The essentials in 30 seconds
- An interior designer is not registered with the Ordre des architectes: the Ordre's model contracts are not your reference.
- The profession's reference is the private-works mission contract (contrat de mission de marché privé) published by the CFAI, the Conseil Français des Architectes d'Intérieur or French interior designers' council, in two inseparable documents: AI 1 (particular conditions) and AI 2 (general conditions).
- The phases are not those of the loi MOP, the French public-works commissioning act: ESQ, APS, APD, then PCG, AMT, CET and AOR, specific to interior design.
- Three clauses decide how well you sleep: the scope of the mission, intellectual property and insurance.
- The contract is about your fees. It never covers the cost of the works, which you do not contract for.
Why the Ordre's contracts are not yours
The title of architect is protected and its practice governed by the Ordre. The title of interior designer is not protected in the same way: your profession is organised around professional bodies and the recognition of qualifications, not around a regulator with disciplinary powers and mandatory contracts.
Practical consequence: the model contracts published by the Ordre, excellent as they are, are written for a regulated design and site supervision mission, with its own phases, its compulsory insurance policies and its vocabulary. Using them as they stand for an interior design mission means signing up to obligations that do not match what you do, and sometimes missing the ones that do. The CFAI, which publishes the profession's reference document, accepts their use for related missions only.
This confusion between the two professions is the first thing to correct, and it explains why so much of the content on the subject rings false when you read it as an interior designer.
The real reference: the CFAI private-works mission contract
The CFAI publishes a private-works mission contract, republished in 2015, designed for the way you practise. Its distinctive feature is its structure in two documents that cannot be separated:
- AI 1, the particular conditions: your own deal. The parties, the property, the mission agreed, the phases included, the method and amount of remuneration, the schedule.
- AI 2, the general conditions: the shared legal framework. This is what defines each party's obligations, intellectual property, insurance, termination and dispute resolution.
AI 2 says it without ambiguity: the contract consists of document AI 2, completed and supplemented by document AI 1, which sets out the particular conditions. Signing one without the other means signing an incomplete contract. That is the most common mistake: people fill in AI 1 because it is short and concrete, and forget to attach AI 2, which carries everything else.
The CFAI recognises three legitimate routes: its own mission contract, the Ordre's model contracts for related missions, or a bespoke contract. All three are defensible, but only the first was written for your profession.
What the general conditions cover
AI 2 is built around some fifteen articles that sweep through the full life of a mission: definitions and preamble, scope of the mission, additional technical input, how the mission proceeds, the obligations of the client (maître d'ouvrage), remuneration, changes to the contract, disputes, termination, intellectual property, the interior designer's rights and obligations, insurance obligations, and the interior designer's unavailability.
That last clause, often overlooked, deserves a look: it sets out what happens if you can no longer practise mid-project. In a studio of one to three people, that is a real risk, and the absence of a clause leaves your client without a solution and your heirs without a framework.
The mission phases, and why the vocabulary matters
This is the most useful part of this article, and the one most content misses: the phases of the CFAI contract are not those of the loi MOP used by architects registered with the Ordre. Three of them exist only in the interior design contract.
| CFAI phase | What it covers | Not to be confused with |
|---|---|---|
| ESQ Concept sketch (Esquisse) | First intentions, feasibility, orders of magnitude | ESQ under the loi MOP, equivalent |
| APS Outline design (Avant-projet sommaire) | Spatial approach, technical principles | APS under the loi MOP, equivalent |
| APD Detailed design (Avant-projet définitif) | Design settled, materials, refined estimate | APD under the loi MOP, equivalent |
| PCG General design package (Projet de conception générale) | The complete design file, the basis for tendering | PRO under the loi MOP, the content is not the same |
| AMT Works contract assistance (Assistance marché travaux) | Tendering contractors, analysing the bids, assistance with the award | ACT under the loi MOP |
| CET Works supervision and cost accounting (Contrôle et comptabilité des travaux) | Monitoring execution and tracking the site's finances | DET + VISA under the loi MOP |
| AOR Handover assistance (Assistance aux opérations de réception) | Handover, snag list, clearing the snags | AOR under the loi MOP, equivalent |
Why does it matter? Because a client comparing two proposals is comparing scopes. If you write "PRO phase" where your contract says PCG, you create a blur around exactly what you deliver. And because AMT and CET are precisely the phases where the money is decided: tendering the contractors and tracking the site's finances. They are also the two that studios most often under-bill, for want of having named them in AI 1.
We set out the operational content of these two phases in our guides to tendering contractors and to site supervision.
The three clauses never to leave vague
1. The scope of the mission
End-of-project disputes are rarely about price, almost always about what was supposed to be included. AI 1 must list the phases retained, and above all the ones that are not. The additional technical input clause exists for exactly that: it names what falls to a third party, engineering consultant, acoustician, thermal engineer, and who pays for it. Without it, everything technical the project uncovers implicitly lands on you.
2. Intellectual property
The CFAI contract states that the interior designer retains the intellectual and artistic property of their creation: the client receives a right of use for the project concerned, not an assignment. A client therefore cannot take your drawings for another property, or hand them to a third party to build differently, without your agreement. It is also what grounds your right to publish the project, subject to confidentiality and to the image rights attached to the property. In a profession where the portfolio is the first sales tool, this clause is worth money.
3. Insurance
AI 2 places insurance obligations on both parties. On the client's side, taking out dommages-ouvrage cover, structural damage insurance, before the site opens, required by French law since 1978. On the interior designer's side, professional indemnity insurance suited to the mission. The point to remember: it is the client who must take out the dommages-ouvrage policy, and it is up to you to remind them in writing. A client who discovers this obligation after the works have started rarely turns on themselves.
What the contract says about your fees
AI 2 provides for three methods of remuneration: a percentage of the cost of the works, a fixed fee, or an hourly or daily rate. All three are accepted, and the choice is made in AI 1 according to the nature of the mission. The contract also provides for payments staged by phase, with a deposit on signature and a balance at handover, plus an uplift where the mission is partial, to account for the extra coordination a truncated mission involves.
We do not reproduce the exact fee schedule here: it appears in the CFAI document, and that is where it should be read, in its current version and with the calculation basis that goes with it. For the wider question of setting and defending your fees, see our dedicated guide to interior designers' fees.
A word on access to these documents: the CFAI publishes a specimen of AI 1, but the usable versions are reserved for its members. That is also why so little content explains what these contracts really contain. If you practise regularly, membership pays for itself with a single dispute avoided.
The contract frames what you invoice, but the invoice itself now has its own legal framework: since 1 September 2026, every French business subject to VAT must be able to receive electronic invoices. What that means in practice for a studio, and the misconception making the rounds, are covered in our guide to e-invoicing for interior designers.
So, what about Nodal?
The contract defines your scope; the tool has to reflect it, otherwise the gap opens up in the first week. In Nodal, the fee quote is the contractual document your client approves online, with a timestamped record. It is separate from the works cost plan, which stays an estimate and is never a quote, since you do not contract for the works. And the project runs along a step-by-step pipeline that advances on evidence, which incidentally gives you the factual material for any dispute: who approved what, and when.
Article published on August 23, 2026. This professional summary describes the structure of the profession's reference documents; it does not replace them and does not constitute legal advice. In case of any discrepancy, the documents published by the CFAI in their version in force prevail. For a high-stakes project, have your contract reviewed by a lawyer.