Guides for architecture, engineering and consulting firms
Proposals and pursuits: deciding what to chase, and winning it with your own past work.
A go/no-go scorecard for RFPs: knockout checks, weighted criteria, the cost of pursuit, and a worked example with the arithmetic shown.
Keep project sheets tagged by scope, client type, and size, verified for accuracy, and labeled by who authored each document, so proposals reuse the right work.
Keep a master resume for each person, tailor project experience to the proposed role, and update on a set cadence. Includes what SF 330 Section E asks for.
Ask the client for a debrief, record the result with a consistent loss-reason taxonomy, and feed what you learn into your next go/no-go decision.
Build a fee from hours by phase and role on similar past work, apply rates, a multiplier, and contingency, then check it against what that work actually earned.
Billing
Getting the month out the door, accurately and on time.
Progress billing explained for design and consulting firms: percent complete by phase, schedule of values, previously billed, this invoice, and retainage.
How professional services firms bill a client retainer: an upfront retainer applied to the final invoice versus an evergreen retainer, with worked examples.
Month-end billing checklist for architecture, engineering, and consulting firms: time cutoff, expenses, fixed-fee progress, PM review, send, follow up.
What a work in progress (WIP) report shows for project-based firms: unbilled time, overbilled and underbilled projects, and aging, with worked examples.
Firm economics
The few numbers that say whether the work pays.
How to calculate utilization rate (billable hours divided by available hours), why targets differ for principals and staff, and how to set them by role.
Effective multiplier explained: net service revenue divided by direct labor cost, how it compares with the breakeven multiplier, with worked examples.
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Billable hours against available hours, net of time off, with the weekly hours a target needs.
From salary, overhead and profit to a breakeven rate, a billing rate and the multiplier behind each.
Hours by phase or role, times rates, plus contingency and expenses, with the blended rate.
A schedule of values that computes earned to date, this period, retainage and the amount due.
Looking for a definition? See the glossary