Ann Arbor is home to about 123,000 people. The moderate cost of living means competitive pricing — and every dollar saved on software goes further.
Set Designers in Michigan need a Business License. Requirements vary — contact your city or county business licensing office for current details.
Insurance: $500K-$1M general liability
Continuing Education: Check with state licensing board
Michigan has a 4.25% flat income tax. Flat 4.25% income tax. Detroit and Grand Rapids are primary markets. Auto industry decline created transition economy. Low cost of living outside metro areas.
When evaluating software costs, factor in your effective tax rate. A $1,356/year software expense is partially deductible — but Nexa at $279 once is a one-time deduction that eliminates the recurring expense entirely.
Whether you call it invoicing, a solution for jobs, or a invoicing system — most set designers in Ann Arbor string together HoneyBook, FreshBooks, Toggl Track, Harvest plus other subscriptions. That's $1,356/year in SaaS payments. Across five years at today's prices, you're looking at $6,780.
Nexa gives you the ability to exit the subscription trap. Your CRM, invoicing, booking, jobs, time tracking, and financial tools — in a single solution. A single action books a client. A single action generates an invoice. No bouncing between tools. No middleware. No integration tax. It's a one-time purchase — cut costs from the first day. For set designers in Ann Arbor weighing the switch, the 30-day money-back guarantee covers the migration window — you can run Nexa in parallel with your existing subscriptions, verify the workflow handles your real client load, and only cancel the monthly tools once you are confident the data and processes have settled in.
Most days begin at the drafting station, refining a ground plan to the actual theater: I'm checking wing space for the storage of moving pieces, the fly-rail line set schedule for what can hang, and sightlines from the worst seat in the house so the back row isn't staring at a masking flat. The director loves the second-act reveal, but the scenic shop just sent labor hours that blow the build budget, so I spend the morning value-engineering — keeping the moment, losing the weight and the dollars. After lunch I'm in a production meeting with the lighting designer and the technical director: my upstage wall is exactly where she wants a backlight boom, so we negotiate a gap she can shoot through. I update the model in SketchUp so everyone's looking at the same thing. Late afternoon I cut a quick scale model of the tricky platform unit, because foamcore in my hand tells me things the screen won't — whether the stairs read, whether an actor can exit cleanly. I draft paint elevations for the scenic artist and note the door hardware. Tech week is coming, and I know the notes will pile up the moment real bodies move on real platforms.
That is the work Nexa is built around: the job, the client, the hours and the invoice live in one place, so the paperwork side of the day doesn't need a second shift.
Every one of those was bought once and earns its keep for years. Nexa is priced the same way: $279 once, and it keeps working whether business is busy or slow.
Dated changes to the subscriptions a set designer might rent. Each one links the announcement or report it comes from. Tap one for the numbers.
For renewals on or after February 1, 2026, Pro Plus and Mac Plus went from $999 to $1,149 a year for one user, and each extra seat from $200 to $230.
Source: SWK Technologies, Insightful Accountant (Dec 2, 2025)
From July 1, 2025: Simple Start $35 to $38, Essentials $65 to $75, Plus $99 to $115, Advanced $235 to $275 a month.
Source: Woodard Report (May 27, 2025)
From February 4, 2025: Starter $19 to $36 (89%), Essentials $39 to $59, Premium $79 to $125 a month.
Source: Fstoppers (Jan 24, 2025)
From October 27, 2024: Early $15 to $20, Growing $42 to $47, Established $78 to $80 a month.
Source: Insightful Accountant
Only changes we can link to a vendor announcement or a named publication are listed. Plans, add-ons and discounts vary, so check the vendor's current pricing page before you decide.
Biz Wiz creates a personalized business plan for set designers in Ann Arbor — licensing requirements, local competition, startup costs, pricing strategy, and a 90-day action plan. $19.99 once.
Ann Arbor set designers: exit the subscription trap.
Get Nexa — $279 OnceTry it risk-free for 30 days · one-time purchase · Functions completely offline
We build a set designer's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a set designer — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.