Architects, interior designers and design-build studios

The CRM for architecture and interior design studios.

GuardenerAI for architecture and interior design is a CRM for studios that win work through enquiries and referrals. It tracks fee proposals as opportunities, projects and their stages as custom objects, sends appointment letters for e-signature and invoices each stage of the work. It is for small studios that want the business side to be as well run as the design side.

A good studio is booked months ahead, which means enquiries wait, proposals go quiet and stage invoices slip while everyone is drawing. GuardenerAI keeps the client, the project and the fees on one record, so the studio grows without a full-time office manager.

Sound familiar?

What this usually looks like today.

What changes

One system, doing the work with you.

Enquiries turned into first meetings

Share a booking link for a discovery call with your own questions on the form, so a new client picks a time without three emails.

Fee proposals that are followed up

Each proposal is an opportunity with value and stage, and an action plan lays down the follow-up calls so none goes quiet.

Projects with their stages

A Projects custom object holds the brief, the site, the current stage and the fee, linked to the client, so the whole studio sees where each job stands.

Invoice each stage as you reach it

Raise a stage invoice to the client from the same system and, on the Max plan, send a Stripe card payment link once accounting is switched on.

The modules this runs on

How you set it up

Shaped around how architecture and interior design actually work.

There is no one-click template for this industry, so you add these objects and fields yourself in Settings. It takes an afternoon, and nothing about it is fixed.

You create it

Projects

One record per commission, from brief to handover.

  • Client
  • Site Address
  • Project Type
  • Current Stage
  • Fee
  • Start Date
  • Target Completion
Built in

Opportunities

Fee proposals, with line items for each stage of work.

  • Value
  • Probability
  • Expected Close Date
  • Lost Reason
Built in

Companies

Clients, contractors and consultants you work with.

  • Type
  • Website
  • Phone

Suggested stages on Opportunities (fee proposals)

  1. Enquiry
  2. Discovery call
  3. Fee proposal
  4. Negotiation
  5. Closed Won
  6. Closed Lost
Routines to copy

The repeat work, set up once.

Each of these is built from features in the product today. Set them up once and the whole team runs them the same way.

Booking link

Discovery call

  1. A 30-minute video call link with your available hours.
  2. Questions on the form: project type, location, budget range.
  3. The meeting syncs to your Google or Microsoft calendar.
Signature template

Appointment letter

  1. Write the letter of appointment once, with the client’s name and the date merged in.
  2. The client signs on any device.
  3. A director countersigns, and the sealed PDF is filed on the client’s record.
Marketing journey

Stay in touch with past clients

  1. Starts when you add a client to your static “Completed projects” segment at handover.
  2. Waits 30 days, then sends a thank-you email with the project photos link.
  3. Waits six months, then sends your studio newsletter.

Client work stays private.

Briefs, drawings and agreements sit in your own isolated, encrypted space, with an audit trail of every change and roles that decide who sees what.

Read the security details →
FAQ

Questions from teams like yours.

Does it track hours against projects?
Tasks have a built-in timer and manual time entries, which is enough for many studios. Detailed timesheets and resourcing stay in your project tool.
Can I store drawings and documents?
Yes. Files attach to your client and opportunity records, and the AI assistant can read documents you attach to summarise a brief or pull out key dates.
Is there a template for design studios?
No one-click template. You add a Projects object with the fields you use in Settings; it takes an afternoon.
Does it replace my accounting software?
It can handle invoicing, payments and a double-entry ledger once accounting is switched on. Many studios keep their accountant’s tools for tax filing.

See it on your kind of work.

Start free in an afternoon, or have us walk you through it with data that looks like yours.

Book a walkthrough

Tell us about your team and what you want to see, and we'll reply by email to set a time.

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