Bricoleur — Planning

Week 1 — Legal & Entity

File Michigan LLC

michigan.gov/lara — ~$50 one-time fee, ~1 week processing

Do first

Get Michigan Sales Tax License

michigan.gov/treasury — free, required before any product resale

Free

Open business checking account

Requires LLC docs — keep project money strictly separate

Contractor agreements

Contractor relationships established

Engage legal services for contracts & letters of agreement

Need attorney-drafted docs for three relationships: clients (Letter of Agreement + Purchasing Agreement), contractors (scope, pay, IP), and suppliers (terms, returns, liability). Do not rely on templates for high-value engagements.

Before first client

Week 1–2 — Insurance

Get E&O / Professional Liability insurance quotes

Try Next Insurance or Hiscox — expect $500–1,500/yr

Before first client

Bind coverage

Do not take a client before this is active

Week 2 — Portfolio

Hire photographer to shoot your home

This is your portfolio until client work is complete

Select 5–8 hero images

For use in client presentations and trade account applications

Build PDF lookbook / visual leave-behind

One page — brand, philosophy, selected images

Week 2–3 — Operations & Tools

CRM — Go High Level

Lead capture and qualification · Client pipeline (Inquiry → Consultation → Proposal → Contract → Deposit → Active → Punch List → Complete) · Discovery call booking · Email and SMS automations · Project communications · Contact history per client

Bookkeeping — QuickBooks

Project-based invoicing (design fee + cost plus) · Markup tracking per order · Contractor payments and 1099s · Expense categorization by project · Michigan sales tax on resale items · Profit and loss per engagement

Set up GHL pipeline stages

Inquiry → Consultation → Proposal → Contract → Deposit → Active → Punch List → Complete

Build Airtable base — product & order tracking

Order status, vendor, cost, markup, delivery per project

Build custom quoting app

Design Fee + Cost Plus calculator — feeds GHL, QuickBooks, Airtable

Set up booking system

GHL native or custom — for discovery call scheduling

Week 3–4 — Trade Accounts

Identify 3–5 trade vendors open to new decorators

Prioritize vendors who don't require an established portfolio

Begin vendor relationship outreach

Lead with brand story and philosophy — this is a strength

Apply for trade accounts (with LLC + portfolio in hand)

Ongoing — Pricing & Policy

Pricing model — Design Fee + Cost Plus

Markup 35–45% · Payment schedule 50/25/25

Project minimum — $25,000 design fee

Formalize project minimum in intake process

Qualify leads before discovery call

Build out per-room pricing tiers

Entry rooms vs. primary spaces vs. full home package