“My Project Looks Profitable on Paper” – Why Client Office Expenses Matter (and How to Track Them) 

Welcome to A Day in the Life of a Designer, a series that explores the real challenges design firms face and how to solve them with smart, sustainable business strategies supported by the right technology. I’m Robert Stone, Director of Designer Experience at Studio Designer. I collaborate with our product team, turning real feedback from designers into better features. 

One challenge I see often: teams rely on Project Worksheets to see the cost of furniture, lighting, fabric, custom goods but quietly miss the everyday office costs tied to running a project. Those “little” charges don’t always show in the item list, and the project ends up looking better on paper than it does in the bank. 

Why Client Office Expenses Get Missed (and Why It Matters) 

A project can appear healthy in the worksheet while cash tells another story. Presentation boards, sample shipping, printing — those office-related costs that support the work — add up over weeks and months. If these expenses sit in general office overhead, the project’s true cost and margin are understated. That gap can mask thousands of dollars over a year across multiple jobs. 

The fix is simple: record these costs as Office Expenses and tie them directly to the project. When you do, your worksheet totals—and your profitability picture—become more accurate. 
 
Track these costs by project, not as generic office supplies, so your totals tell the truth. When sample shipping, printing, and presentation materials are tied to the job, the Project Worksheet and 01 Client Profit Report reflect real profitability, not an overhead-blurred estimate. That clarity supports smarter pricing and rate decisions, flags scope creep early, and makes invoices easier to explain because each charge is clearly connected to the work delivered. In short, assigning Client Office Expenses to the project turns “looks profitable on paper” into “is profitable in the bank.” 

Step 1: Capture Client Office Expenses in Office Payments 

Start where the costs are incurred so nothing gets lost. 

In Studio Designer: 
Record presentation boards, sample shipping, printing, and similar charges in Accounting → Office Payments. Use the Client Office Expense line so these entries are recognized as project-support costs. 

Step 2: Assign Each Cost to the Correct Client & Project 

Tracking only works when every dollar is pointed at the right job. 

In Studio Designer: 
On each applicable Office Payment, assign the specific Client and Project. This ensures the expense isn’t buried in general overhead and will roll up where you actually manage profitability, on the Project Worksheet and related reports. 

Step 3: Surface Totals in the Project Worksheet Footer 

Seeing is everything. When the totals are visible where you work, decisions get faster and smarter. This clarity frequently prompts firms to tune their pricing structure—or increase time billing rates—to recapture costs that were previously overlooked.

In Studio Designer: 
Client Office Expense totals can automatically roll up into the Project Worksheet footer. You’ll still see your item-level detail for goods as usual, and now you’ll also see the supporting office costs that impact margin. The difference between gross margin on goods and true profit becomes clear.  

Step 4: Get a Financial-Statement View with the 01 Client Profit Report 

Sometimes you need a higher-level lens to see how everything fits together. Use the Client Profit Report to get this visibility.  

In Studio Designer: 
Run the 01 Client Profit Report, filtered to the project. This report focuses on invoiced selling, purchase, and other costs—including Client Office Expenses—to give you a clean, income statement–style snapshot. It complements the Project Worksheet’s item-level view with a holistic profitability picture. 

Why Centralizing These Costs Protects Profit 

Small, miscellaneous charges—$20 here, $50 there—add up to real money across the year. When Client Office Expenses live in a central, consistent flow (Office Payments → Assigned to Client/Project → Worksheet Footer → Client Profit Report), you move from a partial view of profitability to a more complete one. Owners and managers get trustworthy data, teams spend less time chasing numbers, and invoices better reflect the cost of delivering exceptional design. 

ALSO READ: Pricing Structures for Interior Designers: Build Profit into Every Project 

By showing designers how to capture Client Office Expenses in Studio Designer—and making those totals visible where decisions get made—I help teams align the worksheet with the profit. The result: reporting that better reflects the true profit of every project, and a business that’s set up to protect profit consistently.