transcript: a summary, highlights and action items you accept as tasks. Procurement risk: When an item will miss its install date, the project shows why and what to do next. Smart Fill: The Product Clipper reads a supplier's product page and fills in price, finish, dimensions and lead time for you to check before saving. Daily brief and risk insights #### Before your first coffee, the day in order. Each morning the brief sets out today's meetings, overdue tasks and how every project is tracking. When an item will miss its install date, the project shows why and what to do next. Sample data The rule #### Nothing is sent or saved until you approve it. - Drafted: An email, a summary or a proposed change is prepared for you. - Waiting for you: You read it, change it or bin it. Nothing moves on its own. - Then you act: A change happens only when you confirm it. An email leaves only when you send it yourself. See it at work in Procurement. Finance. Client portal. Pricing Further reading. AI for interior designers: where it helps a studio today, and where it should not Questions #### What studios ask about the AI. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: What does Techstyles AI actually do? It helps with the admin, inside the projects you already run. Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, answers questions about any project, drafts client and supplier emails and proposes changes you confirm. Alongside it: a daily brief each morning, inbox summaries from Gmail, meeting notes from a recording or transcript, procurement risk insights, and Smart Fill in the Product Clipper. Q: Does it send or change anything without my approval? No. Atelier drafts emails for you to copy and send yourself; it never sends them. Changes to tasks, order dates, purchase orders and invoices happen only when you confirm, and suggested tasks from your inbox or a meeting become real only when you accept them. Q: Is it a chatbot? Yes. Atelier is a chat inside Techstyles that answers from your own project records. It remembers each conversation, so a follow-up question keeps its context. Q: Does the AI cost extra? No, it is included in the subscription, at £49 per user a month (£39 from the sixth user), excluding VAT. Atelier, meeting notes and Smart Fill draw on a monthly AI allowance; the daily brief, inbox summaries and risk insights do not. #### Less admin, the same final word. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Pricing URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/pricing ### Interior design software pricing. One price per seat. Every module included. One plan with no tiers and no per-project fees, and your clients and trades join free. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. £49 a user, a month, excl. VAT £39 each from the sixth user Your studio 3 people £147 a month. Annual billing is available. - Warns you before an FF&E order is late - Invoices and purchase orders to Xero, with UK VAT - Client and contractor portals, free to join - An AI daily brief and meeting notes On every seat #### Nothing kept back for a higher plan. A designer on their own and a ten-person practice open the same product. Clients and trades join free. A studio of three: £147 a month A studio of six: £284 a month A studio of ten: £440 a month Comparing studio software? See what each seat includes, side by side ##### Projects - Unlimited projects and clients - Phases, tasks and the install calendar - Studio planner and time tracking - CRM, proposals and pipeline ##### Procurement - FF&E schedules and product library - Lead-time risk scored on every line - Product clipper for any supplier page - Purchase orders and delivery tracking ##### Finance. Xero - Invoices in each project's currency, with UK VAT - Two-way sync with Xero - Invoices visible in the client portal - Margin per project ##### Portals - Client portal for approvals and sign-off - Approvals, updates and invoices - Contractor portal with drawings - No charge for clients or trades ##### Techstyles AI - Atelier, the Techstyles assistant - A daily brief and inbox summaries - Meeting notes and Smart Fill - Procurement risk insights The 30-day trial #### Try it on the project you are running now. Not a demo account. Bring a live job, and we move your current schedules across for you. - Bring a live project: Your schedules and projects come across, so you start on real work. - Run it for real: Invite the team, score the schedule, send a client the portal. - Decide: Add a card to carry on, or export everything. No card until then. Book a walkthrough Questions #### Questions about pricing. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: How does the per-user price work? Each of your first five users is £49 a month. From the sixth user it is £39 each. A studio of six pays £284 a month. You pay only for active users and can add or remove them at any time. Prices are in GBP and exclude VAT. Q: What happens after the 30 days? Add a card to carry on at the same price per user, with everything you set up kept as it is. If you do nothing, you are not charged: the account pauses, and you can still sign in to export your data. Q: Is anything charged on top? No. Procurement and scoring, finance with Xero, both portals and Techstyles AI are on every seat. There are no per-project fees, no setup fee and no charge for the clients or trades you invite. Atelier, meeting notes and Smart Fill draw on a monthly AI allowance; the daily brief, inbox summaries and risk insights do not. Q: Does it sync with Xero? Yes, both ways, on every seat. Invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with UK VAT, each in its own currency; paid status comes back to the project. Q: Does it work in other currencies? Yes. Order from a supplier in euros or dollars and invoice your client in pounds. Each purchase order stays in the supplier's currency, each invoice converts at that day's rate and freezes it, and Xero receives every document in its own currency. The subscription itself is priced in GBP. Q: How does this compare with other studio tools? Some tools cost less per seat for a team. Check whether install-date risk scoring, the contractor portal and two-way Xero are on the plan you would actually buy. Our side-by-side comparisons are here. Q: Can I export our data? Yes, whenever you like. Schedules, projects, contacts and invoices export as CSV or PDF, during the trial, while you subscribe and after you leave. Q: How do you handle our data and GDPR? Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, handled under UK GDPR, never sold and never used to train AI models. You can access, export or delete it at any time. The detail is in our privacy policy. Q: Is there a contract or annual plan? No contract: pay monthly and cancel any time. Annual billing is available. Studios of 20 or more can talk to us about pricing. It transformed the way I manage my studio. More time for creative work, far less admin. Interior designer, Studio Mind One of our founding studios #### Moving from another system? We bring it across. Your schedules and projects come with you, and larger studios get a walkthrough before they decide. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Integrations URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/integrations ### Xero integration for interior designers. Type it once. It lands in Xero. Purchase orders and invoices reach Xero with UK VAT intact. When a client pays, the project shows it. Start free trial How the sync works Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. Xero, Gmail and Google Calendar, included on every seat. Two-way Xero #### One invoice, end to end. What two-way means on a Tuesday afternoon, in the order it happens. - Raise it in the project: The invoice is built from the work it covers, with the VAT treatment the job needs. - It lands in Xero, VAT intact: A sales invoice in Xero with the net, the rate and the total as you raised them, in its own currency. If your Xero organisation has not enabled that currency, Techstyles names it and says where to turn it on. - Paid comes back: Your bookkeeper works in Xero as always. When the client pays, the status returns to the project, and the ledger and the books agree. - Sales invoices, with their VAT treatment - Purchase orders to suppliers, with their VAT - Payment status, so paid shows as paid and nobody re-keys it How finance and invoicing work Setting up Xero for a UK studio: the guide Mail and calendar #### Also connected. So the studio's day and its projects stop being two systems. Every integration is included on every seat. Gmail: Project mail sits with the project it belongs to. Techstyles summarises a client or supplier thread and suggests the tasks in it; you choose which become real. Google Calendar: Your Google Calendar meetings show on your Techstyles dashboard, and events you add in Techstyles go to your Google Calendar. Not yet #### What we have not built. On the list, with no date we would ask you to plan around, so we do not print one. Tell us which one you need - QuickBooks: Accounting - Sage: Accounting - FreeAgent: Accounting - Zapier: Automation - Slack: Messages Questions #### Questions about Xero. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Does Techstyles work with Xero? Yes, both ways. Invoices and purchase orders raised in a project go to Xero with their VAT treatment intact, and payment status comes back, so a paid invoice shows as paid on the project. Q: Does the Xero sync handle UK VAT? Yes. Each invoice carries its VAT treatment into Xero as raised, in its own currency. Techstyles keeps the project and the books in step; it does not file your VAT return. Q: Is the Xero integration an extra cost? No. Every integration is included on every seat. There is one plan, and no connector tier. Q: We use QuickBooks or Sage. Can we still use Techstyles? Yes, for everything except the accounting sync, which is Xero only today. QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent are on the list, with no date we would ask you to plan around. Tell us which one you use. #### Connect Xero, then forget about it. The sync is included, like everything else. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Interior design software compared URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare ### Five rivals in depth, eight on the table. The honest guide to interior design software. Each checked on what a studio asks: the price, Xero and UK VAT, and a warning before an order is late. Price, Xero and late orders, checked. Where a rival is better, we say so. Start free trial See prices side by side Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. The category #### What you are actually choosing between. Every serious tool here will hold a product library, raise a purchase order, publish a schedule to a client and produce an invoice. Compare those and you are comparing table stakes. The differences that survive a real project are narrower. Does the system know when an order has to be placed, not only when it was? Does the money reach your accounts in the right currency with the right VAT, or does someone re-key it? Does the quoted price still describe the bill once the studio has six people and twelve live jobs? Side by side #### Pick your comparison. The short verdict each way. Each page carries the full feature matrix, the cost and what moving across involves. - Techstyles vs Programa. Australian-born studio software known for procurement: Choose Programa if you want the lowest price per seat for a team, or take client payments in the app. Choose Techstyles if you want order-by dates from the install, Xero both ways and a contractor portal. - Techstyles vs Houzz Pro. All-in-one software alongside the Houzz marketplace: Choose Houzz Pro if Houzz brings you clients, or you want 3D floor plans in the same tool. Choose Techstyles if you win work by referral and want delivery, Xero and a lower bill per seat. - Techstyles vs Design Manager. Long-established software with its own accounting ledger: Choose Design Manager if you want full accounting inside the design tool, billed in dollars. Choose Techstyles if your books live in Xero, in pounds, and late orders are the risk. - Techstyles vs Studio Designer. US design business software with an accounting heritage: Choose Studio Designer if you want its ledger and are primarily US-based. Choose Techstyles if your UK accountant expects the books in Xero, with VAT on the line. - Techstyles vs DesignFiles. Boards-first software for solo designers: Choose DesignFiles if you work solo on boards, 3D and presentations and want the lowest price. Choose Techstyles if you specify and order, hold deposits and brief contractors. Also worth a look: Planify, if you want a simple tool for the whole studio at one low price ($24.49 a month billed yearly, unlimited team) and keep your accounts separately. Fohlio, if your work is hospitality or multi-site FF&E at scale. At a glance #### Eight tools on the table, the UK questions. Price, books and install-date risk, from each vendor's own pages. Prices as published, in the currency published. "Not listed" means we could not find it, not that it cannot be done. Eight interior design tools compared for UK studios: who each is built for, published price, accounting link and install-date FF&E risk Techstyles | Built for: Studios; built in the UK | Published price a month: £49 per user, £39 from the sixth, excl. VAT | Books and Xero: Two-way Xero, GBP and UK VAT | Install-date FF&E risk: Order-by date per item, from the install Programa | Built for: Australian-born, multi-market | Published price a month: £55 incl. one seat, +£23 per seat, billed yearly (£69 + £29 monthly) | Books and Xero: Invoices sync to Xero or QuickBooks | Install-date FF&E risk: Overdue alerts once a date passes Houzz Pro | Built for: Renovation and design pros, with the Houzz marketplace | Published price a month: From £139, +£47 per extra user | Books and Xero: QuickBooks; Xero listed (sends data to Xero), plan not stated | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed Design