As a long-time interior design educator, I have many thoughts on how AI will reshape our industry. My feelings are a mix of cautious trepidation and genuine optimism—specifically regarding the potential to eliminate the cumbersome "grunt work" of procurement, digital drafting, and rendering.

Interestingly, when I ask my students (generally ages 18 to 25) about their outlook on the impact of AI, they seem undaunted. Unlike those of us with decades invested in tried-and-true methods, these students, and people of their generation, are naturally agile. They are in a perpetual state of learning and absorbing. And they have never known a world without "whip-quick" technological shifts.

Certainly, they are concerned with the elimination of jobs and opportunities. That has always been the main focus of all college students: willI be able to get a good-paying job that fulfills me? Nothing new there. But they view AI as just another tool in their kit.

From "Dumb Lines" to Dynamic Models

I have taught Revit for fifteen years. Every semester, I begin by explaining that AutoCAD, while revolutionary in the 1980s, is essentially just a digital version of manual drafting. An AutoCAD drawing is a large collection of “dumb lines”—digital marks on a workplane that require manual manipulation. You need to modify the lines as you draw, just as you erase and re-draw with a pencil.

Along came Revit in the early 2000s, changing the game by making those lines "smart." Place a door in a wall, and the software automatically splits the wall lines. Programs like Revit, SketchUp, and Chief Architect possess the true power of parametric modeling: the ability to automatically project a two-dimensional plan into a three-dimensional rendering.

The Cost of Realism

As I write this, my students are agonizing over a deadline for a 10,000-square-foot warehouse conversion workspace. Some are working until the wee hours of the morning just to finalize their Revit models and produce photorealistic Enscape renderings. Despite the power of the software, it remains painstakingly time-consuming to input all the details and produce all the digital elements within a Revit model file. It takes loads and loads of human hours to produce those lifelike renderings of a space.

Yet, here is the marvel…

The topic everyone is talking about or thinking about: AI and its impact on business. There is endless information you can find on the topic, and it changes daily, because the technology and tools are improving and expanding so quickly. We’re finding out in real time the effects AI has on our work, our clients, our brains, the world, etc. 

When I think about the interior design industry specifically, not just what I’m seeing as a business consultant to interior designers but also as a homeowner who hires interior designers (we are currently working with a designer on a massive renovation + addition + furnishing project), there are a LOT of thoughts flying around. 

• Creativity can't be replicated.

• Relationships are king.

• Human touch is where the value is.

And I agree with this. The results I’ve gotten in my own homes from working with interior designers could never have been achieved by AI. It is night and day.

But there are also large parts of business that are changing or going away, in part because the client base is changing (interior design clients are now ones who grew up with access to the internet so they have very different expectations than the older client base who grew up in an analog world with fax machines and magazines or mail order catalogs) and also in part because AI has removed the ‘elusiveness’ of some parts of the process. 

So, here are some predictions I’m exploring about the future of interior design. 

NOTE: I say ‘exploring’ because I’m not a research analyst or futures strategist or economist or political know-it-all. These are loose ideas based on my specific experiences and what I’m seeing in my tiny corner of the world.

AI is not going to destroy interior design. Far from it in fact. But it is going to eliminate a specific tier of interior design, and that tier is where a significant portion of working designers currently live. 

😩

The middle.

The generalist who does good work for a reasonable fee, who sources from the same vendors everyone else has access to, who relies mostly on non-custom trade items or retail, who bills hourly for research and procurement.

That designer is in real trouble. Not eventually. But likely they are already seeing it/feeling it in their pipelines.

The designers who come out on top over the next decade are going to look very different from the average successful designer of the last one. And the gap between those two business types is going to be wider than it is now.

As you’ve surely heard the phrase, “AI has lowered the floor but raised the bar.”

Meaning, anyone can get into interior design now (heck, even some of your clients think they’re designers because they know how to get ChatGPT to make them a moodboard 🫠🫠🫠) but this means the bar for what is valuable has gone way up.

