Do you want to start an Interior Design business plan?
Like all other businesses, starting an interior design business can be hard, no matter who tries to start it. But having an interest in the niche can get you ahead of many.
A business plan contains all the necessary details needed to start a business. All businesses start with an idea and a business plan, be it a business plan for interior design or an engineering consulting business plan.
A business plan will help you figure out all the requirements you need to fulfill to start a viable business. You can learn about the structure of a business plan online. You can also go through sample business plans related to your niche to learn all the details. You can also learn how to write a business plan for interior design by going through the sample we’ve provided below.
Executive Summary
2.1 About the Business
Pro Interior Design will be an Interior Design startup established in Montana. The main target of the business will be to provide optimal design and decoration services to the residential as well as the commercial community throughout Montana. The business will offer various services ranging from full building planning to designing small spaces.
2.2 How Will the Business be Managed?
No company can succeed without good management. Therefore, before establishing an interior design start-up business, you need to develop a management plan.
A good practice is to hire skilled managers for the task. Besides, business management software also helps conduct business operations without difficulty.
To ensure good management of all aspects of your business, you need to develop an interior design studio business plan. You can learn how to develop a good business plan through this executive summary sample business plan for interior design.
You can also get guidance regarding good business plans through plans of related niches like business plan for banking to learn about finances. In your business plan, you will need to ensure that all aspects of the business are well-planned beforehand. Your business plan interior design should include technical, financial, personnel, and marketing details to ensure a successful start of the company.
2.3 Customers of Interior Design Company
The customers of Pro Interior Design will belong to all domains, professional as well as regular. The recurring and targeted customers of the start-up will be:
- Residential Communities
- Offices
- Educational Facilities
- Event Spaces
2.4 Business Target
The target of Pro Interior Design as mentioned in our interior design firm business plan pdf is to gain a 30% market share of the Montana Interior Design market within the first 2 years.
Our financial targets to meet for the first three years of our launch are displayed below:
Company Summary
3.1 Ownership
Pro Interior Design will be owned and operated by Grace Ralph. Grace completed her BFA two years ago after which she worked with an architecture and design firm. However, the idea of starting her own unique brand of interior design services appealed to her. So, when she had enough capital, she decided to launch Pro Interior Designs.
3.2 Why the Interior Design company will be started
Grace wanted to provide a flexible range of services. She noticed that most interior design companies were providing services at expensive rates and they were unaffordable for small workspaces or families. She decided to provide smaller packages and individualistic services to target the often-ignored market.
3.3 How the Interior Design company will be started
Step1: Develop a Plan
To start an interior design business, you will need a business plan for an interior design firm. Business planning is crucial as it helps you combine all your operations to achieve the specific and measurable goals that you had set for the business.
To learn what components must be included in a business plan, you can take help from the interior design business plan sample pdf provided here. You can also refer to related plans like an architecture firm business plan.
Step2: Get Funding
The next step is to get the money for starting your business. When you first start a business, chances are that you will not have enough monetary resources to scale your business idea the way you need to. That is where investors come in. You can add such aspects in your business plan for an interior design company that shows financial feasibility to attract potential investors.
Step3: Pick a Location
Next, you will need to find the perfect place for your office. For Pro Interior Design, Grace decided to procure a regular office space right next to a popular florist shop in the commercial center.
Step4: Go Online
Note
Businesses need to consider their online presence as that is where most transactions are carried out nowadays. To cater to this, Grace decided to hire a social media manager to maintain company personas on the web. She will also invest in the development of a website for basic communication with clients.
Step5: Promote and Market
Marketing is a very important aspect to ensure the success of a business. To promote the business, Grace will personally see the progress of social media managers and invest in other forms of marketing.
