Architects and interior designers

Clients sign your design fee and pay at each stage. Drawings, mood boards and decisions stay with each project.

A designer working alone uses Magpie in Personal. A studio and its staff can work in one Magpie team.

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A design proposal from Larch House Interiors for the Malik house, with the cover, the list of contents, the full design chosen with three rooms, and the total in a bar at the foot of the screen.

This combination of six Magpie areas fits an architect or interior designer.

Proposals
Proposals quotes your design fee by room or stage, and the client signs online.
Idea Boards
Idea Boards holds each project's mood board, with images, links and notes.
Client Portal
Client Portal shares drawings with each client, and collects their photos and decisions.
PDF Editor
PDF Editor marks up drawings and compares two revisions page by page.
Documents
Documents holds the specification, which the client comments on and marks up.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills each stage, and the furniture you buy for a client at cost.

Clients sign your design fee, with a payment due at each milestone.

Proposals turns your fees into a proposal the client signs online. Magpie's interior design starter charges the design fee by room. The client can change the number of rooms, and add managing the installation or final styling.

Its payment schedule takes a deposit and a payment when the design is approved. The rest is due on completion, and you bill each milestone when you reach it.

Prices and packages in Proposals

Each project's mood board holds the images, suppliers and notes you are weighing up.

Idea Boards is a freeform canvas for each project. You paste in images, links to suppliers and notes, and draw lines between them. A column keeps one room's options together.

The board stays with your team. You export it as a PDF or a PNG for the client. Download all images saves its pictures as a ZIP.

Images and links in Idea Boards

Each client has a portal for the drawings, their decisions and what is due next.

Client Portal gives each client a private page. You share drawings and the specification there, and the client uploads photos and measurements. Your CAD files can go beside the PDFs.

A plan sets out the project's stages, from concept to installation. Each decision is a step for the client, such as choosing the kitchen tiles. They tick it when it is made.

Plans and goals in Client Portal

Hannah and Owen Malik’s portal from Larch House Interiors: the decisions they have to make under For you to do, an invoice to pay, and a variation waiting for their signature.

You mark up drawings, and Compare PDFs shows what changed between revisions.

PDF Editor works on PDFs in your browser, including drawings from a client's portal. You add text, highlights, arrows, shapes and notes, saved as PDF annotations. A watermark such as Not for construction goes across every page.

Compare PDFs checks two revisions page by page. It lists the words removed and added, and marks in red what looks different.

Editing in PDF Editor

The client comments on your specification, and suggests changes you accept or reject.

Documents holds the specification and the schedule of finishes, with tables and pictures. You share it with the client to review. They comment and suggest new wording, and nothing changes until you accept it.

A named version, such as Issued for tender, can be restored later. Download PDF makes the copy you send to the trades.

Sharing and review in Documents

Larch House Interiors’ kitchen specification for the Malik house open for review, with the client’s comments and suggested changes beside the text.

Each stage is invoiced when you reach it, and furniture you buy goes on at cost.

Invoicing issues the deposit invoice when the client signs. You issue each later stage's invoice when the stage is done. The last one takes whatever is left.

Furniture and finishes you buy for a client can go on their invoice as reimbursable expenses. Clients pay by card into your own Stripe account, with no Magpie fee.

Create invoices in Invoicing

A Larch House Interiors invoice to Hannah Malik in the invoice editor: pendant lights and backsplash tile bought for the house, billed at cost with HST.

Seven more areas cover presentations, large files, hours, purchases, snags, signatures and clients.

Presentations
Presentations builds the design presentation, to present full screen or share by link.
Secure Files
Secure Files sends a drawing set by a link that expires and can need a passphrase.
Time Tracking
Time Tracking records hours on each project, for work you bill by the hour.
Expenses
Expenses records what you buy for each client, to bill on their invoice.
Issues
Issues keeps the snag list, with each item's status and who is fixing it.
E-Signatures
E-Signatures sends any PDF for signature, such as a contract or a variation.
Contacts
Contacts keeps each client's proposals, invoices and notes on one page.

