Interior design / home staging software, built around E&O and design-fee vs product line splitter with resale tax

Arkathos gives a interior design a workspace tailored to how the work actually runs — This workspace is built around running design projects from consult to install — billing the design fee separately from marked-up taxable product, and tracking the staging furniture that ships out and comes back. Arkathos tailors a interior design workspace around 5 agents: Sentinel, Treasury, Quartermaster, Armory, Herald.

Compliance a interior design can't afford to miss

Watchtower tracks every license, bond, insurance policy, and continuing-education requirement for a interior design, with renewal cadences and staged reminders so nothing lapses.

• A interior design must maintain a Interior Designer License / Registration (where state-regulated), through the State Board of Architecture & Interior Design, which renews every two years.
• A interior design must maintain a State Certified/Registered/Licensed Interior Designer credential, through the State interior design board (varies by state — e.g., FL DBPR, NV NSBAIDRD, LA LSBID, TX TBAE, CA CCIDC, NJ State Board of Architects/Interior Design, NY NYSED, DC Board of Architecture/ID/LA, PA State Board), which renews every two years.
• The Interior Designer License / Registration (where state-regulated) carries a continuing-education requirement of 10 hours every two years (10h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)).
• The State Certified/Registered/Licensed Interior Designer credential carries a continuing-education requirement of 10 hours every two years (10h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)).
• A interior design must maintain a NCIDQ Certificate (Council for Interior Design Qualification), through the Council for Interior Design Qualification (CIDQ), which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Sales Tax Permit / Seller's Permit (collect tax on marked-up product), through the State Dept of Revenue, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• The NCIDQ Certificate (Council for Interior Design Qualification) carries a continuing-education requirement of 5 hours per year (5h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)).
• A interior design must maintain a Resale Certificate (buy product tax-free from to-the-trade vendors), through the State Dept of Revenue, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A interior design must maintain a Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) — voluntary home-staging designation, through the Stagedhomes.com / IAHSP (Accredited Staging Professional) — private, voluntary, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Local Business License, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a DBA / Fictitious Business Name Registration, through the County Clerk, which renews every 5 years.
• A interior design must maintain a Local business license / business registration, through the City/county or state business licensing authority, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Home Occupation Permit (if operating from a residence), through the Municipal Clerk / Zoning Dept, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A interior design must maintain a Sales & use tax permit / seller's (resale) permit — for furniture & product sales, through the State Department of Revenue / Taxation, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A interior design must maintain a Home improvement / general contractor license (if performing construction or build-out), through the State contractor licensing board / consumer affairs (e.g., CA CSLB, NJ Div. of Consumer Affairs HIC registration), which renews every two years.
• A interior design must maintain a Professional liability / errors & omissions (E&O) insurance, through the Private insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Professional Liability Insurance, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a General liability insurance, through the Private insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Inland Marine / Commercial Property Insurance (staging furniture inventory in transit & storage), which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Commercial Auto Insurance (delivery / staging trucks), which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Cyber liability insurance, through the Private insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Workers' compensation insurance, through the Private insurance carrier (mandated by state workers' comp law once you have employees), which renews every year.
• A interior design must maintain a Surety bond (contractor / home-improvement bond, where required), through the Surety / bonding company (per state or municipal contractor requirement), which renews every year.

Everything Arkathos runs for a interior design

These are the agents set up first for a interior design — and because it's one platform, every plan includes all 16 Arkathos agents. Also included whenever you need them: Guardhouse, Scribe, Courier, War Room, Marshall, Mint Warden, Vault Keeper, Watchtower, Bulletin Board, Client Portal.

• Sentinel — Contact & lead management, Deal / estimate pipeline, Task & follow-up tracking, SMS & email outreach, Pipeline reporting.
• Treasury — Invoicing & payment collection, Expense tracking, Accounting & bookkeeping, Business tax prep & filing, Recurring billing & subscriptions, Financial dashboards & reports.
• Quartermaster — Online booking & appointments, Calendar & availability, Events & waitlists, Automated reminders, Job dispatch & scheduling.
• Armory — Inventory & stock tracking, Supplier & purchase orders, Receipt scanning (OCR), Waste & shrink tracking, Low-stock alerts.
• Herald — SEO & get-found content, Social media scheduling, Email & newsletter campaigns, Brand voice & content studio, Review & reputation growth, AI-overview & directory visibility.

Your tailored interior design workspace

These are net-new, interior design-specific capabilities — not a generic CRM bolted onto your industry.