| Start-up Expenses | |
| Legal | $112,400 |
| Consultants | $0 |
| Insurance | $22,200 |
| Rent | $33,100 |
| Research and Development | $10,000 |
| Expensed Equipment | $53,200 |
| Signs | $3,400 |
| TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES | $234,300 |
| Start-up Assets | $222,400 |
| Cash Required | $201,000 |
| Start-up Inventory | $39,000 |
| Other Current Assets | $233,000 |
| Long-term Assets | $232,000 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $927,400 |
| Total Requirements | $1,161,700 |
| START-UP FUNDING | |
| Start-up Expenses to Fund | $234,300 |
| Start-up Assets to Fund | $927,400 |
| TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED | $1,161,700 |
| Assets | |
| Non-cash Assets from Start-up | $1,188,800 |
| Cash Requirements from Start-up | $231,000 |
| Additional Cash Raised | $50,000 |
| Cash Balance on Starting Date | $33,200 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $1,503,000 |
| Liabilities and Capital | |
| Liabilities | $11,200 |
| Current Borrowing | $0 |
| Long-term Liabilities | $0 |
| Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) | $53,200 |
| Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $64,400 |
| Capital | |
| Planned Investment | $1,161,700 |
| Investor 1 | $0 |
| Investor 2 | $0 |
| Other | $0 |
| Additional Investment Requirement | $0 |
| TOTAL PLANNED INVESTMENT | $1,161,700 |
| Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) | $276,900 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL | $1,438,600 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES | $1,503,000 |
| Total Funding | $1,161,700 |
Services
Whether you are starting a design business from home or not, you will need to decide on a list of services that you will provide to your customers. Deciding on the scope of services in your interior design firm business plan helps you figure out other details like finances and marketing ideas for your business.
This planning is an essential part of the business plan of any company. So, whether it is a construction company business plan or a business plan for interior design services, you will need to first decide which services you will be offering to your customers.
In this interior design business plan example, we are providing the services that will be provided by Pro Interior Design.
- Space Planning
The designers at Pro Interior Design will help you model your spaces according to your need. In this way, offices can adequately utilize the space that is available to them and families can make the most of their homes/ apartments.
- Decorative Selections
Pro Interior Design will offer customized and domain-specific decorative selections to its customers. Our designers will make your spaces alive with lighting and hardware selections.
- Furniture & Accessories
Our company will also provide a furniture and accessories selection service where our designers will offer tips and samples to customers to choose from.
- Art Selections
For our more artistic and ambiance focus customers, we will also offer the services of special art and design consultants that will help the customers in finding the best art pieces for their spaces be it an office or a room.
Marketing Analysis of Interior Design Company
Starting an interior design company can seem like a tremendous task with many complexities involved. The process becomes easier if you do a marketing analysis first. The marketing analysis helps you go through interior design business plan examples and learn how your competitors are running various operations.
You can gain in-depth insight into your target market by going through different interior designer business ideas. Afterward, when you develop your own business plan for an interior design firm. You should use your knowledge about past, present, and future market trends to shape your marketing strategy.
For this interior design marketing plan example, we are providing the market details for Pro Interior Design. You can use these as guidance for your own interior design startup business plan.
5.1 Market Trends
According to IBISWorld, the US Interior Design industry has a market size of about $17 billion with almost 120,000 businesses operating throughout the country. The industry is also expected to grow at a rate of 3.1% in this decade which means that it is prime time to open a business in this niche.
5.2 Marketing Segmentation
The target customers of Pro Interior Design according to this sample business plan interior design company are divided into the following groups:
Business Plan for Investors
5.2.1 Residential Community
Our main target customers will be the residential community of Montana. As Pro Interior design provides flexible services at both a small and large scale, these customers are expected to make use of our small-scale services the most. They are expected to utilize our designers for space planning and decorative services.
5.2.2 Offices
Our second target customers will be the small and large businesses around the area that needs to remodel their offices or want consultations regarding the design and space planning of new spaces.
5.2.3 Educational Facilities
We will also provide services to educational facilities that want to utilize their spaces to the maximum. Our trained designers will help these institutions make a space that is truly focused on learning.
5.2.4 Event Spaces
Lastly, we will also team up with event planners to provide services regarding space consultation, furniture, light, and hardware accessorizing. This will allow us to gain more regular customers in the event planning niche
| Market Analysis | |||||||
| Potential Customers | Growth | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | CAGR |
| Residential Community | 32% | 43,200 | 51,840 | 62,208 | 74,650 | 89,580 | 10.00% |
| Offices | 28% | 33,200 | 39,840 | 47,808 | 57,370 | 68,844 | 10.00% |
| Educational Facilities | 24% | 27,200 | 32,640 | 39,168 | 47,002 | 56,402 | 10.00% |
| Event Spaces | 16% | 21,200 | 25,440 | 30,528 | 36,634 | 43,960 | 11.00% |
| Total | 100% | 124,800 | 149,760 | 179,712 | 215,654 | 258,785 | 10% |
5.3 Business Target
- To become one of the top 3 interior design startups in our city within the first year.
- To expand the range and scale of our services to cater to large projects.
- To earn a profit margin of $10k per month by the end of our second year.
