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Less admin, more designing.

Keep your studio's jobs, people and money in one place. A studio of two to ten has staff, regular freelancers and clients on their own terms, and the business side still sits with the owner. Plya keeps every job, who's on it and what each client owes in one place.

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Sunday evening, with payroll on Friday. Ash reads Finance and answers with what's outstanding, what's overdue and by how many days, the drafts not sent yet and the hours not billed. It asks before it sends each draft, and writes the nudge for you to send from your own email.

The admin that lands on the owner's desk

A studio of two to ten pays its people on a schedule, and its clients pay when they pay. The jobs, the freelancers and the books still run through one person, usually after hours.

  • Payroll is Friday, and the client is on day 40

    Wages go out on a fixed date. Clients pay on net 30, late, or after the third reminder. In the UK, 70% of small firms were paid late in the first quarter of 2025.

  • The books wait for Sunday

    Nearly half of small business owners in one UK survey regularly take work home. In a poll of 500 founders, a third spent evenings and weekends going through the accounts.

  • The finish lives in one head

    The step that matters is done the owner's way, and nobody wrote it down. One founder hired his first employee with nothing documented, only "how Dan does it" in his head.

  • The studio grew and the making stopped

    One designer's studio grew to five people, and her days went to organizing people instead of designing. The business side had no one else to go to.

At the glue-up

Know what's left before the table delivers

A walnut dining table for eight is a project with its steps as dated tasks: mill the boards, glue up the top, flatten and finish it. The deposit and the balance are invoices on its Invoices tab. Today lists what's due across every job, so Wednesday's glue-up is on the list before anyone picks up a clamp.

Two pairs of hands clamping a walnut tabletop glue-up on a workshop bench

Hand a job over in one note

When a job changes hands, write the handover as a note linked to the project and to the freelancer taking it on. Check off what's done, then add the finish, the install date and who to call at the client. Copy it as plain text from the note's menu and paste it into your own message to them.

How notes work

See every job a freelancer is on

Each regular collaborator is a contact tagged Freelance, with their day rate in a linked note. Their Projects section lists the jobs they're on. Link a project from there, and they show under Contacts on that project too.

How network works

Tools for a studio owner's year

Tax forms in January, the design weeks in spring, summer leave and the holiday rush come around every year. Each one has a place in Plya.

  1. January to February

    1099s for the regulars

    The regular freelancers you paid last year get a 1099-NEC by January 31. The Freelance tag in Network lists them, each with their email and phone.

  2. March to April

    Milan Design Week

    Milan Design Week runs April 12–18, 2027, with the Salone del Mobile at the fairgrounds from the 13th. Opportunities lists both with their dates; mark each Exhibiting or Attending.

  3. May to June

    NYCxDesign

    NYCxDesign runs May 13–20, 2027. The designers and architects you meet there go on a Trade pipeline, each with their next follow-up dated.

  4. July to August

    Summer leave

    Before someone takes two weeks off, each live job they're on gets a handover note, linked to the project, with what's done and what's next.

  5. September to October

    The holiday rush

    Holiday orders stack up in the fall. The Projects page shows every job with its due date, and a due badge turns amber two weeks out.

  6. November to December

    Collect before the year closes

    Finance lists what each client still owes, invoice by invoice, and an overdue one counts its days. The Q4 payroll return, Form 941, is due January 31.

Write down how the studio finishes oak

The process that lived in your head goes in one note, "How we finish oak": the grits, the oil, the number of coats and the drying time between them. Link it to every oak project, so it's on each one's Notes tab when you write the next handover.

Sample quotes

“My commissions, my trade clients and my invoices finally live in the same place.”
Mara LindqvistFurniture designer

Made for every kind of studio

Plya for every craft and practice

Keep Sunday for yourself

The jobs, the people on them and what each client still owes go in Plya, ready when the week starts.

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