• Design-fee vs product line splitter with resale tax (Treasury): On estimates and invoices, separate sales-tax-exempt design-service-fee lines from product-procurement lines that are marked up and sold as taxable retail; apply resale certificates when purchasing from vendors, collect sales tax on the marked-up sale price, and accrue use tax on samples/showroom pieces pulled from inventory.
• Staging inventory with deployment status & depreciation (Armory): Treat each furniture/decor piece as a depreciable asset with acquisition cost and running book value; track live status (in warehouse / staged at [property address] / in repair / retired), which staging contract it is deployed on, and generate per-property pull lists for load-in and de-stage.
• Staging rental agreement + recurring monthly staging billing (Treasury): Home staging is a rental, not a sale: a per-property lease with an initial staging fee plus a recurring monthly rate that auto-bills until de-stage, prorates/stops on closing, and carries damage-deposit and return-condition terms — distinct from the one-time design-fee invoice flow.
• Listing→closing project timeline with auto de-stage flag (Quartermaster): Tie each staging/design project to the MLS listing date and expected closing date, drive install/de-stage scheduling off that timeline, and auto-create a de-stage task (and stop recurring staging billing) when the property goes under contract or closes.
• To-the-trade purchase orders & order tracking (Armory): Generate purchase orders against to-the-trade vendor accounts, track order/ship/delivery status per FF&E item, and reconcile received product against the client product invoice and the markup applied — so what was ordered, received, and billed always ties out.
• Per-project before/after gallery & FF&E spec board (Herald): Per-project before/after photo galleries plus FF&E / mood-board spec sheets for client approval, which double as ready-made portfolio assets to publish to Instagram/Pinterest/Houzz — the portfolio is this vertical's primary lead engine.

The agents and tabs you get

Sentinel for a interior design surfaces Overview, Contacts, Tasks, Chat. Treasury for a interior design surfaces Financial sheet, Invoices, Draft estimate, Sales tax, Vendor credits, Chat. Quartermaster for a interior design surfaces Calendar, Bookings, Availability, Chat. Armory for a interior design surfaces Items, Suppliers, Quick Count, Chat. Herald for a interior design surfaces ✦Studio, Compose, Schedule, Directories, Get found, Chat, Brand voice.

Frequently asked questions

best all-in-one software for interior designers

All-in-one platforms like Houzz Pro, Studio Designer and DesignFiles combine CRM, project management, invoicing and product sourcing. Arkathos bundles finances, CRM, scheduling, payroll and marketing across 16 agents at flat pricing with no per-seat fees.

how much does interior design project management software cost per month

Solo e-design tools run about $15-70/month; professional suites like Houzz Pro start near $199/month plus roughly $60 per extra user. Arkathos uses flat pricing with no per-seat fees.

how much does virtual staging cost per image

AI virtual staging runs roughly $1-25 per image; human-edited work is about $20-75 per photo, with premium luxury reaching $100+. Subscriptions often bundle image credits for $39-199 a month.

do interior designers need a CRM

Not mandatory but highly recommended, to track client preferences, multiple concurrent projects, approvals and vendor communication in one place. Arkathos includes a CRM tailored to design-studio workflows, so no separate tool is needed.

how do home stagers track furniture inventory

Stagers use inventory apps to track each piece's location, availability and which job it's assigned to, preventing double-booking across listings. Tools like Sortly and Goodshuffle Pro do this; Arkathos's Armory agent also handles inventory.

how do interior designers handle purchase orders and furniture markup

Procurement software auto-generates purchase orders from approved proposals and tracks item-level margin; most designers apply a 20-35% markup on furnishings. Arkathos ties sourcing, POs and invoicing to its finance and CRM agents.

what software do I need to start a home staging business

At minimum a website, invoicing/accounting, furniture inventory tracking, a CRM, and optionally virtual staging software. Arkathos consolidates finances, CRM, scheduling, invoicing and marketing, so you avoid stitching separate tools together.

best invoicing and time tracking software for interior designers

Designers bill by flat fee, hourly, or product markup, so tools like Studio Designer, Bonsai and HoneyBook sync time tracking to invoices. Arkathos's Treasury agent handles invoicing, payments and billable hours.

What licenses and insurance does a interior design need?

Arkathos tracks 20 items for a interior design, including Interior Designer License / Registration (where state-regulated), State Certified/Registered/Licensed Interior Designer credential, NCIDQ Certificate (Council for Interior Design Qualification), Sales Tax Permit / Seller's Permit (collect tax on marked-up product). Each renewal and expiration is monitored in Watchtower with staged reminders.

What continuing education is required for a interior design?

The Interior Designer License / Registration (where state-regulated) carries a continuing-education requirement of 10 hours every two years (10h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)). The State Certified/Registered/Licensed Interior Designer credential carries a continuing-education requirement of 10 hours every two years (10h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)). The NCIDQ Certificate (Council for Interior Design Qualification) carries a continuing-education requirement of 5 hours per year (5h Health, Safety & Welfare (HSW)). Watchtower logs hours by category and flags shortfalls before the deadline.

Which Arkathos agents does a interior design get?

Arkathos tailors a interior design workspace around 5 agents: Sentinel, Treasury, Quartermaster, Armory, Herald.

How is the Arkathos workspace tailored for a interior design?

Beyond the standard tools, Arkathos builds interior design-specific features: Design-fee vs product line splitter with resale tax; Staging inventory with deployment status & depreciation; Staging rental agreement + recurring monthly staging billing.

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