- To gain customer confidence and satisfaction and maintain it above 96%.
5.4 Product Pricing
Our prices will be much less as compared to our competitors in the market because we offer a larger range of small-scale services for homes and offices. This will be a significant advantage for Pro Interior Design in the market.
Marketing Strategy
While writing a business plan interior design, you need to focus a lot on your marketing strategies as they stand to be the difference between a business that is successful and one that is not. A marketing plan should be included in your interior design business plan company description before you arrange for establishing the business in a physical location.
And just like a real estate flipping business plan, your business plan interior design company should also include details about how you will market your services.
Below, we are presenting the marketing plan for an interior design business called Pro Interior Design:
6.1 Competitive Analysis
- We provide small-scale services for houses at a much cheaper rate.
- Our customers can communicate with us to create different packages suited to their needs.
- Our customers can get a 5% discount on all services if they register with us for a year.
- Our policies are customer-centric, we remain in touch with them through the website.
6.2 Sales Strategy
- We will promote our business by holding small events throughout the city.
- We will use social media platforms to get the word out
- We will offer a 30% discount to the first 50 customers.
6.3 Sales Monthly
6.4 Sales Yearly
6.5 Sales Forecast
| Sales Forecast | |||
| Unit Sales | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Space Planning | 850 | 901 | 955 |
| Decorative Selections | 900 | 954 | 1,011 |
| Furniture & Accessories | 1,000 | 1,060 | 1,124 |
| Art Selections | 750 | 795 | 843 |
| TOTAL UNIT SALES | 3,500 | 3,710 | 3,933 |
| Unit Prices | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Space Planning | $500.00 | $580.00 | $672.80 |
| Decorative Selections | $750.00 | $870.00 | $1,009.20 |
| Furniture & Accessories | $550.00 | $638.00 | $740.08 |
| Art Selections | $400.00 | $464.00 | $538.24 |
| Sales | |||
| Space Planning | $425,000.00 | $522,580.00 | $642,564.37 |
| Decorative Selections | $675,000.00 | $829,980.00 | $1,020,543.41 |
| Furniture & Accessories | $550,000.00 | $676,280.00 | $831,553.89 |
| Art Selections | $300,000.00 | $368,880.00 | $453,574.85 |
| TOTAL SALES | $1,950,000.00 | $2,397,720.00 | $2,948,236.51 |
| Direct Unit Costs | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Space Planning | $100.00 | $110.00 | $115.50 |
| Decorative Selections | $250.00 | $275.00 | $288.75 |
| Furniture & Accessories | $100.00 | $110.00 | $115.50 |
| Art Selections | $120.00 | $132.00 | $138.60 |
| Direct Cost of Sales | |||
| Space Planning | $85,000.00 | $99,110.00 | $110,309.43 |
| Decorative Selections | $225,000.00 | $262,350.00 | $291,995.55 |
| Furniture & Accessories | $100,000.00 | $116,600.00 | $129,775.80 |
| Art Selections | $90,000.00 | $104,940.00 | $116,798.22 |
| Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales | $500,000.00 | $583,000.00 | $648,879.00 |
Personnel plan
One of the essential keys to learning how to run a successful interior design business is to hire a good workforce. Well-suited employees can help your business boom. Especially, in a business in which sales depend on direct interaction between people and customers, the qualifications, skillset, and behaviors of employees become all the more important. To have an idea of what staff is usually hired in such businesses, you can go through remodeling business plan or an interior design company business plan pdf like the one shown here.
7.1 Company Staff
- 1 Co-Manager to help in overall operations
- 5 Certified Designers
- 2 General Cleaners
- 2 Sales Executives to handle social media and website
- 1 Accountant
- 2 Drivers
- 1 Receptionist
7.2 Average Salary of Employees
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Manager | $30,000 | $33,000 | $36,300 |
| Designers | $160,000 | $176,000 | $193,600 |
| Cleaners | $40,000 | $44,000 | $48,400 |
| Sales Executives | $42,500 | $46,750 | $51,425 |
| Accountant | $23,500 | $25,850 | $28,435 |
| Drivers | $23,500 | $25,850 | $28,435 |
| Receptionist | $23,500 | $25,850 | $28,435 |
| Total Salaries | $319,500 | $351,450 | $386,595 |
Financial Plan
To ensure that your business is a success, you will need to develop a financial plan for an interior design business. A good financial plan should include a detailed analysis of the price of your products, your sales, and the profit earned against each sale.
