Interior design finish schedule: what to include

What a finish schedule is

A finish schedule is the table that tells everyone what goes on each surface: walls, ceilings, trim, floors, base, counters, backsplash, cabinets. It sits alongside the spec sheet, which Houzz Pro describes as a detailed document of the specifications of each product or piece. CIDQ's definition of interior design lists schedules among the drawings and documents a designer produces, with finish plans and furniture plans.

Several people work from it: the painter and the tile setter on site, whoever orders the materials, and later the client, who needs to know what is on the walls when a room is repainted or a tile cracks. It is used hard on site and then, too often, filed away. It does not have to be.

The columns

• Room or areaUse the same room names as the plans, and the same names your client uses ("Primary bath", not "Bath 2").
• SurfaceWalls, ceiling, trim, doors, floor, base, counter, backsplash, cabinet faces.
• Code or tagThe tag that ties the line to the drawings (PT-1, TL-2).
• MakerBrand or manufacturer, exactly as on the order.
• Product and colorThe product name and the color name and number, as the maker prints them.
• Finish or sheenEggshell, satin, honed, polished, matte. Two whites in different sheens are two different paints.
• Size and patternTile size, plank width, layout and grout joint where they matter.
• NotesGrout color, installation notes, and any change made on site.

Pricing, lead times and vendors belong in your procurement schedule, not here. Keeping them separate makes it simple to hand a clean copy to the client later.

An example, one room

A kitchen might read: walls, PT-1, the paint maker, the color name and number, eggshell; ceiling, PT-2, flat; trim and doors, PT-3, semi-gloss; floor, WD-1, white oak, 5-inch plank, matte finish; counters, ST-1, quartz, the maker's color name, polished; backsplash, TL-1, 3 x 12 ceramic, stacked, with the grout color named; cabinets, the cabinet maker, door style and paint color. Every line answers the question someone will ask in five years: "what exactly is this, and where can I get more?"

Keep it current through the job

A schedule is only useful afterwards if it matches what was installed. Mark every substitution on the line it changes, with the date. A note like "CHANGE TO" on a spec sheet is easy to miss at handover and impossible to reconstruct a year later.

The client version

When the project ends, the trade schedule becomes the client's record. Strip the trade-only columns and codes, keep room, surface, maker, product, color code and sheen, and add the care notes for each material. Houzz Pro makes the same point: clients like having details about how to maintain projects once they are done. CIDQ's definition asks designers to select materials with maintenance and cleaning requirements in mind, so the care notes are the other half of the same decision.

Organize the client version by room, not by trade. Your client will look up "the hallway" long before they look up "paint".

Questions people ask