A project goes from a signed design fee to a paid final invoice.

The client's portal shows them where the project stands.

  1. The proposal

    The client chooses the rooms and options, and signs online.

  2. The deposit

    The deposit invoice is issued on signing, and the client pays it by card.

  3. The concept

    You build the mood board and export it as a PDF for the client.

  4. The design

    You share the drawings in the portal, and mark up each revision.

  5. The specification

    The client comments on the specification, and you accept their changes.

  6. Design approved

    You bill the milestone payment, and the client pays it by card.

  7. The installation

    Furniture you buy goes on an invoice at cost, then the final payment.

Setting up takes five steps.

  1. Add your business details

    You add your name, address and tax number for invoices. Help: Send and configure invoices.

  2. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so clients can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

  3. Set your fees

    You open the interior design starter, set your fee per room, and save it. Help: Proposal starters, saved sections and the price list.

  4. Save your stages

    You make a starter plan with your stages, from concept to installation. Help: Reuse your process with starter plans.

  5. Open a portal

    You make a portal for your first client and share the brief. Help: Create a Client Portal.

Plans

A designer working alone fits Pro, for your own work in Personal. A studio fits the Team plan, one price for up to 25 members.

Portal files count against the file storage of the member who shares them. Each file can be up to 500 MB.

On the free plan, you can send 5 proposals and create 5 invoices a month. Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. Prices are on the Pricing page.

Prices are on the Pricing page

Other people who design and build for clients have pages of their own.

Questions architects and interior designers ask

Can I charge my design fee by room?

Yes. The interior design starter prices the design by room. The client can change the number of rooms, and add managing the installation or final styling. You can change every line, or price by stage instead.

Can I take a deposit and stage payments?

Yes. The starter takes 40% as a deposit and 40% when the design is approved. The rest is due on completion. The deposit invoice is issued when the client signs. You bill each later stage when you reach it.

Can I share large drawing sets with a client?

Yes. A portal takes up to 20 files at once, each up to 500 MB. CAD files, images and PDFs can all be shared. Secure Files can also send a set by a link that expires.

Can I mark up a drawing?

Yes. PDF Editor adds text, highlights, freehand lines, rectangles, ellipses, arrows and notes. They are saved as PDF annotations that other PDF readers show. The PDF stays in your browser unless you save the result.

Can I see what changed between two revisions?

Yes. Compare PDFs checks two PDFs page by page. For each page that differs, it lists the words removed and added. It shows both pages with an image that marks in red what looks different.

Can I make a mood board for each room?

Yes. An Idea Board takes images, notes, links and to-do lists anywhere on its canvas. A column stacks one room's options in order. You export the board as a PDF or a PNG to send the client.

Can clients upload photos and measurements?

Yes. Clients upload files on their portal's Overview or Files section. Each upload is listed with who sent it and when, and shows in the portal's activity.

Can the client review my specification?

Yes. You share the document with the client as a reviewer. They comment on the text and suggest changes, and you accept or reject each one. Named versions keep each stage you issued.

Can I bill furniture and finishes at cost?

Yes. You record each purchase in Expenses, mark it reimbursable and choose the client. Add unbilled expenses puts it on their invoice. It is marked billed once the invoice is issued.

Can I bill extra work by the hour?

Yes. You record the hours in Time Tracking on the client's project, at its rate. Add unbilled time puts them on an invoice as lines. Time on an issued invoice is locked.

Can I keep a snag list after installation?

Yes. Each snag is an issue in Issues, with its status and who is fixing it. The client can report one through a public issue form. The form takes a title, a description and an optional email address.

Can I present a design to the client?

Yes. Present opens your deck full screen in a new tab. Once you publish it, its link opens for anyone without signing in. Export PDF makes one page for each slide.

What does Magpie take from my clients' payments?

Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account.

Bring your next project into Magpie.

Create a Magpie account and set your design fee.

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