How interior design firms use AI at Living with Lolo is practical, not theatrical: the Scottsdale design-build studio led by Lauren Lerner (Arizona ROC #347577) uses AI for proposals, procurement, and meeting notes so the team spends more time on design judgment.
I am Lauren Lerner, Principal Designer and CEO. This post is my first-person companion to A Design Partnership's guide for designers, and it adds what happens inside our studio that a third-party article cannot fully show. Business of Home featured some of this in "10 simple ways to start using AI in your firm," in the Note Taking and Procurement and Sourcing sections.
Living with Lolo has been named in PHOENIX magazine's Best of the Valley Readers' Choice awards in the Interior Design category four years in a row, 2023 through 2026. We work across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, Silverleaf, and DC Ranch. If you want a Scottsdale interior design firm that also holds the GC license, that dual role is why we built our own tools instead of forcing design-only software onto a design-build workflow.
Where AI helps at Living with Lolo, and where it stops
Most of the AI talk in design still centers on pretty images. That is fine. We use fabric mockups on custom sofas too. The bigger change for Living with Lolo sits behind the scenes in Scottsdale operations.
We run full-service design and licensed general contracting under one roof. A single Scottsdale or Paradise Valley project can carry design scope, construction scope, vendor orders, freight, and change orders at the same time. Off-the-shelf design software we tried was built for firms that hand construction to someone else. So we built tools around how we already work.
The three places that matter most for us match what A Design Partnership covers: proposals, procurement, and meeting notes. Here is how those feel from my chair as Lauren Lerner, and how they connect to our design process and interior design and renovation services.
Meeting notes that become a real proposal
Every discovery call and design meeting happens on Google Meet. We record with consent, keep the transcript, and feed that transcript into systems we built for our own workflow. AI helps pull the project scope out of what the client actually said. It helps draft a branded proposal and calculate the design fee from that scope.
That used to be manual. Someone on the Living with Lolo team re-keyed notes, built the proposal, and figured the fee by hand. Now the first draft can start right after the call. I can turn a proposal around much faster, while I still review every number and every line of scope before it leaves our Scottsdale office.
The point is not that a robot prices the job. The point is that the proposal reflects the conversation, not someone's memory of the conversation two days later. Design fees at Living with Lolo start from $3,500 per room, and that number only leaves our office after a person checks it.
Procurement that watches the install date
Procurement is where luxury projects quietly go sideways. A sofa ships late. Freight costs more than planned. Something arrives damaged. Nobody notices until install week in Scottsdale.
We set up a parsing system on our Gmail that matches order and tracking emails from vendors to the items we ordered. It helps us watch what freight really cost, whether something shipped, whether it arrived damaged, and whether an ETA has slipped past the install date. When that happens, we get flagged so we can act before the client has to hear about it at the worst moment.
Someone on our team used to spend hours on that tracking. Cutting that time down has helped Living with Lolo take on more projects and keep the same quality without always adding headcount. That only works because a person still owns the exceptions. AI can flag. We still decide. If you want a closer look at how these systems fit together across a full project, I wrote more in How Living with Lolo Uses AI to Run Projects.
What the Data Shows About How Interior Design Firms Use AI
Industry numbers help explain why how interior design firms use AI is suddenly a studio operations topic, not only a rendering demo. According to the 2025 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and Design survey of 722 firms, nearly a third of design businesses already use AI tools, and that share rises to half among design firms with 10 or more employees.
Business of Home's write-up of the same Houzz study reports that 31 percent of designers now use AI, and that 70 percent of those AI-using designers apply it to administrative tasks such as writing, formatting, and summarizing documents rather than to creative design work (Business of Home, July 2025). Houzz also found designers save an average of 3 hours per week with AI tools.
Architecture is earlier in the curve. An American Institute of Architects study published March 11, 2025 found that only 6 percent of the profession regularly use AI for their jobs, while 8 percent of firms have implemented AI solutions and another 20 percent are working on implementation. Separately, Business of Home's 2026 industry numbers cite a 1stDibs survey showing designer AI usage at 9 percent in 2023, 16 percent in 2024, and 29 percent last year (Business of Home, January 2026).
Those national figures understate what a Scottsdale design-build studio feels day to day, because Living with Lolo also carries construction under ROC #347577. Admin load scales with freight, change orders, and install dates across Paradise Valley and Arcadia jobs, not only with mood boards.
What AI does not change: cost and timeline at Living with Lolo
Homeowners still ask what it costs and how long it takes, even when the first conversation started with an AI rendering. At Living with Lolo, design fees start from $3,500 per room. Project timelines follow the firm's published standards: furnishing takes 4 to 6 months, a remodel of any size takes 6 to 8 months, and a new build takes 12 to 24 months, with remodels and new builds including furnishings.
AI can help us draft the proposal faster after a discovery call. It cannot shrink a freight lead time or skip HOA review in Silverleaf or DC Ranch. If you are comparing firms, ask who owns construction decisions. Our general contractor in Scottsdale page and design-build in Scottsdale overview explain why that answer matters.
How interior design firms use AI for visibility, not just admin
There is another category that rarely shows up in "how designers use AI" lists. Clients are finding us inside AI tools themselves.