Manager | Built for: "Optimized for US-based firms" | Published price a month: $79 per user (US dollars) | Books and Xero: Its own ledger; Xero not listed | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed Studio Designer | Built for: Firms wanting accounting built in | Published price a month: $69–$109, billed yearly (no GBP listed) | Books and Xero: Its own general ledger; Xero not listed | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed DesignFiles | Built for: Solo designers and small teams | Published price a month: $55–$75 for one designer, +$30 per user | Books and Xero: QuickBooks on Full Service; Xero not listed | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed Planify | Built for: Designers and architects; made in Kraków | Published price a month: $24.49 for the studio, billed yearly | Books and Xero: No accounting link listed | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed Fohlio | Built for: Hospitality, retail and large firms | Published price a month: Not published | Books and Xero: Not listed | Install-date FF&E risk: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each vendor's own pages. Products change; tell us if something has moved on. Predictive, not reactive #### The expensive mistake is the order nobody has placed yet. Every tool here can tell you what you ordered. The question that costs a studio money is about the order nobody has placed, and only a system that holds lead times against an install date can answer it. Techstyles gives every line an order-by date and scores it blocked, at risk, watching or OK. How install-date scoring works How to choose #### How to choose interior design software: five questions for every vendor. Including us. If a demo cannot answer these in the product, the answer is no. Show me an item nobody has ordered yet that is already too late. The question that separates a procurement ledger from a risk system. A tool that reports on placed orders cannot answer it. Ask to see the item, the lead time it used, and the date it decided the order window closed. Raise an invoice in GBP with VAT, show it in Xero, then pay it and show the payment back. Both directions, in one demo, without a CSV. If the answer involves a monthly reconciliation, that is your answer. Price this for six people and twelve live projects, with everything we just saw switched on. Not the entry tier. Ask which features in the demo sit on a higher plan, whether there is a per-project charge, and what onboarding costs on top. How does a contractor see what they need, and nothing else? Trades need the schedule and the drawings without your margins. A tool with no contractor access makes you the inbox between them and the job. If we leave in a year, what comes with us? Ask for the export format for your product library, clients and project history before you sign, not after. Any vendor confident in the product will answer plainly. We will. Method #### How we write these comparisons. Every comparison here is written by us, so read it as our view rather than an independent review. We describe each competitor from its own published material. Where we cannot find a capability we say "not listed", never "no", and we quote a rival's price only where they publish it. Last checked October 2026. Competitors ship changes constantly. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it. Further reading. The best interior design software for UK studios in 2026 #### See your own schedule scored against its install dates. Bring one live project from whichever tool you use; we move it across for you. Send us a schedule Start free trial Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles vs Programa URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare/programa ### Programa alternative for UK studios. Every order-by date, weeks ahead. Techstyles counts back from the install date and tells you the last day to place each purchase order, while there is still time to act. Start free trial Send us a Programa schedule Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Programa schedules across free. Techstyles warns before: Each line shows the days left to order, while it can still be placed. Programa alerts after: As published: an overdue alert, once the date has passed. On price, Programa costs less for a team: six people pay £214 a month to our £284, both billed monthly. Programa as published, checked October 2026. See your team size What differs #### Four differences, in the order that matters. In the order they protect a project: the install date first, the time saved on admin last. - It warns before the order window shuts, not after: Programa's procurement hub now flags overdue deposits, late shipments and missed dates. That is useful, and it is reactive: the date has already gone. Techstyles counts back from the install date, subtracts the supplier lead time and gives every line an order-by date, so a sofa with a fourteen-week lead is flagged while it can still be ordered, or re-sourced. - UK-native: GBP, VAT and two-way Xero: Invoices in the project's currency, GBP or otherwise, and purchase orders in the supplier's, with UK VAT on the line. The Xero sync runs both ways, so a payment recorded in Xero shows against the project without re-keying. Programa also syncs invoices to Xero; Techstyles is built UK-first around it. - Your trades in the same system: A contractor portal (drawings with revisions, files and compliance documents, margins hidden) comes with every seat. If you only need schedules and purchase orders, Programa is the cheaper way to get them; the cost table below is honest about that. - AI for the admin, approved by you: Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, answers questions about any project and drafts client and supplier emails for you to send. Meeting notes become action items you accept as tasks, a daily brief covers every live job, and procurement risk insights sit on the schedule. Nothing is sent or saved until a person approves it. Predictive, not reactive #### Flagged while it can still be ordered. Programa now tells you when an order is overdue. Techstyles tells you the day it has to be placed, worked back from the install. Techstyles: predictive: Install date, minus supplier lead time, gives each line an order-by date. Lines are flagged blocked or at risk before that date passes. Programa: reactive: Alerts for overdue deposits, late shipments and missed install dates, once the date has gone. How install-date scoring works Programa pricing UK #### Programa pricing in the UK: cheaper for teams. Monthly cost in pounds by team size. For one person Techstyles costs less; from two people on Programa's yearly plan, Programa does (billed monthly, two people cost the same). Here is the arithmetic. Monthly cost of Techstyles and Programa by team size, in pounds 1 person | Techstyles excl. VAT: £49 | Programa billed yearly: £55 | Programa billed monthly: £69 | Techstyles costs (vs Programa yearly): £6 less 2 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £98 | Programa billed yearly: £78 | Programa billed monthly: £98 | Techstyles costs (vs Programa yearly): £20 more 3 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £147 | Programa billed yearly: £101 | Programa billed monthly: £127 | Techstyles costs (vs Programa yearly): £46 more 6 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £284 | Programa billed yearly: £170 | Programa billed monthly: £214 | Techstyles costs (vs Programa yearly): £114 more 10 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £440 | Programa billed yearly: £262 | Programa billed monthly: £330 | Techstyles costs (vs Programa yearly): £178 more Techstyles: £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. Programa UK: £55 a month including one seat plus £23 per extra seat billed yearly, or £69 plus £29 billed monthly, from programa.design/uk/pricing, checked October 2026. Prices as published by Programa. Programa does not say whether its prices include VAT. What the difference buys A contractor portal: Drawings with revisions, files and the items issued to each trade, with your prices hidden. Not listed by Programa. Order-by dates on every line: Counted back from the install, so the late order shows up before it is late. Built UK-first: GBP, UK VAT and two-way Xero on every seat. Credit where due #### Where Programa is genuinely strong. Programa earned its reputation on procurement. Studios running product-heavy residential work find its schedules, purchase orders and supplier handling well judged, and it has had years to absorb the awkward cases only real jobs throw up. If your team already trusts a Programa workflow, "we also have purchase orders" is no reason to move. The case for switching is narrower: knowing the order-by date before it passes, and a UK product with Xero as its spine. Different bets about who the customer is, not a criticism of either. The short answer #### Which is right for your studio? Programa is a capable, established tool. This is where the two genuinely diverge. ##### Choose Techstyles if you… - Need every FF&E line to carry an order-by date counted back from the install - Run your books in Xero, in GBP, with UK VAT on the line - Brief trades through a portal rather than your inbox ##### Programa may suit you if you… - Already have Programa workflows your team trusts - Want the lowest price per seat for a growing team - Take client payments inside the app today - Run your books in QuickBooks rather than Xero Read next FF&E procurement Invoicing and Xero Pricing Feature by feature #### The whole matrix, nothing hidden. Including the rows where Programa matches us. "Not listed" means we could not find it in Programa's public material, not that it cannot be done. Feature-by-feature comparison of Techstyles and Programa Procurement and install dates Order-by date per item, counted back from the install date | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Alerts for overdue orders, deposits and deliveries | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Product library with pricing | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Purchase orders | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Supplier management and trade discounts | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Web clipper for products | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes UK finance Xero sync for invoices | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Payments recorded in Xero show against the project | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Invoicing with VAT on the line | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Multi-currency procurement | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Project budgets and markup | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Clients and trades Client portal with approvals | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Comments and revisions | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Clients pay invoices inside the app | Techstyles: Invoices and payment status shown | Programa: Yes Contractor and trade portal | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Studio Project timelines and phases | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Tasks and team collaboration | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes Team capacity planning | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Document storage | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes CRM: enquiries, pipeline and proposals | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Yes AI assistance Client and supplier emails drafted for you to send | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Meeting notes with action items you accept as tasks | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Daily brief across every project | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Procurement risk insights | Techstyles: Yes | Programa: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each product's public material. Products change; tell us and we will correct it. Switching #### Moving across from Programa. Migration is free, and we do the moving. Live projects keep running while it happens. Further reading. Programa alternatives for UK studios: an honest comparison Product library: Products come across with images, pricing and supplier details. Trade discounts come with them. Clients and contacts: Client records and contact details transfer, so nobody re-keys an address book mid-project. Live projects: Current projects are recreated with rooms, schedules, budgets and approval status; clients get new portal access. Xero and install dates: Connect Xero: invoices go out in GBP with VAT, and payments come back to the project. Add each install date and the order-by dates appear on the FF&E you have already specified. Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Is Techstyles a good Programa alternative for UK studios? If the install date is what keeps you up at night, yes. Techstyles gives every FF&E line an order-by date counted back from the install, keeps your books in Xero in GBP with UK VAT, and includes a contractor portal. If you mainly need specification schedules and purchase orders at the lowest price per seat, Programa is the cheaper choice for teams. Q: Does Programa flag late orders now? Yes. Programa's procurement hub flags overdue deposits, late shipments and missed install dates. The difference is timing: those alerts fire once a date has passed. Techstyles works out the date each order has to be placed, from the install date and the supplier lead time, and flags the line before that window shuts. Q: How much does Programa cost in the UK compared with Techstyles? Programa's UK plan is £55 a month including one seat, plus £23 for each extra seat, billed yearly (£69 and £29 billed monthly). Techstyles is £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. For one person Techstyles is cheaper; from two people Programa's yearly plan is cheaper (billed monthly, two people cost the same). Six people pay £284 a month on Techstyles and £170 on Programa's yearly plan, or £214 billed monthly. Programa does not say whether its prices include VAT. Q: Can we move our Programa schedules across? Yes, and migration is free. Send us your Programa export and we bring the product library, clients and live projects across, with rooms, suppliers and lead times. Add the install date to each live project and the order-by dates are worked out on the FF&E you have already specified. Q: How does the Xero sync compare? Both connect to Xero. In Techstyles the sync runs both ways with UK VAT: invoices and purchase orders post to the Xero account you choose, each in its own currency, and a payment recorded in Xero shows against the project. Q: Is there a free trial? Yes. Techstyles is free for 30 days with every feature and no card. Bring a live project and see its schedule scored against the install date before you decide. Free migration #### Bring one live project across. We move it from Programa for you, and you see its schedule scored against the install. - Send us a live schedule: The spreadsheet or export you are working from today. - We move it across, free: Items, suppliers and lead times, checked against the install date. - Run the project for 30 days: No card. Carry on, or export everything. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Programa schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles vs Houzz Pro URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare/houzz-pro ### Houzz Pro alternative for UK studios. Less than Houzz Pro, at every team size. Houzz Pro is worth it if Houzz finds you clients. If not, Techstyles warns you before a purchase order is late and syncs both ways with Xero. If Houzz doesn't find you clients, why pay for it? Start free trial How we move you across Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Houzz Pro schedules across free. Techstyles: 5 × £49, then £39 from the sixth. Houzz Pro: £139 with one seat, plus 5 × £47 per extra user, its cheapest paid plan, checked October 2026. Houzz doesn't say whether VAT is included; if it is, that is £312 before VAT, still more. See every team size Predictive, not reactive #### Selections tell you what was chosen. This tells you when to order it. Techstyles starts from the date each item has to be on site, subtracts the supplier lead time, and shows which orders have to go out this week, and which windows have already shut. How install-date scoring works What differs #### Four differences, in the order that matters. The install date first, the marketplace last. - Every FF&E line gets an order-by date: Houzz Pro raises purchase orders on every plan, and tracks selections and budgets on its Custom plan. Techstyles reads each line's supplier lead time, counts back from the day it has to be on site and flags it blocked, at risk, watching or OK. On a phased install you find out in week four, not week eleven. - Xero both ways, on every seat: Houzz Pro lists a Xero integration that sends invoices, purchase orders and payments into Xero; its pricing grid doesn't say which plan carries it. Techstyles includes Xero on every account and reads back too: a payment your bookkeeper records in Xero shows against the project, in GBP with VAT on the line. - Everything on one price per seat: Houzz Pro's Pro plan is from £139 a month plus £47 per extra user. Techstyles is £49 per user, £39 from the sixth. The table below does the arithmetic. Houzz puts selections, budgets and subcontractor management on its Custom plan, priced on request. - Software only, no marketplace: Houzz Pro is part of the Houzz ecosystem, which is valuable if Houzz is where your clients find you. Techstyles is studio software only. Techstyles AI drafts client and supplier emails, writes up meetings, prepares a daily brief and adds procurement risk insights, and nothing is sent or saved until you approve it. Houzz Pro pricing UK #### Houzz Pro pricing in the UK: Techstyles costs less. Monthly cost in pounds by team size, against Houzz Pro's Pro plan, its cheapest paid plan. Both start with a 30-day free trial. Monthly cost of Techstyles and Houzz Pro by team size, in pounds 1 person | Techstyles excl. VAT: £49 | Houzz Pro. Pro plan, from: £139 | Techstyles costs: £90 less 3 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £147 | Houzz Pro. Pro plan, from: £233 | Techstyles costs: £86 less 6 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £284 | Houzz Pro. Pro plan, from: £374 | Techstyles costs: £90 less 10 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £440 | Houzz Pro. Pro plan, from: £562 | Techstyles costs: £122 less 15 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £635 | Houzz Pro. Pro plan, from: £797 | Techstyles costs: £162 less Techstyles: £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. Houzz Pro: Pro plan from £139 a month including one seat, plus £47 per extra user, from houzz.co.uk/houzz-pro/pricing, checked October 2026. Houzz does not say whether its prices include VAT; if they do, Techstyles is still the cheaper of the two at every size shown. Houzz's annual subscription begins at the end of its 30-day trial. Selections, budgets and subcontractor management are on its Custom plan, priced on request, so these Pro figures are the floor. What Houzz Pro adds for the money A marketplace and advertising: A Houzz profile in front of homeowners, with advertising packages from £119 a month on top. 3D floor plans: A 3D floor planner on every paid plan. Techstyles has none. QuickBooks Online: If your books are in QuickBooks rather than Xero, Houzz Pro connects to it; Techstyles does not. The marketplace question #### Software you buy, or a channel you join. Houzz Pro bundles two things usually sold separately: business software and a route to market. If a real share of your enquiries arrives through Houzz, that bundle earns its price, and the 3D floor planner is a genuine extra. If most of your work comes through referral, press and repeat clients, the deciding questions are about delivery: does the schedule warn you before an order is late, and does the money reconcile in Xero without re-keying? Some studios keep a free Houzz profile for visibility and run delivery in Techstyles. That works. The short answer #### Which is right for your studio? The short version: Houzz Pro if Houzz finds you clients, Techstyles if delivery is the hard part. ##### Choose Techstyles if you… - Win most work by referral, press and repeat clients - Need every FF&E line to carry an order-by date from the install - Keep the books in Xero and want payments to flow back to the project - Brief trades through a portal without moving up a plan ##### Houzz Pro may suit you if you… - Get a real share of enquiries through the Houzz marketplace - Want 3D floor plans and renders in the same tool - Run your books in QuickBooks Online Read next FF&E procurement Invoicing and Xero Pricing Feature by feature #### The whole matrix, nothing hidden. Including the rows where Houzz Pro matches us. "Not listed" means we could not find it in Houzz Pro's public material, not that it cannot be done. Feature-by-feature comparison of Techstyles and Houzz Pro Procurement and install dates Order-by date per item, counted back from the install | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed Product clipper and library | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Yes Purchase orders | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Yes Selections and budgets | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Custom plan Project schedules | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Custom plan UK finance Xero integration with UK VAT | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Listed; plan not stated Payments recorded in Xero show against the project. Houzz Pro describes a sync from Houzz Pro to Xero | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed QuickBooks Online integration | Techstyles: No | Houzz Pro: Yes Invoicing and online payments | Techstyles: Invoicing; payment status shown | Houzz Pro: Yes Clients and trades Client portal or dashboard | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Basic on Pro Contractor and trade portal. Houzz lists subcontractor management on Custom | Techstyles: Every seat | Houzz Pro: Custom plan 3D floor planner | Techstyles: No | Houzz Pro: Yes Leads and advertising on a marketplace | Techstyles: No | Houzz Pro: Yes AI assistance Client and supplier emails drafted for you to send | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed Meeting notes with action items you accept as tasks | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed Daily brief across every project | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed Procurement risk insights | Techstyles: Yes | Houzz Pro: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each product's public material. Products change; tell us and we will correct it. Switching #### Moving across from Houzz Pro. Migration is free, and we do the moving. Your Houzz profile and reviews stay where they are. Product library: Products come across from your Houzz Pro export with images, pricing and supplier details. Clients and contacts: Client records and contact details transfer, so nobody re-keys an address book mid-project. Live projects: Current projects are recreated with rooms, schedules and budgets; clients get new portal access. Xero and install dates: Connect Xero: invoices go out in GBP with VAT, and payments come back to the project. Add each install date and the order-by dates appear on the FF&E you have already specified. Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Is Techstyles a good Houzz Pro alternative for UK studios? If delivery is the hard part, yes: every FF&E line gets an order-by date counted back from the install, the Xero sync runs both ways in GBP with UK VAT, and it costs less than Houzz Pro's Pro plan at every team size. If the Houzz marketplace is where your clients come from, or you rely on its 3D floor planner, Houzz Pro is the better fit. Q: Does Houzz Pro integrate with Xero in the UK? Houzz lists Xero among its integrations, without saying which plan includes it. Houzz Pro's UK integration sends estimates, invoices, purchase orders and payments to Xero, with VAT rates mapped; its published material describes the sync from Houzz Pro to Xero. Techstyles includes Xero on every account and also reads back, so a payment recorded in Xero shows against the project. Q: How much does Houzz Pro cost in the UK compared with Techstyles? Houzz Pro's Pro plan is from £139 a month, plus £47 for each extra user, on an annual subscription that begins after its 30-day trial. Techstyles is £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT, also with a 30-day trial. Six people pay £284 a month on Techstyles and from £374 on Houzz Pro's Pro plan; its selections and budgets are on the Custom plan, priced on request. Q: Do I lose my Houzz profile and reviews if I switch? No. Your Houzz profile and reviews belong to your Houzz account, and Houzz keeps a free basic profile. Some studios keep the profile for visibility and run delivery in Techstyles. We migrate project, client and product data; we do not touch your listing. Q: Can we move our projects across from Houzz Pro? Yes, and migration is free. We bring your projects, clients and product library across, and you connect Xero on day one. Free migration #### Run delivery somewhere independent. We move your projects, clients and product library from Houzz Pro for you. - Send us a live schedule: The spreadsheet or export you are working from today. - We move it across, free: Items, suppliers and lead times, checked against the install date. - Run the project for 30 days: No card. Carry on, or export everything. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Houzz Pro schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles vs Studio Designer URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare/studio-designer ### Studio Designer alternative for UK studios. One set of books, kept in Xero. Studio Designer keeps its own ledger. Techstyles sends every invoice and purchase order to your Xero with UK VAT, and shows the payment on the project. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Studio Designer schedules across free. Studio Designer, in its own words: "we currently do not have integrations with other accounting systems." From its FAQ at studiodesigner.com, read 22 October 2026. Tell us if it has moved on. The accounting question #### A design ledger, or a UK studio's books. Many UK studios keep their books in Xero, and their accountant expects to find them there. Techstyles treats Xero as the system of record: an invoice raised against a project appears in Xero, and a payment recorded in Xero appears against the project, in GBP with VAT on the line. And on the schedule side, every FF&E line carries an order-by date counted back from the install, so a late order shows up before it is late. Invoicing and Xero Credit where due #### Where Studio Designer is genuinely strong. Studio Designer is long-established, US-oriented software with a strong accounting heritage, known for taking the financial side of a design practice seriously. Studios that have built their process around its ledger are rarely looking for a reason to leave it. If your bookkeeper works in it every day and your accountant is in the US, that is a real argument for staying. The UK case is different: the books live in Xero, and the design tool should feed them, not replace them. The short answer #### Which is right for your studio? The choice mostly comes down to where your books live. ##### Choose Techstyles if you… - Keep the books in Xero, where a UK accountant expects to find them - Need the schedule to flag a late order before it is placed - Brief trades through a portal rather than your inbox ##### Studio Designer may suit you if you… - Want the ledger inside the design tool rather than in Xero - Are primarily US-based, with a US accountant - Already have years of history and a trained team on it Read next FF&E procurement Invoicing and Xero Contractor portal Feature by feature #### The whole matrix, nothing hidden. Including the rows where Studio Designer matches us. "Not listed" means we could not find it in Studio Designer's public material, not that it cannot be done. Feature-by-feature comparison of Techstyles and Studio Designer Procurement and install dates Order-by date per item, counted back from the install | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed Product library, purchase orders and suppliers | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Yes Purchase order and delivery tracking | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Yes UK books Native two-way Xero sync | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed GBP pricing and UK VAT | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Limited Invoicing, budgets and project profitability | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Yes Full accounting ledger inside the tool | Techstyles: Kept in Xero | Studio Designer: Yes Clients and trades Client portal with selection approvals | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Yes Contractor and trade portal | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed AI assistance Client and supplier emails drafted for you to send | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed Daily brief across every project | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed Procurement risk insights | Techstyles: Yes | Studio Designer: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each product's public material. Products change; tell us and we will correct it. Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: What's the main difference between Techstyles and Studio Designer? Studio Designer is long-established, US-oriented software with a strong accounting heritage and its own ledger. Techstyles keeps the books in Xero in GBP with UK VAT, scores every FF&E item against the date it has to be on site, and includes a contractor portal on one price. Q: Which is better for UK-based studios? Techstyles is built in the UK, with two-way Xero, GBP pricing and UK VAT on the line. Studio Designer is designed primarily around US practice and accounting. Q: Can I migrate from Studio Designer to Techstyles? Yes, and migration is free. We bring your product library, clients and project history across, and you connect Xero on day one: invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with UK VAT, each in its own currency; paid status comes back. Q: Is there a free trial? Yes: 30 days with every feature and no card. Then £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. #### Keep the books where they belong. We bring your Studio Designer data across and connect Xero on day one. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Studio Designer schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles vs DesignFiles URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare/designfiles ### DesignFiles alternative for UK studios. Keep your boards. Run the orders here. From the signed-off scheme, Techstyles runs every order and invoice, each piece with the last day to order it. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your DesignFiles schedules across free. DesignFiles is better for moodboards, 3D floor plans and renders. Last checked October 2026; tell us if it has moved on. What differs #### Three differences, in the order that matters. Including the one where DesignFiles wins. - Strongest after sign-off, not before: DesignFiles is strongest at the front of a project: boards, room schemes, 3D and presentations. Techstyles is strongest once the scheme is signed off: every FF&E line gets an order-by date counted back from the install, and blocked or at-risk lines surface first. - UK books: Xero, GBP and VAT: DesignFiles connects to QuickBooks Online on its Full Service plan and does not list Xero. Techstyles invoices in GBP with UK VAT on the line, invoices go to Xero, and a payment recorded in Xero shows against the project. - Honestly: on price, it depends on the plan: DesignFiles e-Design is $55 a month for one designer; Full Service, which adds invoicing, purchase orders and QuickBooks, is $75. Each extra user is $30, so the bigger the team, the more that low seat price counts. Techstyles is £49 per user, £39 from the sixth, excluding VAT, with Xero, the contractor portal and Techstyles AI on every seat. After sign-off #### After the board is approved, the dates start to matter. A board shows the client the idea. Once it is approved, every item on it has a supplier lead time and a date it has to be on site, and the window between the two starts closing. How install-date scoring works DesignFiles pricing #### DesignFiles pricing: cheaper seats, fewer of the tools. Monthly list price by team size, each in the currency its maker publishes. DesignFiles sells in US dollars only; we have not converted. Monthly cost of Techstyles and DesignFiles by team size, in pounds 1 person | Techstyles excl. VAT: £49 | DesignFiles. Full Service, US dollars: $75 | DesignFiles e-Design, US dollars: $55 2 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £98 | DesignFiles. Full Service, US dollars: $105 | DesignFiles e-Design, US dollars: $85 3 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £147 | DesignFiles. Full Service, US dollars: $135 | DesignFiles e-Design, US dollars: $115 6 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £284 | DesignFiles. Full Service, US dollars: $225 | DesignFiles e-Design, US dollars: $205 Techstyles: £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. DesignFiles: e-Design $55 and Full Service $75 a month for one designer, plus $30 per extra user, month to month (an Enterprise plan is priced on request), from designfiles.co/plans, checked October 2026. Read the prices with this Invoicing and purchase orders: Only on DesignFiles Full Service, the plan shown first. The $55 e-Design plan has neither. Extra seats: $30 a seat at DesignFiles against £49 (then £39) at Techstyles. From two people, DesignFiles Full Service is the cheaper bill whenever a pound buys more than $1.07. What every Techstyles seat carries: Order-by dates, two-way Xero, the contractor portal and Techstyles AI. Credit where due #### When DesignFiles is the better buy. If you are a solo designer whose work is mostly concept and presentation (boards, room schemes, 3D and a shopping list the client buys from), DesignFiles does that job well, on its $55 e-Design plan, with a 90-day money-back guarantee. That stops being true on the first project where you specify rather than suggest: you raise purchase orders, hold deposits, long-lead items have to land in an install week, and a contractor needs the drawings. We would rather you switched then than paid for the heavier tool a year early. The short answer #### Which is right for your studio? The short version: DesignFiles to present the scheme, Techstyles to deliver it. ##### Choose Techstyles if you… - Raise purchase orders and hold client deposits - Need long-lead items to land in a fixed install week - Bill through Xero, in GBP with UK VAT handled - Hand drawings and schedules to contractors, or plan to grow the team ##### DesignFiles may suit you if you… - Work solo, mostly on concept and presentation - Want moodboards, 3D floor plans and 3D renderings in one tool - Want the e-Design plan's $55 entry price, or cheap extra seats - Keep your books in QuickBooks Online Read next FF&E procurement Invoicing and Xero Pricing Feature by feature #### The whole matrix, nothing hidden. Including the rows where DesignFiles matches us. "Not listed" means we could not find it in DesignFiles's public material, not that it cannot be done. Feature-by-feature comparison of Techstyles and DesignFiles Procurement and install dates Order-by date per item, counted back from the install | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Product clipper and library | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Yes Spec sheets and FF&E schedule | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Full Service plan Purchase orders | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Full Service plan UK finance Two-way Xero sync | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed QuickBooks Online integration | Techstyles: No | DesignFiles: Full Service plan Invoicing | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Full Service plan Priced in GBP | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Design and presentation Moodboards and client presentations | Techstyles: No | DesignFiles: Yes 3D floor planner and 3D renderings | Techstyles: No | DesignFiles: Yes Clients, trades and team Client portal | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Yes Contractor and trade portal | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Tasks and team collaboration | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Yes AI assistance Client and supplier emails drafted for you to send | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Meeting notes with action items you accept as tasks | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Daily brief across every project | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Procurement risk insights | Techstyles: Yes | DesignFiles: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each product's public material. Products change; tell us and we will correct it. Switching #### Moving across from DesignFiles. Migration is free, and we do the moving. Live projects keep running while it happens. Product library: Products come across from your DesignFiles export with images, pricing and supplier details. Clients and contacts: Client records and contact details transfer, so nobody re-keys an address book mid-project. Live projects: Current projects are recreated with rooms, schedules and budgets; clients get new portal access. Xero and install dates: Connect Xero: invoices go out in GBP with VAT, and payments come back to the project. Add each install date and the order-by dates appear on the FF&E you have already specified. Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Is Techstyles a good DesignFiles alternative for UK studios? For a studio that specifies and orders, yes: every FF&E item gets an order-by date counted back from the install, invoices go to Xero in GBP with UK VAT and payments come back, and the contractor portal is on every seat. For a solo designer working mostly on boards and 3D, DesignFiles does that job well, and its e-Design plan is the cheaper entry point. Q: Is DesignFiles cheaper than Techstyles? It depends on the plan and the team. DesignFiles publishes $55 a month (e-Design) or $75 a month (Full Service, with invoicing and purchase orders) for one designer, plus $30 per extra user, in US dollars only. Techstyles is £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT, free for 30 days. For a team, DesignFiles' $30 extra seat is the cheaper way to add people. Q: Does DesignFiles integrate with Xero? Not as far as its published material shows. It lists QuickBooks Online on the Full Service plan. Techstyles sends invoices to Xero in GBP with UK VAT, and payments recorded in Xero come back to the project. Q: Can I migrate from DesignFiles to Techstyles? Yes, and migration is free. We bring your projects, clients and product library across, and you connect Xero on day one. #### Move across on your first specified project. We bring your projects, clients and product library across from DesignFiles. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your DesignFiles schedules across free. --- ## Techstyles vs Design Manager URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/compare/design-manager ### Design Manager alternative for UK studios. Made for UK studios, not adapted for them. Design Manager is $79 a user a month, in US dollars. Techstyles is £49 excl. VAT, and every order is in pounds with UK VAT. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Design Manager schedules across free. Design Manager's $79 a user a month and its 7-day trial, as published at designmanager.com/pricing, read 22 October 2026. Tell us if something has moved on. What differs #### Four differences, in the order that matters. - The risk is in what has not been ordered: A purchase-order ledger shows what has been ordered. It does not show the item nobody has ordered yet that is about to become impossible. Techstyles reads each line's lead time, counts back from the install date and flags it blocked, at risk, watching or OK. - Your books stay in Xero, where your accountant looks: Design Manager replaces the accounts package with its own ledger. Techstyles feeds Xero instead: an invoice raised against a project appears in Xero, and a payment recorded in Xero appears against the project, in GBP with VAT on the line. - Built in the UK, priced in pounds: Design Manager is priced in US dollars and, in its own words, "optimized for US-based firms". Its showroom and data-collection modules cost extra. Techstyles is priced in pounds (£49 per user, £39 from the sixth, excluding VAT, everything included) and written in British English. - Trades and AI on every seat: A contractor portal (drawings with revisions, files, items without prices) comes with every account. Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, answers questions about any project and drafts client and supplier emails for you to send. Meeting notes become action items you accept as tasks, a daily brief covers every live job, and procurement risk insights sit on the schedule. Nothing is sent or saved until a person approves it. Predictive, not reactive #### The schedule flags the order before it is late. A ledger records what happened. Techstyles starts from the date each item has to be on site, subtracts the lead time, and tells you which orders have to go out this week and which windows have already shut. Techstyles: order-by date: Install date minus supplier lead time, on every line, flagged before it passes. Design Manager: PO tracking: Orders, deposits and deliveries tracked once the purchase order exists. How install-date scoring works Design Manager pricing #### Design Manager pricing: dollars per user, against pounds. At list price and about $1.32 to the pound (5 October 2026), Techstyles costs less at every team size shown, and nothing is sold as an extra module. The table keeps each maker's published currency, unconverted. Monthly cost of Techstyles and Design Manager by team size, in pounds 1 person | Techstyles excl. VAT: £49 | Design Manager. US dollars, as published: $79 3 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £147 | Design Manager. US dollars, as published: $237 6 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £284 | Design Manager. US dollars, as published: $474 10 people | Techstyles excl. VAT: £440 | Design Manager. US dollars, as published: $790 list Techstyles: £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT. Design Manager: $79 per user per month list price, from designmanager.com/pricing, checked October 2026. Design Manager offers discounts for paying a year in advance, and teams of more than 10 are priced by its sales team; neither rate is published, so the 10-person row is list price. Read the prices with this Per user, it comes down to the exchange rate: £49 against $79: Techstyles costs less per user whenever a pound buys less than $1.61. From the sixth user Techstyles drops to £39. Modules: Design Manager charges extra for its showroom and data-collection modules. Techstyles has one price with everything included. Trial: Design Manager offers 7 days; Techstyles 30, with no card. Credit where due #### Where Design Manager is genuinely strong. Design Manager takes the money side of a practice seriously. Client retainers and deposits, time billing, online payments, a general ledger with financial statements and tax reporting, even payroll calculations: all in one tool, with an iPhone app. For a US firm that wants to retire its accounts package, that is a real strength, and Techstyles does not try to match it. The UK case is different. Your accountant expects the books in Xero, in pounds, with VAT on the line, and the design tool should feed them rather than replace them. If you move, we bring the product library, suppliers and job records across from your export. The short answer #### Which is right for your studio? The short version: Design Manager if you want the ledger in the design tool, Techstyles if your books live in Xero. ##### Choose Techstyles if you… - Keep the books in Xero, where a UK accountant expects to find them - Need every FF&E line to carry an order-by date from the install - Want pricing in pounds, with UK VAT on the line - Brief trades through a portal rather than your inbox ##### Design Manager may suit you if you… - Want a full general ledger, financial statements and payroll inside the design tool - Bill time and manage client retainers in the same place as purchasing - Want clients to pay invoices online today - Want an iPhone app for the team on the move - Are a US-based firm billing in dollars Read next FF&E procurement Invoicing and Xero Pricing Feature by feature #### The whole matrix, nothing hidden. Including the rows where Design Manager matches us. "Not listed" means we could not find it in Design Manager's public material, not that it cannot be done. Feature-by-feature comparison of Techstyles and Design Manager Procurement and install dates Order-by date per item, counted back from the install | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Specifications and product clipper | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Yes Purchase orders and procurement tracking | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Yes Supplier management | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Yes UK finance Two-way Xero sync | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Priced in GBP | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Invoicing, retainers and deposits | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Yes Full accounting ledger inside the tool | Techstyles: Kept in Xero | Design Manager: Yes Clients and trades Client portal with approvals | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Yes Clients pay online | Techstyles: Invoices and payment status shown | Design Manager: Yes Contractor and trade portal | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed AI assistance Client and supplier emails drafted for you to send | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Meeting notes with action items you accept as tasks | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Daily brief across every project | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Procurement risk insights | Techstyles: Yes | Design Manager: Not listed Last checked October 2026, from each product's public material. Products change; tell us and we will correct it. Switching #### Moving across from Design Manager. Migration is free, and we do the moving. Your years of history come with you. Product library: Products come across from your Design Manager export with images, pricing and supplier details. Clients and contacts: Client records and contact details transfer, so nobody re-keys an address book mid-project. Live projects: Current projects are recreated with rooms, schedules and budgets; clients get new portal access. Xero and install dates: Connect Xero: invoices go out in GBP with VAT, and payments come back to the project. Add each install date and the order-by dates appear on the FF&E you have already specified. Questions #### What studios ask first. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: Is Techstyles a good Design Manager alternative for UK studios? If your books live in Xero and late orders are the risk you worry about, yes. Techstyles gives every FF&E line an order-by date counted back from the install and keeps the books in Xero in GBP with UK VAT. If you want full accounting inside the design tool, Design Manager is built for that. Q: What does install-date scoring do that a purchase-order report does not? A purchase-order report tells you what you have ordered and when it is due. Scoring starts from the date each item has to be on site, subtracts the supplier lead time, and gives the date by which the order must be placed. It surfaces the items you have not ordered yet, which is where install-week failures come from. Q: How much does Design Manager cost compared with Techstyles? Design Manager publishes $79 per user per month, in US dollars, with a 7-day trial. Techstyles is £49 per user per month, £39 from the sixth user, excluding VAT, with a 30-day trial and no card. Q: Which has better accounting? They take different approaches. Design Manager keeps a full accounting ledger inside the design tool, which suits a studio that wants one place for both. Techstyles keeps your books in Xero: invoices and purchase orders go to Xero with UK VAT, each in its own currency; paid status comes back, so your accountant works where they already do. Q: What happens to our years of Design Manager history? It comes with you. Migration is free: from your Design Manager export we bring the product library, suppliers and job records across. #### Keep the history. Lose the re-keying. We bring your Design Manager data across for you. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your Design Manager schedules across free. --- ## About Techstyles URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/about ### About Techstyles. Built for one trade. Yours. Software for interior design studios, built in the UK and used for work around the world, shaped on founding studios' live projects. The people who build it answer your email. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. Or write to hello@techstyles.ai Built in the UK: For work anywhere. UK VAT and Xero from day one, and a currency for each project wherever the job is. Built with: Founding studios. A handful of practices, on real projects, from the first release. Your data: Yours to take. Held under UK GDPR. Export to CSV or PDF at any time, even after you leave. Why we exist #### Designers should spend their days on colour, proportion and materiality. Not on finding out in week eleven that a dining table ordered in week three was never going to arrive. Talk to any studio and the story is the same. The creative work is a joy. The admin around it is relentless: quotes in one tool, orders in another, a budget only one person dares to touch. The expensive failures were never creative ones. They were a lead time that quietly outgrew the install date, a VAT treatment corrected three invoices late, an order re-keyed into the accounts by hand. Principles #### What we build by. Four convictions decide what gets built, and in what order. - The install date is the deadline that matters: A studio is judged on whether the room is finished the day the client walks in. So every FF&E line is scored against its install date, and a lead time that no longer fits shows up while there is still time to act. - UK money, handled natively: Invoices in GBP or the project's own currency, purchase orders in the supplier's, UK VAT treated properly on estimates, orders and invoices, and Xero in sync both ways, so the books match the project without re-keying. - One trade, one price, everything in it: We build for one trade. Procurement, finance and both portals come in one price per person, lower from the sixth, with nothing held back for a higher tier. - Techstyles AI drafts. You approve: Atelier, the Techstyles assistant, answers questions about any project and drafts the emails. Alongside it sit a daily brief, inbox and meeting summaries, procurement risk insights and Smart Fill. Nothing is sent or saved until a person approves it. The team #### A small team in the UK, building with studios. Built alongside our founding studios on their live projects, so the product answers to real installs. hello@techstyles.ai "It transformed the way I manage my studio. More time for creative work, far less admin." Interior designer, Studio Mind Founding studios #### Catch the late item while it is still week three. Start free trial Book a walkthrough Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Book a walkthrough URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/contact ### Book a walkthrough. See Techstyles on one of your own projects. A free call on a job you are running. We load its schedule first, so you see your lead times against your install dates. or email hello@techstyles.ai What happens next #### A conversation about your project, not a pitch. Bring one live job, and we load it before the call. - Two times to choose from: We reply with a couple of times for a call, and ask which project you would like to see. - Your project, scored: We load one live schedule and walk you through it: lead times, order-by dates, what is at risk, and a purchase order through to Xero. - Set up around you: If you go ahead, we move your projects, contacts and product library across for you. Questions #### Before you write. Something else? hello@techstyles.ai Q: What does a walkthrough involve? A call with the team, on one of your projects. Bring whoever runs procurement, the schedule you would most like to see scored, and a purchase order you have raised, in pounds or in your supplier's currency. Q: What does it cost? £49 per user a month, £39 each from the sixth user, excluding VAT, with every module and two-way Xero sync included. The trial is 30 days with no card needed. Q: Will you move our projects across? Yes. We move your projects, contacts, suppliers and product library for you, and set your team up before you rely on it. Q: How do you compare with Programa or Design Manager? Line by line on our comparison pages, including the places another system is the better answer. #### Rather look around first? Try it yourself. See pricing Start free trial Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## Templates URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/templates ### Free templates for interior designers. A free FF&E schedule that flags late orders. An Excel schedule written for UK practice: GBP, VAT and supplier currencies, and the last day you can order on every line. Download the FF&E schedule (.xlsx) Also free: the purchase order (.xlsx) Free, no sign-up. Want the flag to run itself? See it live in Techstyles Download #### Two files, ready to fill in. Each one opens with a How to use sheet. Shaded cells calculate and are locked; white cells are for typing. Procurement · Excel ##### FF&E schedule template One line per item. Give each line a lead time and an install date and the sheet works out the last day you can order it, how many days are left, and whether it is OK, at risk, late or blocked. Sheets: How to use, Schedule, Rooms, Suppliers, Lists Columns: Ref, room, item, finish, supplier and SKU. Qty, unit cost, currency and cost in GBP. Line total and VAT rate. Lead time, install date and buffers. Order-by date, days left and risk. Status, client approval and PO number Who it is for: Studios running FF&E in a spreadsheet who want order-by dates and a risk flag on every line, before (or instead of) moving to software. Download (Excel) .xlsx · 59 KB How to use it, and every column Procurement · Excel ##### Purchase order template A printable A4 purchase order. One file per order: fill it in, save it as a PDF named with the PO number, and send it to the supplier. Sheets: How to use, Purchase order, Lists Fields: PO number, date, currency and quote ref. Your details, the supplier and delivery address. Twelve lines with finish, ref, qty and price. VAT per line, subtotal, VAT and total. A box for the confirmed lead time. Placeholder terms and signatures Who it is for: Studios that order FF&E by email and want every supplier to receive the same complete order, in the supplier's own currency. Download (Excel) .xlsx · 13 KB How to use it, and every field Still being written #### Five more documents, in the order a job needs them. None of these is ready to download yet. Leave your email and we will