Moreover, a comprehensive financial plan should include 3-year projections of break-even analysis, business ratios, balance sheet, etc. to help you direct your finances in a better way.
In this interior design firm business plan pdf, we are detailing the financial plan for Pro Interior Design. You can also refer to other business plans like HVAC business plan to find out what you should add to your financial plan.
8.1 Important Assumptions
| General Assumptions | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Plan Month | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Current Interest Rate | 8.12% | 8.20% | 8.26% |
| Long-term Interest Rate | 8.40% | 8.44% | 8.47% |
| Tax Rate | 24.03% | 24.21% | 24.60% |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8.2 Break-even Analysis
| Break-Even Analysis | |
| Monthly Units Break-even | 5340 |
| Monthly Revenue Break-even | $132,500 |
| Assumptions: | |
| Average Per-Unit Revenue | $231.00 |
| Average Per-Unit Variable Cost | $0.62 |
| Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost | $163,800 |
8.3 Projected Profit and Loss
| Pro Forma Profit And Loss | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Sales | $1,950,000 | $2,397,720 | $2,948,237 |
| Direct Cost of Sales | $500,000 | $583,000 | $648,879 |
| Other | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL COST OF SALES | $500,000 | $583,000 | $648,879 |
| Gross Margin | $1,450,000 | $1,814,720 | $2,299,358 |
| Gross Margin % | 74.36% | 75.69% | 77.99% |
| Expenses | |||
| Payroll | $319,500 | $351,450 | $386,595 |
| Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses | $145,000 | $148,000 | $156,000 |
| Depreciation | $2,300 | $2,350 | $2,500 |
| Leased Equipment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Utilities | $2,900 | $3,000 | $3,100 |
| Insurance | $2,100 | $2,100 | $2,100 |
| Rent | $2,900 | $3,000 | $3,200 |
| Payroll Taxes | $24,000 | $25,000 | $27,000 |
| Other | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Operating Expenses | $498,700 | $534,900 | $580,495 |
| Profit Before Interest and Taxes | $951,300 | $1,279,820 | $1,718,863 |
| EBITDA | $951,300 | $1,279,820 | $1,718,863 |
| Interest Expense | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Taxes Incurred | $190,260 | $255,964 | $343,773 |
| Net Profit | $761,040 | $1,023,856 | $1,375,090 |
| Net Profit/Sales | 39.03% | 42.70% | 46.64% |
8.3.1 Profit Monthly
8.3.2 Profit Yearly
8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly
8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly
8.4 Projected Cash Flow
| Pro Forma Cash Flow | |||
| Cash Received | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Cash from Operations | |||
| Cash Sales | $51,000 | $55,080 | $59,486 |
| Cash from Receivables | $22,000 | $23,760 | $25,661 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH FROM OPERATIONS | $73,000 | $79,570 | $85,936 |
| Additional Cash Received | |||
| Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Other Liabilities (interest-free) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Long-term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Sales of Other Current Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Sales of Long-term Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Investment Received | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH RECEIVED | $74,000 | $79,000 | $85,000 |
| Expenditures | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Expenditures from Operations | |||
| Cash Spending | $42,000 | $42,000 | $45,000 |
| Bill Payments | $27,000 | $28,000 | $31,000 |
| SUBTOTAL SPENT ON OPERATIONS | $69,000 | $70,000 | $76,000 |
| Additional Cash Spent | |||
| Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other Liabilities Principal Repayment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Purchase Other Current Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Purchase Long-term Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Dividends | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH SPENT | $69,000 | $74,520 | $80,482 |
| Net Cash Flow | $21,000 | $23,000 | $25,000 |
| Cash Balance | $27,000 | $30,000 | $33,000 |
8.5 Projected Balance Sheet
| Pro Forma Balance Sheet | |||
| Assets | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Current Assets | |||
| Cash | $275,000 | $308,000 | $338,800 |
| Accounts Receivable | $24,000 | $26,880 | $30,213 |
| Inventory | $4,300 | $4,816 | $4,900 |
| Other Current Assets | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS | $282,000 | $315,840 | $355,004 |
| Long-term Assets | |||
