ERP for interior design firms and fit-out businesses: what to require
An interior design or fit-out business needs quotations built from a BOQ, projects that show what each is waiting on, vendor and freight charges checked against agreed rates, labour logged against each job and payroll computed from attendance, and, where there are sister companies, each invoicing on its own letterhead and GSTIN from one system.
Pujan Motiwala · Statutory rules checked against the official texts on
Start with these
- Quotations from a BOQ, with revisions kept and the accepted one turned into the order without retyping. (requirement) How to write the BOQ itself is in the interior BOQ guide.
- What each project is waiting on: material, drawing, approval or payment, worked out fresh each time. (requirement)
- Vendor and freight charges checked against agreed rates, with overcharges flagged. (requirement)
- Labour logged against each job, so job costs include it. (requirement)
- Payroll computed from attendance, rates and advances, never typed. (requirement)
- Two companies, one system: each invoice under its own company's letterhead and GSTIN, from one client list. (requirement)
- Staff see only their own cash entries, and bank data is refused to them by the system. (requirement)
The rules that usually apply
- Being a company: the books need an audit trail. (audit trail)
- Above ₹5 crore: e-invoices for B2B work. (e-invoice)
- Paying micro and small vendors: due dates at most 45 days from acceptance. (MSME)
All of them, quoted from the official text: compliance requirements.
What this looks like in a running system
Savistar, an interior design studio, and Saag, its sister furniture workshop, run one system: projects and site visits for Savistar, workshop orders for Saag, and one combined finance ledger. Each invoice picks its own company's letterhead, logo and GSTIN; vendor and freight charges are checked against reference rates; payroll is days × rate − advances, never typed; and an AI assistant answers from their own records in English or Hinglish. Quotations are built from a BOQ library, with payment stages that become invoices. See software for interior design firms, or try the interiors demo, where one freight trip is overcharged on purpose.
Build your list
The requirements builder with "Project businesses" selected gives the full list for your turnover and whether Tally stays.
If the system will have an AI assistant, what it should answer for this kind of business lists the questions, with what Atelier AI answers today.
Answer five questions about your business and get the requirements that apply to it, ready to send to vendors.
Most lines here can be tried today on a live system: manufacturing · trading · interiors · how Ahrom Labs builds them
Official sources
- Companies (Accounts) Amendment Rules, 2021 (G.S.R. 205(E), 24 March 2021). Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Gazette of India, October 25, 2026.
- Companies (Accounts) Second Amendment Rules, 2022 (G.S.R. 235(E), 31 March 2022). Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Gazette of India, October 25, 2026.
- Notification No. 10/2023–Central Tax (10 May 2023), amending Notification No. 13/2020–Central Tax. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (copy hosted by the GST Council), October 25, 2026.
- Advisory: Time limit for reporting e-invoice on the IRP portal, lowering of threshold to AATO 10 crores and above (5 Nov 2024). GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network), October 25, 2026.
- Notification No. 12/2018–Central Tax (7 March 2018), substituting rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (copy hosted by the GST Council), October 25, 2026.
- Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, sections 15 and 16. Gazette of India (copy hosted by the Ministry of MSME), October 25, 2026.
- Income-tax Act, 2025 (30 of 2025), in force from 1 April 2026. Ministry of Law and Justice, Gazette of India, October 25, 2026.
- Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, section 8. Ministry of Law and Justice, Gazette of India, October 25, 2026.
- Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (G.S.R. 846(E), 13 November 2025). Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Gazette of India, October 25, 2026.
What this page is not
A guide written by Ahrom Labs from the systems it runs; not legal or tax advice. Statutory lines quote the official text, and the text governs wherever this page differs from it; how a rule applies to your business is a question for your CA. Last updated .
Talk to us about your systems.
Tell us what's held together with workarounds right now. We reply to every message ourselves.