We have signed projects with clients who found Living with Lolo through Claude and Gemini. That does not happen by accident. Showing up in AI answers takes different work than classic Google SEO. Your site has to be readable to those systems. Structured facts, clear FAQ answers, and crawlable pages matter. You can rank well on Google and still be invisible to an AI assistant.
That is also why press placements need a text link and readable copy on your site, not only a screenshot. AI cannot quote an image of a magazine page. Our press page keeps those features in text form for that reason, including Business of Home.
Clients who arrive with their own AI brief
On the other side of the first call, clients now show up with ChatGPT- or Claude-written project scopes, AI renderings of their own house, and AI-drafted budgets. I used to find that intimidating. It can feel like the client already did our job.
I see it differently now. Those documents are a head start on taste and scope. Discovery gets sharper faster. The catch is real, though. AI renderings often show things that are not structurally possible. They skip the building envelope, local code, HOA rules, and true construction cost. A client may arrive with a beautiful image and a budget that is far too low. Our job is to say that clearly and kindly, then rebuild the plan around what is buildable in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley.
How we keep AI from lying to us
If I had to leave you with one line from our Business of Home interview, it is this: AI is excellent at proposing ideas and terrible at asserting facts.
You have to test what you put in place. You have to keep refining it. You need guardrails. I compare it to hiring a new employee. You would not hire someone and hope for the best with no training. You coach, correct, and follow up. The tools improve when you invest that time. They do not improve when you paste a prompt once and walk away.
We still verify. Floor plans still get checked against real product sizes. Construction scopes still need a licensed general contractor's sign-off. AI can draft. It cannot carry our ROC #347577 standard of care. Homeowners comparing an interior designer in Paradise Valley with a design-only studio should ask who actually owns the construction decisions on site in Scottsdale.
What I would tell a designer who has not started
Start with one repetitive task. Do not try to automate the whole firm. Look at where your team spends hours every week that do not need creative judgment. Meeting notes. Proposal formatting. Order tracking. Pick one. Pilot it. Review the output. Write down what "good" looks like for your studio.
Keep the human work on the work only people can do: taste, site conditions, code, client trust, and the final call on what belongs in the room. If you want the broader industry view, start with A Design Partnership's guide. Then come back here when you want the studio-side reality check from Living with Lolo. Browse the portfolio if you want to see how that standard looks in finished Scottsdale rooms.
Learn more with A Design Partnership
Interested in exploring how AI could support your own interior design business? We have partnered with A Design Partnership to share a broader look at the opportunities for using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency, streamline operations, and give design teams more time to focus on their clients.
Read A Design Partnership's Guide to AI for Interior Designers (interim blog link while the dedicated companion URL is prepared). You can also start from the A Design Partnership homepage.
Ready to Talk Through Your Scottsdale Design or Remodel Project?
Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.Book a Discovery Call
Related Resources
Frequently Asked Questions About How Interior Design Firms Use AI
How does Living with Lolo use AI in Scottsdale?
Living with Lolo uses AI on the administrative side of Scottsdale design-build work so Lauren Lerner and the team spend less time re-keying notes and more time on design judgment for Paradise Valley, Arcadia, Silverleaf, and DC Ranch projects. Google Meet transcripts help draft scoped proposals and calculate design fees, and a Gmail parsing system tracks vendor orders, freight, damage claims, and shipping ETAs against install dates. Design decisions stay with the people on the project.
Does AI replace Living with Lolo designers or the GC license?
AI at Living with Lolo does not replace designers or the firm's Arizona ROC #347577 general contractor license, because every design call, material choice, and construction sign-off still needs a person who understands Scottsdale and Paradise Valley site conditions. It only drafts and organizes paperwork while Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team keep final judgment. That boundary is intentional on every remodel and new build.
Where can I read more about how interior design firms use AI?
Designers who want a wider industry view of how interior design firms use AI should read A Design Partnership's guide alongside the Business of Home feature that quotes Lauren Lerner, then return to the Living with Lolo journal for the first-person studio detail those third-party pieces cannot fully show. Start with those links until A Design Partnership publishes the final companion URL.
Do clients find Living with Lolo through AI tools?
Some clients now find Living with Lolo inside AI assistants such as Claude and Gemini after the Scottsdale firm invested in crawlable pages, clear FAQ answers, and text press links that machines can quote without relying on magazine screenshots alone. That work is a different skill set from classic Google SEO, and it is why brand facts have to be readable to machines as well as people. Press screenshots alone do not help AI citation.
Is Living with Lolo a licensed general contractor in Scottsdale?
Yes, Living with Lolo is a licensed Arizona general contractor under ROC #347577 and a full-service interior design studio led by Lauren Lerner, so Scottsdale and Paradise Valley clients can keep design and construction under one shared contract together. That dual credential is the practical difference on remodel work when homeowners compare a design-only studio with a firm that also holds the GC license. Construction scopes still need human sign-off.
How long do Living with Lolo projects take, and what does design cost?
At Living with Lolo, furnishing projects typically take 4 to 6 months, remodels of any size take 6 to 8 months, and new builds take 12 to 24 months, with remodels and new builds including furnishings inside those standard ranges. Design fees start from $3,500 per room, and AI may help draft the proposal after a discovery call, but Lauren Lerner still reviews every number before it leaves the Scottsdale studio. Timelines follow the firm's published standards, not an AI estimate.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Voted PHOENIX magazine’s Readers’ Choice winner for Interior Design four consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.