| Long-term Assets | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Accumulated Depreciation | $19,400 | $21,728 | $24,444 |
| TOTAL LONG-TERM ASSETS | $24,400 | $27,328 | $30,744 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $294,000 | $329,280 | $370,440 |
| Liabilities and Capital | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Current Liabilities | |||
| Accounts Payable | $18,700 | $20,944 | $23,541 |
| Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other Current Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES | $19,000 | $21,280 | $23,919 |
| Long-term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $15,000 | $16,800 | $18,883 |
| Paid-in Capital | $30,000 | $30,000 | $31,000 |
| Retained Earnings | $53,000 | $57,770 | $63,547 |
| Earnings | $193,400 | $210,806 | $231,887 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL | $285,000 | $310,650 | $341,715 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL | $300,000 | $329,280 | $370,440 |
| Net Worth | $293,400 | $319,806 | $351,787 |
8.6 Business Ratios
| Ratio Analysis | ||||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | INDUSTRY PROFILE | |
| Sales Growth | 7.25% | 8.03% | 8.90% | 3.00% |
| Percent of Total Assets | ||||
| Accounts Receivable | 9.21% | 10.20% | 11.31% | 9.80% |
| Inventory | 5.39% | 5.97% | 6.62% | 9.90% |
| Other Current Assets | 2.11% | 2.34% | 2.59% | 2.40% |
| Total Current Assets | 149.80% | 151.00% | 152.00% | 158.00% |
| Long-term Assets | 11.55% | 11.60% | 11.64% | 12.00% |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Current Liabilities | 4.90% | 4.94% | 4.98% | 4.34% |
| Long-term Liabilities | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Total Liabilities | 7.59% | 7.65% | 7.72% | 7.38% |
| NET WORTH | 100.45% | 101.25% | 102.19% | 110.00% |
| Percent of Sales | ||||
| Sales | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Gross Margin | 94.60% | 97.15% | 99.87% | 99.00% |
| Selling, General & Administrative Expenses | 93.56% | 96.09% | 98.78% | 97.80% |
| Advertising Expenses | 1.52% | 1.56% | 1.60% | 1.40% |
| Profit Before Interest and Taxes | 41.50% | 42.62% | 43.81% | 33.90% |
| Main Ratios | ||||
| Current | 34 | 35 | 36 | 32 |
| Quick | 33 | 33.8 | 34.645 | 33 |
| Total Debt to Total Assets | 0.18% | 0.18% | 0.17% | 0.40% |
| Pre-tax Return on Net Worth | 74.08% | 74.89% | 75.00% | 75.00% |
| Pre-tax Return on Assets | 96.30% | 101.12% | 106.17% | 111.30% |
| Additional Ratios | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Net Profit Margin | 33.56% | 34.60% | 35.67% | N.A. |
| Return on Equity | 55.80% | 57.53% | 59.31% | N.A. |
| Activity Ratios | ||||
| Accounts Receivable Turnover | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 | N.A. |
| Collection Days | 100 | 100 | 100 | N.A. |
| Inventory Turnover | 32.4 | 34.02 | 35 | N.A. |
| Accounts Payable Turnover | 15.6 | 16 | 16.3 | N.A. |
| Payment Days | 27 | 27 | 27 | N.A. |
| Total Asset Turnover | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | N.A. |
| Debt Ratios | ||||
| Debt to Net Worth | -0.04 | -0.03 | -0.04 | N.A. |
| Current Liab. to Liab. | 1 | 1 | 1 | N.A. |
| Liquidity Ratios | ||||
| Net Working Capital | $244,000 | $257,664 | $272,093 | N.A. |
| Interest Coverage | 0 | 0 | 0 | N.A. |
| Additional Ratios | ||||
| Assets to Sales | 0.85 | 0.87 | 0.89 | N.A. |
| Current Debt/Total Assets | 1% | 0% | 0% | N.A. |
| Acid Test | 29 | 29.12 | 29.16 | N.A. |
| Sales/Net Worth | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | N.A. |
| Dividend Payout | 0 | 0 | 0 | N.A. |
AQ
- How do I start my own interior design business?
You can start your own interior design business by thoroughly researching your idea and developing an interior design business plan sample to present to prospective investors.
- What are the 7 elements of interior design?
The business ideas for interior designers are based on the 7 main elements of interior design which are:
- Color
- Form
- Space
- Texture
- Pattern
- Line
- Light
- How do Interior Designers get clients?
Interior designers can either work for big architectural and design firms or freelance as consultants. And once they have enough clients, they can also start their own businesses with the help of an interior design business plan.
- What are the types of markets for interior design?
Interior design has a very vast market as most professional spaces need to be properly designed. Nowadays, people also prefer to hire design consultants to help with their homes. In this interior design firm business plan pdf, you can see the marketing segmentation part for greater detail.