Why Fast-Growing Interior Design Firms Break: How to Scale Design Ops for Multiple Project Types

Specify and procure FF&E and OS&E at scale with Fohlio today. Empower teams to move faster and improve their operational workflow with specification, prototyping, procurement, collaboration, and analytics tools.

Residential, hospitality, commercial, multi-family — if your design firm touches more than one project type, your workflows better be as adaptable as your creative team.

The Growing Pains of “We’ll Just Wing It”

There’s something exhilarating about running a nimble, creative studio. Decisions move fast, people wear multiple hats, and a single spreadsheet (maybe two) gets the job done.

But when your firm levels up — when you’re managing multiple project types, across geographies, for different client segments — your processes need to grow with you. What used to be manageable ad hoc decisions now become bottlenecks.

If you're juggling:

• 3 custom homes for high-end clients

• 200 units for a multifamily rollout

• A boutique hotel with five design stakeholders

• And a flagship retail store rebranding

...you’ve already felt the strain.

The spec process looks different for each. So does procurement. So does budgeting. So does installation. And without a unifying system, the inconsistencies start to bleed into everything — from profit margins to timelines to client satisfaction.

Read: Bridging the Design-Implementation Gap: Best Practices for Large-Scale Fit-Out Projects

The Problem Isn’t the Projects. It’s the Process.

Creative firms are great at adapting. But when you scale into multiple project types—residential, hospitality, commercial, multi-family—agility alone isn’t enough.

You need structure. You need standards. You need systems.

Without them, you’re not just risking inefficiency. You’re putting profitability, client trust, and team clarity on the line.

Same Team, Different Projects — Why Internal Misalignment Happens

Most growing design firms use the same teams across residential, commercial, hospitality, and multifamily projects. That sounds efficient in theory, but the workflow expectations vary wildly between them.

Your procurement team might be issuing bulk POs for a multifamily rollout on Monday, then sourcing custom chandeliers for a luxury hotel on Tuesday. The designer who just finalized a sleek, budget-conscious package for a co-working space might need to pivot to high-touch finishes for a boutique residence.

The issue isn’t talent. It’s infrastructure.

Without tools that flex across project types, team members are constantly reinventing how they work. That leads to:

• Duplicated specs and templates

• Misaligned timelines

• Mistakes from mismatched expectations

• Delays

Read: What Spec Errors Actually Cost: A Real-World Look at Rework, Delays, and Dollars

Firms like Trio and Vida solved this by standardizing how their teams work—not what they work on. They use Fohlio to set up:

• Role-specific dashboards for each department

• Project-type workflows tailored to multifamily, commercial, or retail

• Flexible templates that preserve standards but allow for customization

This keeps everyone on the same page—even when they’re working on very different deliverables.

Read: How to Improve Design Integrity and Cost Control Through Procurement Management Systems

TL;DR: 5 Signs You’ve Outgrown Your Current Ops

Big Ideas Deserve Better Tools

Book A Fohlio Demo

When Handoffs Break, the Whole Project Pays for It

(Or: Why One Mistake in a 400-Room Project Isn’t “Just One Mistake”)

Design sets the spec. Procurement modifies it. Accounting rebuilds the budget. Warehouses receive incomplete information.

Sound familiar?

This domino effect starts small — maybe with one spec that didn’t get updated after a vendor swap — but in a scaled project, it can spiral quickly:

• 1 missing tax rate becomes 200 inaccurate budget lines

• 1 fixture spec gets copied to 12 buildings, all needing rework

• 1 vendor quote goes out-of-date, but POs keep going out

What’s missing is continuity.

When your firm doesn’t operate on a continuous data thread — from budget through spec, purchase, delivery, and install — every handoff becomes a guess. And when you’re managing hundreds of rooms, buildings, or units, that guesswork multiplies the cost of error.

Fohlio helps stop the leakage:

• Lock approved specs before procurement starts

  
  Here's what this looks like in Fohlio: Locking an item restricts editing product-related fields only, preserving data accuracy while allowing flexibility in other aspects of the project.
  
  

• Track change orders, lead time shifts, and pricing updates in real time

  
  Here's what it looks liek in Fohlio: Order tracking dashboard for interior design procurement, showing FF&E items by PO status across a multi-building project, with filters for supplier, shipping status, and grouped delivery tracking.
  
  

• Automatically roll up changes to budgets and vendor communications

• Maintain a live thread of truth from design to delivery

This doesn’t just keep teams aligned — it protects margins and ensures that what was designed is what actually gets delivered.

One Small Change Can Ripple Through 400 Rooms

One error in a 2-bedroom unit is manageable.
One error replicated across 300 units in a multi-family development? That’s a budget-killer.

• A fixture gets substituted late and no one updates the POs → overrun

• A tax rate shifts in one region but not another → manual cleanup

• A vendor drops out mid-spec phase → reselect everything

Without cross-project visibility and a live thread of truth, these micro-errors become macro failures.

Read: How to Edge Out The Competition: Learn From These 5 FF&E Design and Procurement Firms

From Brand Standards to Field Installs: Keeping Everyone Aligned

When you’re designing across multiple industries, your projects may vary — but your brand’s integrity can’t.

Whether you’re building out a boutique hotel chain or rolling out a nationwide set of retail stores, consistency matters:

• The wrong fabric finish in Miami might look right on a spreadsheet — until it clashes with brand standards

• That locally sourced stone tile might look great in San Francisco — until New York’s supplier sends a non-compliant substitute

Brand dilution doesn’t always come from creative missteps. It often comes from miscommunication.

That’s why firms scaling across project types need to centralize:

• Approved spec libraries for recurring items and finishes

• Visual documentation to maintain design intent through procurement

• Role-based access for external teams to only view what’s relevant — without losing oversight

Fohlio makes this easier with tools for:

• Locking brand standards into repeatable templates

• Creating client-ready spec books that stay in sync with live data

• Controlling access for vendors, installers, and internal teams without duplicating files

The result? Everyone — from the creative lead to the warehouse manager — stays on the same page.

What Multi-Project Visibility Actually Looks Like

Visibility isn’t just “can I see the project?”

It’s:

• Can I compare fixture pricing across five builds?

• Can I see which vendors are causing delays across all projects?

• Can I track change orders and their impact on margin?

Fohlio gives leadership, design, and purchasing teams the ability to:

• Roll up costs by building, brand, or room

• Forecast purchasing needs across timelines

• Flag repeat issues and opportunities for bulk savings

Comparison: With vs. Without a Unified Ops System

The Payoff: One System, Many Projects, Fewer Surprises

Designing across project types will always be messy. That’s the nature of creative work. But your systems shouldn’t add to the mess.

The most successful firms know that scalable operations don’t just protect the bottom line — they protect your team’s sanity, your brand’s integrity, and your client’s trust.

Want to see how top firms like Trio, Areen, and Vida do it with Fohlio?
Schedule a walkthrough with our team →

Specify and procure FF&E and OS&E at scale with Fohlio today. Empower teams to move faster and improve their operational workflow with specification, prototyping, procurement, collaboration, and analytics tools.