The Interior Design Services & Business Models That Will Go Away

01 | RETAIL ONLY FURNISHINGS DESIGN GOES TO AI & RETAILERS

Retail-only furnishings design is the most obvious casualty. If your value proposition is helping someone pick pieces from Pottery Barn and arrange a room, AI can do that now, and it will do it better and cheaper by the month. Imagine in a few years. So if you charge a design fee to source retail, it’s time to learn how to sell custom.

02 | HOURLY BILLING FOR RESEARCH & SOURCING GOES AWAY

Hourly billing for research and sourcing will get even more scrutiny from clients and will likely go away entirely. Here's my thinking:

This billing model was built on information asymmetry. You as an interior designer knew things your client didn't. The vendors, the lead times, what was available at trade and what wasn't. That knowledge gap was real, and it justified the billable hour. You were charging for access to information clients could not get anywhere else.

But that gap is closing.

A client can now go to ChatGPT, describe exactly what they want, and get a reasonable starting list in about 45 seconds. They can search Houzz, online showrooms that sell a variety of vendor lines, and 1stDibs in ways that used to require industry access and insider knowledge. So this “new client type” is arriving at your first meeting having already done a version of the research. Not an experienced interior designer’s version, but a version, nonetheless.

So when they then get your invoice and there are multiple hours billed for sourcing and they know it only took them 10 minutes to find something, even if your work is better, there’s friction because the math will feel wrong to them. And when there’s friction, there’s pushback and loss of trust which can derail an entire project. 

03 | PRODUCT MARKUP AS THE ONLY REVENUE SOURCE IS EVEN MORE OUT THAN NORMAL

If you’ve been here more than a minute, you know I do not recommend markup as your only revenue source. But there are still some designers who will give away their expertise for free in the hopes of making the sale.

😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

But product markup as a primary revenue model is even LESS sustainable than it was before AI. As procurement becomes more transparent and clients become more sophisticated, the margin-on-furniture model alone becomes harder to defend.

04 | JUNIOR DESIGNERS & DESIGN ASSISTANTS HAVE A DIFFERENT PATH

The original path for a junior designer or design assistant has them finishing school then spending a few years at a firm doing research, sourcing, preliminary drawings, and admin. With AI tools taking over those tasks, that traditional path becomes more compressed which changes hiring, training, and the number of people working at firms. 

I think this will impact what is being taught in design school - almost a specific course teaching designers how to utilize AI throughout certain parts of the process. Or perhaps there is an opening for a new business → post design school, pre-client facing AI training. Almost creating AI experts out of up and coming designers. Something to explore more with Gloria (a tenured professor) from my team.

05 | THE GENERALIST GETS SQUEEZED OUT

And the generalist … oh, the generalist. The interior designer who does anything for anyone, residential and commercial, new builds and pillow fluffs, high-end and middle market, full service or only floor plans. This interior designer gets squeezed from both sides. If you fit here, you’re likely already seeing this in your pipeline.

This interior designer isn’t distinct enough to command premium fees from clients who want a specialist but they’re also not cheap enough to compete against AI-assisted firms working with higher volume at a low price.

This has never been a good place to be in business, but it’s especially tough right now and we’re seeing these firms close their doors. 

So what business models will stay? What new business models and niches will emerge? 

So many. And again, I say this not just thinking about how AI will shape our future, but also how people, human behavior, and expectations are changing overall. Some due to what’s happening in the world right now, some due to money, some due to the new generations of homeowners who have had internet access since the day they were born.

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Each year, we compile insights and tips from interior design industry experts to help make the year ahead more seamless and profitable. We gather these contributions into our annual playbook, and in this blog, we’re sharing one individual expert insight pulled directly from that resource.

These are tips from a CPA and accounting professionals at CVW Accounting, providing interior designers with premium quality services and personalized care to help you make sound financial decisions.