send each one the day it is finished. Contracts ##### Letter of agreement The UK engagement letter: scope, fee basis, procurement terms, variations, and what happens when the client changes their mind in week nine. In Techstyles. Signed, a proposal becomes the project, with client, scope, fee and phases carried across. CRM and proposals Letter of agreement. Sections - Services, stage by stage - Fee basis and stage payments - Procurement: deposits, trade terms and mark-up - Variations and additional services - Copyright in the design - Termination and consumer cancellation rights Q: What it contains 6 Services, stage by stage. Fee basis and stage payments. Procurement: deposits, trade terms and mark-up. Variations and additional services. Copyright in the design. Termination and consumer cancellation rights Proposals ##### Design proposal Scope by stage, what is and is not included, the fee, and the part most proposals leave out: what you need from the client, and when. In Techstyles. Priced by phase and sent as a PDF in GBP with VAT. Won, it becomes the project without retyping. CRM and proposals Design proposal. Sections - The brief, as we understand it - Scope and deliverables, stage by stage - Exclusions, written plainly - Fee and payment schedule - Programme - What we need from you, and when Q: What it contains 6 The brief, as we understand it. Scope and deliverables, stage by stage. Exclusions, written plainly. Fee and payment schedule. Programme. What we need from you, and when Planning ##### Project brief Requirements, budget, programme and style captured once, in a shape you can hand to a contractor without rewriting it. In Techstyles. Phases, tasks and drawings on one record, counted back from the install date you set. Project management Project brief. Sections - The property, access and parking - Rooms and how each is used - Budget by room - Fixed dates: the install, the move-in - Existing pieces to keep - Consents: listed building, freeholder or landlord Q: What it contains 6 The property, access and parking. Rooms and how each is used. Budget by room. Fixed dates: the install, the move-in Existing pieces to keep. Consents: listed building, freeholder or landlord Discovery ##### Client questionnaire The questions that surface how a household actually lives, asked before the first meeting so the meeting is about design. In Techstyles. There is no questionnaire builder. The enquiry it starts from lands in the CRM with its source and an owner. CRM Client questionnaire. Sections - Household and routine - How each room is used - Children, pets and wear - References, and what they dislike - The budget conversation - Who makes the decisions Q: What it contains 6 Household and routine. How each room is used. Children, pets and wear. References, and what they dislike. The budget conversation. Who makes the decisions Finance ##### VAT invoice A UK invoice for design fees and procurement, with everything HMRC expects on a full VAT invoice, laid out to reconcile against a purchase order. In Techstyles. Raised from the approved estimate with VAT on the line, and synced both ways with Xero. Invoicing and Xero VAT invoice. Sections - Sequential number, date and time of supply - Your VAT number; both names and addresses - Each line: quantity, price excl. VAT, VAT rate - Design fees and goods kept apart - Totals: net, VAT and amount due - PO reference, terms and bank details Q: What it contains 6 Sequential number, date and time of supply. Your VAT number; both names and addresses. Each line: quantity, price excl. VAT, VAT rate. Design fees and goods kept apart. Totals: net, VAT and amount due. PO reference, terms and bank details Nothing picked means all five. Leave your email above In the product #### Or stop filling templates in. The schedule template does the order-by arithmetic in a spreadsheet. In Techstyles every line is scored against its install date, purchase orders are raised from the schedule, and the line that will miss the install is flagged first. How procurement works #### Start from a live project, not a blank page. Bring a job you are running now and we move it across for you. Send us a schedule Start free trial Free for 30 days, no card. We move your schedules across free. --- ## FF&E schedule template (Excel) URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/templates/ffe-schedule-template ### Free template · Excel. The FF&E schedule with order-by dates. One line per item. Give each line a lead time and an install date and the sheet works out the last day you can order it, how many days are left, and whether it is OK, at risk, late or blocked. Download (Excel) All free templates .xlsx · 59 KB · free, no sign-up Built for Excel 2019 or Microsoft 365. The "Next order-by" columns on Rooms and Suppliers use MINIFS, which Excel 2016 and earlier do not support; everything else works in older versions. ffe-schedule-template.xlsx. 5 sheets - How to use: Getting started, how the dates and money work, and the colour key. - Schedule: 200 rows ready, the first 30 fictional samples to clear. Totals ex VAT, VAT and inc VAT, and the risk counts, sit above the table. - Rooms: Your rooms, which feed the Room dropdown, each with its items, totals, risk counts and next order-by date. - Suppliers: Your suppliers, with currency, contact, lead time and terms, plus spend in GBP and their currency, risk counts and next order-by date. - Lists: Statuses, exchange rates, VAT rates, and three settings: default buffer (7 days), default approval buffer (0 days) and the at-risk window (14 days). How to use it #### From download to your first live schedule. Studios running FF&E in a spreadsheet who want order-by dates and a risk flag on every line, before (or instead of) moving to software. - Clear the sample: The first 30 rows on Schedule are fictional examples, and so are the rooms and suppliers. Select the white cells of those rows and press Delete; the formulas stay in place. - Set up Lists: Replace the example exchange rates with today's rates and note the rate date. Check the default buffer, the default approval buffer and the at-risk window. - Add rooms and suppliers: Type them on the Rooms and Suppliers sheets. They become the dropdowns on Schedule and drive the totals on those sheets. - Fill in the schedule: White cells are for typing; shaded columns calculate and are locked. To add more than 200 rows, unprotect the sheet and copy the last row down. - Keep status current: Change Status as items move from Specified to Installed. Anything ordered or beyond drops out of the risk count; On hold and Out of stock show as Blocked. How the order-by date works: Install date − buffer (days) − lead time (weeks) × 7 − approval buffer (days), rounded down to a whole day. A line is Late once that date has passed, and At risk inside the at-risk window (14 days by default). Money: Enter the unit cost in the supplier's currency; the GBP columns convert it with the rate on Lists. Totals show ex VAT, VAT and inc VAT. Import VAT and duty on overseas orders are not calculated: check them with your accountant or shipping agent. Protection and printing: Sheets are protected without a password, so formulas survive busy weeks; filters still work. Schedule prints landscape on A4, fitted to the page width, with the header row on every page. Columns #### Every column, and what it does. In the order they sit on the Schedule sheet. Calculated columns are shaded and locked in the file. - Ref: A unique code for the line, so the PO, invoice and delivery note point at the same item. You type - Room: Picked from the rooms on the Rooms sheet. You type - Item: A short description of the piece. You type - Description / finish: Fabric, finish codes and dimensions: exactly what the client approved. You type - Supplier: Picked from the suppliers on the Suppliers sheet. You type - Supplier ref / SKU: The supplier's own product code. You type - Qty: Number of units. You type - Unit cost: In the supplier's currency. You type - Currency: The supplier's currency. One not on the Lists sheet turns red. You type - Unit cost (GBP): The unit cost converted with the rate on Lists. Calculated - Line total (GBP, ex VAT): Qty × unit cost in GBP. Calculated - VAT rate: The rate the supplier will charge, from the list on Lists. You type - Lead time (weeks): The supplier's lead time. You type - Install date: The date the item has to be on site. You type - Buffer (days): Days between delivery and install. Blank uses the default on Lists. You type - Approval buffer (days): Days the client needs to sign off before you can order. Set it to 0 once approved. You type - Order-by date: Install date, less the buffer, the lead time and the approval buffer. Calculated - Days until order-by: Negative means the date has passed. Calculated - Risk: Blocked, Late, At risk, OK, or Needs dates. Calculated - Status: From Specified to Installed, plus On hold and Out of stock. You type - Client approved: The date the client signed off. You type - PO number: The purchase order the line went out on. You type - Notes: Access, delivery, anything else. You type Further reading. FF&E schedule template: the columns a working schedule needs. FF&E procurement in Techstyles #### When the spreadsheet stops coping, bring it with you. Techstyles scores every FF&E line against its install date and raises purchase orders from the schedule. Free for 30 days, no card needed. Start free trial See procurement --- ## Purchase order template (Excel) URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/templates/purchase-order-template ### Free template · Excel. A purchase order on one A4 page. A printable A4 purchase order. One file per order: fill it in, save it as a PDF named with the PO number, and send it to the supplier. Download (Excel) All free templates .xlsx · 13 KB · free, no sign-up An Excel workbook (.xlsx). The order prints on one A4 page, portrait. purchase-order-template.xlsx. 3 sheets - How to use: Filling it in, PO numbering, currency, VAT, lead time and terms, printing and protection. - Purchase order: The order itself, on one A4 page: your details, the supplier, delivery, twelve lines, totals, a lead-time confirmation box, terms and two signature blocks. - Lists: The currencies and VAT rates behind the dropdowns. Add your own in the empty rows. How to use it #### From download to your first order sent. Studios that order FF&E by email and want every supplier to receive the same complete order, in the supplier's own currency. - Make a master copy: Type your studio details once in the From block and save the file as your master. Everything in [square brackets] is a placeholder. - Number the order: Use one numbering sequence for the studio and copy the number into your FF&E schedule, so every line can be traced to its order. - Set the currency: Set Currency to the currency on the supplier's quote and enter prices in it. Headings and totals show the currency code. - Fill in the lines: Twelve lines are ready; line VAT and totals calculate. The first line is an example, so overwrite or clear it. Pick the VAT rate shown on the supplier's quote. - Send, then confirm: Save it as a PDF named with the PO number and send it. Ask the supplier to confirm the lead time and dispatch date in the box under the lines, and put the confirmed lead time into your schedule. VAT on overseas orders: The form does not calculate import VAT or duty. For orders from overseas, check them with your accountant or shipping agent. Protection and linking: The sheet is protected without a password so the formulas are not overwritten. PO_Currency, PO_Subtotal, PO_VAT and PO_Total are named ranges, so they are easy to link from another workbook. Fields #### Every field, and what it does. Top to bottom, as they print on the A4 order. Totals calculate. - PO number: One sequence for the studio, for example PO-1001, copied into the PO number column of your FF&E schedule. You type - From: Your studio name, address, phone, email, VAT number and company number. Type them once and save the file as your master copy. You type - Order details: PO date, currency, project, room or area, studio contact, the supplier's quote reference and the requested delivery date. You type - Supplier: Name, contact, address, email and phone. You type - Deliver to: Site or recipient, address, site contact, and access, booking and delivery hours. You type - Lines (twelve): Item, finish / specification, supplier ref, qty, unit price, VAT rate, line VAT and line total ex VAT. Headings show the currency code. You type - Totals: Subtotal, VAT and total, in the order's currency. Calculated - Supplier to confirm lead time: Confirmed lead time (weeks), estimated dispatch date, confirmed by and date confirmed. You type - Terms: Placeholder terms, not legal advice: replace them with your studio's own terms of purchase. You type - Signatures: Authorised for the studio, and accepted by the supplier. You type Further reading. Interior design purchase order template: what to include, and how to confirm it. FF&E procurement in Techstyles #### When the spreadsheet stops coping, bring it with you. Techstyles scores every FF&E line against its install date and raises purchase orders from the schedule. Free for 30 days, no card needed. Start free trial See procurement --- ## Journal (October 2026) All 20 journal posts, written by Stacey Bush (Content). The guides give the title, URL, a one-paragraph summary and the questions answered at the end of the article; the five shorter pieces at the end give the title, URL and summary. --- ### FF&E schedule template: the columns a working schedule needs URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/ffe-schedule-template The columns a working FF&E schedule needs, including currency, VAT, required-by and order-by dates, a ready formula, and how to keep the schedule live. Q: What is an FF&E schedule? A: An FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) schedule is the single list of every item you specify and buy for a project, organised by room, with the detail needed to price, approve, order and install each one. Q: What columns should an FF&E schedule have? A: At minimum: ref, room, item, supplier, finish or spec, quantity, unit cost, currency, VAT rate, lead time, required-by date, order-by date, approval status, order status, PO number and notes. Q: What is the difference between an FF&E schedule and a finishes schedule? A: A finishes schedule covers surfaces applied to the building, such as paint, flooring and tiling, and is mainly read by the contractor. An FF&E schedule covers the furniture, lighting and items you buy and place. Q: How do I calculate an order-by date in a spreadsheet? A: Subtract the lead time and your delivery allowance from the required-by date. With lead time in weeks in column J and the required-by date in column K, =K2-(J2*7)-7 gives an order-by date that allows one week for delivery and inspection. Q: Who keeps the FF&E schedule up to date? A: One named person per project should own the schedule and make changes, with a weekly review of everything due to be ordered in the next four weeks. Q: Where can I download an FF&E schedule template? A: From the Techstyles templates page at techstyles.ai/templates/ffe-schedule-template. It is a free Excel file with the order-by formula built in, a risk flag on every line, room and supplier totals, and 30 sample rows to clear before you start. --- ### How to calculate order-by dates for FF&E: the arithmetic backwards from install URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/order-by-dates-ffe Work back from the install date to an order-by date for every FF&E line, with buffers, approval time, a worked example and a routine for when lead times move. Q: How do you calculate an order-by date? A: Start from the install date and subtract the install buffer, the delivery or shipping time, the supplier lead time and any holiday or shutdown allowance. Subtract the time your client needs to approve and pay a deposit to get the approval-by date. Q: How much buffer should I add to a supplier lead time? A: There is no standard figure. Set the buffer by how hard the item would be to replace. A week may be enough for stock items, while bespoke or imported pieces need longer so damage can be dealt with before install. Make it a studio rule so everyone uses the same numbers. Q: Are lead times working days or calendar weeks? A: It depends on the supplier. Some quote calendar weeks, while others count working days and pause over holidays. Ask the supplier, and ask whether the lead time runs from order or deposit to dispatch or to delivery. Keep the answer in writing. Q: What do I do when a supplier extends a lead time? A: Get the new date in writing, recalculate against the install date and buffer, and check which trades depend on the item. Then give the client the options (wait, substitute, re-sequence or partial install) and record the decision on the schedule. Q: When should furniture be ordered for an install? A: By its order-by date, which is different for every item. Long-lead bespoke or imported pieces can need ordering six months or more before install, while stock items may need only a few weeks. --- ### VAT for interior designers in the UK: thresholds, fees, disbursements and invoices URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/vat-for-interior-designers-uk The £90,000 threshold, VAT on fees, buying as principal or agent, HMRC's eight disbursement conditions, mark-ups and VAT invoices, with HMRC sources. Q: Do interior designers have to charge VAT? A: Only once you are VAT registered. You must register when your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, or when you realise it is going to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone. You can also register voluntarily below the threshold. Q: What is the VAT registration threshold in 2026? A: £90,000 of taxable turnover, according to GOV.UK. Goods you resell to clients count towards it as well as your fees. Q: Can I treat furniture I buy for a client as a disbursement? A: Only if all eight HMRC conditions are met. These include acting as the client's agent, the client being responsible for paying the supplier, itemising the cost separately and recovering exactly what you paid. If any condition fails, it is not a disbursement. Q: Do I charge VAT on my mark-up? A: Yes, if you are VAT registered. A mark-up means you are no longer recovering exactly what you paid, so the item cannot be a disbursement and VAT is due on the full amount you charge. Q: What must a VAT invoice show? A: VAT Notice 700 paragraph 16.3.1 lists them: a unique sequential number, the tax point, the date of issue if different, your name, address and VAT number, the customer's name and address, a description, the quantity, VAT rate and net amount for each line, the net total, any cash discount rate, the total VAT in sterling, and the unit price where items can be counted. --- ### Xero for interior designers: a practical setup guide for UK studios URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/xero-for-interior-designers How to set up Xero for a design studio: the right plan, fee and product codes, project tracking, purchase orders, multi-currency and client deposits. Q: Which Xero plan has multi-currency in the UK? A: Multi-currency is included on Xero's Comprehensive (£55 a month) and Ultimate (£70 a month) plans, ex VAT. It is not on Ignite or Grow. Checked on Xero's UK pricing page on 21 October 2026. Q: How do I track profit per project in Xero? A: Create a tracking category called Project with one option per job, tag every invoice line, bill line and bank transaction with it, then run the profit and loss for that option. Xero allows two active tracking categories with up to 100 options each, so archive finished jobs. Xero Projects, which adds time and cost tracking, is on Ultimate only. Q: Does Xero include purchase orders? A: Yes. Xero's purchase orders can be built from a template, emailed to suppliers and converted into a bill when the supplier invoices. Xero's UK plan comparison does not show purchase orders plan by plan, so confirm with Xero that your plan includes them. Q: How should I record client deposits in Xero? A: Either raise a separate deposit invoice, or hold the receipt in a client deposits liability account and clear it against the final invoice. In either case, HMRC's VAT Notice 700 paragraph 14.2.3 says most deposits create a VAT tax point when received, so agree the method with your accountant. Q: Can studio software send invoices to Xero? A: Yes. Several studio tools connect to Xero so invoices are created once and sent across with account codes already set, rather than typed in twice. Check what each tool carries line by line, such as project tags, currency and purchase orders, before relying on it. --- ### Buying furniture from overseas suppliers: import VAT, duty and currency for UK studios URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/buying-furniture-from-overseas-suppliers A step-by-step guide for UK designers buying from EU and overseas suppliers: commodity codes, origin, EORI, postponed VAT, Incoterms and currency risk. Q: Do I pay VAT on furniture imported from the EU after Brexit? A: Yes. Goods from the EU into Great Britain are imports, and import VAT is normally charged at the same rate as a UK supply, which is 20% for standard-rated furniture. It is worked out on the customs value plus duty and other import charges plus incidental expenses. Q: What is postponed VAT accounting? A: It lets a UK VAT-registered business declare and recover import VAT on the same VAT Return, instead of paying it when the goods arrive and recovering it later. You do not need approval. Your VAT number goes at header level in Data Element 3/40 of the import declaration, and your monthly statements are in the Customs Declaration Service financial dashboard. Q: Do I need an EORI number to import furniture? A: Usually, yes. Gov.uk says you may need an EORI number to move goods between Great Britain and any other country, including the EU. If your studio is the importer, use your studio's EORI on the declaration. Q: Is there customs duty on furniture from Italy or elsewhere in the EU? A: It depends on the commodity code and on origin. Goods that meet the rules of origin in the UK's trade agreement with the EU can qualify for reduced or zero duty, but only with proof of origin. Check the code and rate in the UK Trade Tariff for each item. Q: Who pays duty and import VAT under DAP and DDP? A: Under DDP, HMRC's guidance says the seller clears the goods for import, pays the duty and carries out the customs formalities. Under DAP the seller delivers to the named place ready for unloading, and in practice import clearance, duty and import VAT fall to the buyer unless agreed otherwise. Put the Incoterm and named place on the purchase order. --- ### Programa alternatives for UK studios: an honest comparison URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/programa-alternatives-uk A fair guide for UK studios weighing Programa against alternatives: what it does well, what to compare, and real prices by team size. Q: What is Programa used for? A: Programa is interior design software for FF&E schedules and specifications, presentations, mood boards, a product library, a client dashboard with approvals, time tracking, procurement, quoting, and invoicing and payments. Q: How much does Programa cost in the UK? A: On 21 October 2026, Programa's UK pricing page listed one plan, Pro, at £55 a month with one seat included and extra seats at £23 a month each on annual billing, or £69 and £29 on monthly billing, with a 7-day free trial and no card required. Q: Does Programa integrate with Xero? A: Yes. Programa has a Xero App Store listing. It sends invoices to Xero, pulls in Xero accounts and syncs contacts both ways. The listing does not mention purchase orders or bills. Programa also has a QuickBooks integration. Q: Is Techstyles cheaper than Programa? A: Only for a single user. Techstyles is £49 per user per month (ex VAT) for users one to five and £39 from the sixth, so at three, five or eight users Programa's listed price is lower on either annual or monthly billing. Q: What should a UK studio compare when choosing an alternative? A: Compare install-date risk and order-by dates, exactly which documents sync to Xero, how supplier currencies and exchange rates are handled, what contractors can see, whether AI actions need approval, and the total cost at your team size. --- ### The best interior design software for UK studios in 2026: a fair comparison URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/best-interior-design-software-uk Programa, Houzz Pro, Design Manager, Studio Designer and DesignFiles checked against a UK checklist: Xero, VAT, currency, portals and price. Verified Oct 2026. Q: What software do UK interior designers use? A: Most studios use two kinds: a design tool for drawings and visuals (CAD, 3D, mood boards) and a studio business tool for FF&E schedules, purchase orders, client approvals and invoicing. Common business tools include Programa, Houzz Pro, Design Manager, Studio Designer and DesignFiles. Q: Which interior design software works with Xero? A: On 21 October 2026, Programa had a Xero app listing (invoices and contacts), Houzz Pro's UK pricing FAQ listed Xero among its integrations without saying which plan includes it, and Techstyles sends invoices and purchase orders to Xero. Ask each vendor which documents actually sync. Q: How much does interior design software cost per user in the UK? A: On 21 October 2026, Programa listed £55 a month with one seat plus £23 per extra seat on annual billing (£69 plus £29 on monthly billing), Houzz Pro's Pro plan listed £139 a month with one seat plus £47 per extra user, and Techstyles is £49 per user for users 1 to 5 and £39 from the sixth, ex VAT. Several US tools price in dollars per user. Q: Do I need CAD and project management software separately? A: Usually, yes. Some business tools include a 3D floor planner or mood boards, but none of them is sold as a replacement for a full CAD package for plans and elevations. Q: How long are the free trials? A: On the vendors' sites on 21 October 2026: Programa 7 days, Design Manager 7 days, Houzz Pro 30 days (its FAQ says an annual subscription starts afterwards), Techstyles 30 days, and DesignFiles offered a 90-day money-back guarantee. --- ### The interior design client approval process: deadlines that protect lead times URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/client-approvals-interior-design Set an approval-by date for every selection, keep decisions in one place, take the deposit with the approval and know what to send when a decision is late. Q: How do approval deadlines link to lead times? A: Work backwards: the approval-by date is the item's order-by date minus the time needed to invoice, collect the deposit and raise the purchase order. The order-by date is the install date minus delivery, inspection and the supplier's lead time. Q: What should a client approve in writing? A: Enough to order from: product, supplier and reference, every finish and fabric code, dimensions, quantity, price including VAT where it applies, confirmed lead time, whether it is bespoke, the deposit due and the decision date. Q: Should approval and deposit happen together? A: Yes. Send the deposit invoice the day a selection is approved and raise the purchase order once it clears. An approval without a deposit leaves the studio carrying the risk while the order-by date gets closer. Q: How do you get clients to approve selections quickly? A: Batch decisions by room, order the batches by the earliest approval-by date, give each batch one deadline, show the client why that date matters for their install, and keep every decision in one place. Q: What happens if a client changes their mind after ordering? A: Record it as a change request showing the cost, any supplier cancellation charge and the effect on the install date, and get it approved. Bespoke goods are often non-cancellable once in production, so have your terms checked by a solicitor. --- ### Interior design purchase