Blog | Fohlio | Industry Tips for Architects and Interior Designers

FF&E 101: How To Build The Ultimate Schedule

Written by Madeleine Magsino | Jun 7, 2022 1:46:59 PM

Manage FF&E specificationprocurement, and product data at scale. Take on bigger projects with confidence and grow your firm with  FohlioSchedule a demo or book a consultation with one of our account managers to explore these features today.

FF&E Specification Fundamentals: What is FF&E?

What does it mean? FF&E is one of the main driving forces that lead to project completion. FF&E, also known as furniture, fixtures, and equipment, in simple terms, are all items that aren’t a part of the foundational structure of the building itself. So, think sofa, lamps, chairs, and all that other good jazz. 

Learn more: What is FF&E: The Ultimate Guide to Specification, Procurement, and More

It’s every designer's do-or die- which makes it the number one thing you rely on the most in guiding you through the specification and construction phases of the project. Your furniture, fixtures, and equipment master list is a fantastic tool that helps designers and project managers keep track of important granular details about everything contained inside your project. 

Learn more: What is FF&E and OS&E for Hospitality + Procurement?

If this is your first encounter with FF&E, here’s a simplified version for your reference:

 

Why We Need An FF&E Schedule

The FF&E master list gives a full overview of your material breakdown, full descriptions of the items, room placement, and an overview of items to be procured. It is your reference point for all the elements you will use to make up your design. Your FF&E is crucial to building other project documents. Documents like:

  • Spec Sheets
  • Bill of Materials
  • Room Data Sheets 
  • Schematic Diagrams
  • Procurement Tracking Sheets
  • Project Reports


And all the other project submittals you can think of. 

Building Your FF&E Specifications

You can build and manage your FF&E in different ways depending on what's most effective for you and your team, but here’s a reference we’ve made for you just in case you’re looking to start out your ff&e for your projects or if you are looking for a new way to organize your project data:

Here’s a good example of what this would look like built into your spreadsheets:

But if you’re that person who is finally looking to upgrade your specification sheets from Excel to software, here’s what your FF&E master list could look like:

FF&E writing is a long process that takes time and effort to figure out. You can use the information we've provided as a stepping stone to building your FF&E standards- or better yet, you can schedule a call with Fohlio and ask our specialists how we can make this process easier for you. 

 

Bonus: Spreadsheets vs. Fohlio

Don't get us wrong- spreadsheets can still give you the capacity to track and manage ff&e information, especially if your project load is on the lighter side of things. 

But for those of you who are into the heavy-duty stuff, and by heavy-duty we mean simultaneous, multi-site, large-scale projects- then you might start hitting the wall in terms of what spreadsheets can do for you, your team, and your sea of data. Having multiple projects means having to manage multiple FF&Es at once. This is what software like Fohlio aims to consolidate and optimize. 

To simplify, we took some of our client's largest pains and put together a side-by-side comparison of spreadsheets versus Fohlio.

ENTERPRISE PAINS EXCEL FOHLIO
  • Re-work and manual set-ups take up too much time and can be a cause of delay
  • Various stakeholders that need access to different types of information means that there are so many reports to make in such little time
  • Reports take too much time to make and need to be done in multiple software
  • Procurement data is all over the
    place emails, spreadsheets and
    communication apos.
  • Always deals with a large volume of information that needs constant
    updating
  • Uses multiple programs for tracking
  • Manual setup of columns, formulas, and other processes
  • Making a separate workflow means having to copy-paste the same information repetitively from other sheets
  • Does not accommodate well to external collaborators
  • Report-making is manual and usually takes a few hours
  • Purchase order tracking is done inside Excel but actual processes are done on external applications
  • Need manual updating
  • Difficult to edit information in bulk
  • No program integrations
  •  Easy set up of columns that can be automated to track formulas and other information like approvals
  • No more copy-pasting, only information filtering is needed to support different workflows
  • Customizable external views and access
  • Automated report builders that can create multiple custom reports at once
  • Procurement processes and data are found n one place.
  • Bulk and automatic updating of information can be done
  • Revit and QuickBooks can be integrated

Manage FF&E specificationprocurement, and product data at scale. Take on bigger projects with confidence and grow your firm with  FohlioSchedule a demo or book a consultation with one of our account managers to explore these features today.