order template: what to include, and how to confirm it URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/interior-design-purchase-order-template The fields an interior design PO needs, from finish codes and currency to VAT, Incoterms and lead times, plus a routine for sending and confirming orders. Q: What should be on an interior design purchase order? A: A PO number, your studio and supplier details, project and room, the supplier's product and finish codes, quantity and unit, unit price, currency, VAT, delivery charges, delivery address and access notes, Incoterms for overseas orders, a required delivery date, the lead time marked as to be confirmed, payment terms and a reference to your terms. Q: Should a purchase order include VAT? A: Show the VAT rate and total for a VAT-registered UK supplier (the UK standard rate is 20%), or note that VAT is not charged when buying from an overseas supplier, where import VAT and any duty arise at import. VAT-registered businesses can use postponed VAT accounting for import VAT. The supplier's invoice determines the VAT actually charged. Q: Which currency should a PO be in? A: The supplier's currency, at the price they quoted. Convert to sterling in your own costing and client quote, not on the PO, so the PO matches the supplier's invoice. For VAT purposes HMRC requires amounts in sterling, so your records will still need a sterling figure. Q: What is an order acknowledgement and why does it matter? A: It is the supplier's written confirmation of your order. It should confirm the items, finishes, price and a lead time or dispatch date. Check it line by line against your PO, and query anything that differs, including any supplier terms attached. Q: Should a PO for overseas furniture state Incoterms? A: Yes. State the term, the named place and the edition, for example DAP to the site address under Incoterms 2020. Under DAP the buyer handles import clearance and duties; under DDP the seller does. Q: Is there a free purchase order template to download? A: Yes. Download it as an Excel file from techstyles.ai/templates/purchase-order-template. It prints on one A4 page and has twelve order lines, VAT and totals in the supplier's currency, a box for the confirmed lead time, and placeholder terms to replace with your own. --- ### Furniture delayed? A calm playbook for supplier delays on interior design projects URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/managing-supplier-delays How to spot furniture delays early, judge the impact on the install, choose between wait, substitute, re-sequence or partial install, and tell the client. Q: What should I do when a supplier delays furniture? A: Get the revised date in writing and ask what it depends on. Check whether it still arrives before the install once you allow for delivery and inspection. If it does not, choose between waiting, substituting, re-sequencing the install or a partial install, then contact the client with options and a recommendation. Q: How do I tell a client their furniture is delayed? A: Tell them early, once you know the impact. Give the new date, set out two or three options with costs and timings, recommend one, and ask for a decision by a set date. Do not blame the supplier. Q: Should I offer a substitute? A: Offer one when a comparable piece can arrive in time and the client is not attached to the original. Show both side by side, get the substitute approved in writing, and check the original order's cancellation terms first, because bespoke pieces are often non-cancellable once production starts. Q: Can I do a partial install? A: Yes, if most of the room is ready and the client would rather use it now. Agree in advance what goes in now, who receives the late delivery and whether the return visit is chargeable. Q: How do I spot supplier delays earlier? A: Get lead times confirmed in the supplier's order acknowledgement, know each item's order-by date and slack, check in halfway through the lead time and before dispatch, and review open orders weekly by how little slack they have left. --- ### How to charge for interior design in the UK: fixed fee, hourly, percentage, mark-up or hybrid URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/interior-design-fee-structures-uk Fixed fee, hourly, percentage of spend, product mark-up or hybrid: the trade-offs for UK studios, how to stop scope creep and how to check project margin. Q: How do UK interior designers charge? A: Usually through a fixed fee, an hourly or daily rate, a percentage of the build or FF&E budget, a mark-up on products, or a hybrid of these. Many proposals combine a fixed design fee with hourly or percentage fees for procurement and site work. Q: Is a percentage fee better than a fixed fee? A: Neither is better in general. A percentage scales with project size but can look like an incentive to spend more. A fixed fee gives the client certainty and rewards efficiency, but you carry the risk if scope grows, so it needs clearly defined stages and revisions. Q: Should I charge hourly? A: Hourly suits consultations and open-ended work, and puts the risk of overruns on the client. It also penalises efficiency: as admin gets faster you bill fewer hours for the same outcome, so staged fixed fees often suit defined work better. Q: Do I charge VAT on a product mark-up? A: A marked-up cost cannot be treated as a disbursement, because HMRC requires the amount recovered from the client to equal exactly what was paid to the third party. It becomes part of your own supply and is taxed as such. Check your position with your accountant. Q: How do I know if a project made money? A: Add fee income and product margin, then subtract time cost (hours multiplied by an internal cost rate). Record time against stages, keep fees and product sales on separate income codes, and compare the result with your original quote at each stage. --- ### Trade discounts and mark-up: what to tell clients, what to put in the contract, and the VAT effect URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/trade-discounts-and-markup Pass on, keep and disclose, or cost plus: three ways to handle trade discounts, the contract wording, HMRC's VAT rules and margin per line. Q: Do interior designers keep the trade discount? A: Some do, some pass it on, and many share it or charge cost plus a stated mark-up. Any of these is legitimate if the client agreed to it in writing before you ordered. Q: Do I charge VAT on my mark-up? A: If you are VAT-registered, yes. HMRC treats a cost as a disbursement only when, among other conditions, you recover exactly the amount you paid. Once you add a mark-up, it cannot be a disbursement, and VAT is due on the full amount you charge. Q: What should the contract say about trade pricing? A: Whether you pass discounts on, keep them or charge cost plus a percentage; what counts as cost; whether you buy as principal or as the client's agent; payment timing; price changes; and returns on bespoke items. Q: Do product sales count towards the VAT threshold? A: Goods you buy and resell as principal are part of your taxable turnover. You must register if taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or if you expect it to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days. Check how your sales are counted with your accountant. Q: How do I see my margin per project? A: For each FF&E line, record the trade cost in the supplier's currency, the exchange rate, any extras, the client price and the margin. Add these up by project, then add your fee income. --- ### Interior design installation day checklist: two weeks out to handover URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/installation-day-checklist A printable install checklist for UK studios: deliveries inspected, trades sequenced, parking and lifts booked, snagging, client walkthrough and handover pack. Q: What should I do before installation day? A: Two weeks out, check the status of every FF&E line, confirm deliveries in writing, inspect goods as they arrive and apply for any parking suspension. A week out, set the order of trades, measure access routes and agree site rules with the client. Q: How do I handle damaged deliveries? A: Count the packages before the driver leaves and note on the delivery note if you could not inspect them. Photograph any damage with the label in shot, then report it in writing within the supplier's reporting window, quoting the PO number. Q: How much notice does a parking bay suspension need? A: Each council sets its own notice period. For example, Lewisham asks for at least five working days and Ipswich says processing normally takes ten working days, so check the client's council and apply early. Q: When should the client see the space? A: Show them once the rooms are finished and clean, after your own snagging walk. Tell them about any outstanding snags before they walk in, and give a date for each. Q: What goes in a handover pack? A: An item list by room with supplier and finish references, care guides, warranties, assembly instructions and spare fixings, paint and wallpaper references, trade contacts and the agreed list of open snags. --- ### AI for interior designers: where it helps a studio today, and where it should not URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/ai-for-interior-design-studios Where AI genuinely helps an interior design studio today (emails, meeting notes, briefs, supplier pages, risk) and where judgement must stay human. Q: How can interior designers use AI? A: The most reliable uses today are admin: drafting routine emails, writing up meeting notes and actions, summarising an inbox, pulling product details from supplier pages and explaining why an item is at risk. In each case AI produces a draft that a person checks. Q: Will AI replace interior designers? A: Not on current evidence. AI is useful where the output is a draft and much weaker where the output is a decision. Design, supplier relationships and client conversations depend on judgement and context that stay with the designer. Q: Is it safe to put client information into AI tools? A: It is processing personal data, so UK data protection law applies. Check where a tool stores your inputs and whether they are used for training, leave out anything not needed, tell clients if you record meetings, and see the ICO's guidance on AI and data protection. This is not legal advice. Q: Which tasks should stay human? A: The scheme and specification, choosing between waiting or substituting when something is late, negotiating with suppliers, and any conversation with a client. Approving invoices, purchase orders and outgoing messages should also stay with a person. Q: What does approval-first AI mean? A: Nothing is sent or saved without a person approving it. The assistant drafts an email that you send yourself, and proposes changes that you confirm before they are recorded. --- ### Interior design trends 2026: what the fairs and colour reports mean for your specification URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/interior-design-trends-2026 Salone del Mobile, Maison&Objet and the 2026 colours of the year, each sourced, and what they change for samples, approvals and lead times. Q: What are the interior design trends for 2026? A: Across Salone del Mobile and Maison&Objet 2026, the recurring directions were material-led design with visible making (stone, wood, clay, microcement), craft and one-off pieces, warm earth tones with bolder accents, multifunctional furniture with integrated lighting, and continued curved forms. Q: What is the colour of the year 2026? A: It depends on the company. Pantone chose Cloud Dancer (11-4201), a white. Sherwin-Williams chose Universal Khaki (SW 6150), a mid-tone neutral. Dulux chose a family of three blues called Rhythm of Blues: Mellow Flow, Slow Swing and Free Groove. Q: What was the theme of Salone del Mobile 2026? A: The 64th edition ran from 21 to 26 April 2026 at Fiera Milano Rho under the theme "A Matter of Salone", which put material at the centre of design. EuroCucina and the International Bathroom Exhibition ran alongside it, and Salone Raritas launched as a curated section for collectible design. Q: What was the Maison&Objet 2026 theme? A: Maison&Objet Paris ran from 15 to 19 January 2026 under the theme "Past Reveals Future", with four trend directions: Metamorphosis, Mutation, Revisited Baroque and Neo-Folklore. Q: How do 2026 trends affect lead times? A: Many of the 2026 directions, such as natural stone, hand-finished pieces, bespoke curves and integrated lighting, are made to order. That usually means longer lead times, physical sample approval and larger deposits, so order-by and approval-by dates need setting early. --- ### Plan FF&E from the install date, not the order date URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/plan-ffe-from-the-install-date Most late FF&E items were late the day they were ordered. Work back from the date each piece must be on site and the risk shows while you can still act. --- ### Client communication that keeps a project on track URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/mastering-client-communication-design-projects How to keep clients informed and calm from kick-off to handover, without writing the same update every week. --- ### Sustainable procurement: a designer's guide to ethical sourcing URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/sustainable-procurement-interior-design Sourcing responsibly without compromising the scheme or the budget, and making the sustainable choice the easy one. --- ### Financial management for design studios: beyond hourly billing URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/financial-management-design-studios Pricing by outcome, seeing margin while you can still change it, and protecting cash flow on procurement-heavy projects. --- ### Remote design collaboration: running a distributed studio URL: https://www.techstyles.ai/blog/remote-design-collaboration-best-practices Keeping the shared references, the quick back-and-forth and the sense of a team when half the studio is somewhere else.