Architectural fees often mix hourly, fixed-fee, and percentage methods. Everhour keeps approved billable time ready for invoicing.
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Architect billable-hour math answers a narrow question: how much approved project time should be billed under the hourly part of the owner-architect agreement. The inputs are the billable hours, the personnel rate, and the contract-defined rounding rule. The output is a pre-tax dollar amount unless the agreement or invoice process adds a jurisdiction-specific tax line.
This calculation is most useful when a project uses hourly billing, a not-to-exceed phase, additional services, or a hybrid fee. Architects also use fixed fees, percentage fees, square-footage fees, and mixed compensation structures. For percentage-fee context, AIA cites 8%-15% of construction cost for new construction and 15%-20% for remodels, but hourly billing still needs time-by-rate math.
Start with approved billable hours for each role, then multiply each role by its agreed hourly rate. AIA contract guidance treats hourly billing rates as rates by personnel category, and those rates include salary, benefits, overhead, and profit. Do not average a principal rate, project architect rate, and designer rate unless the contract says to use a blended rate.
For example, an additional-services invoice includes 18 principal hours at $260 per hour, 27 project architect hours at $185 per hour, and 14 designer hours at $115 per hour. The pre-tax billable total is $11,285. If state or local tax applies to the service, add that jurisdiction-specific tax after the billable labor total, not inside the hourly-rate calculation.
A billable-hours total shows invoice value, not firm health by itself. AIA defines utilization, also called chargeability, as direct labor divided by total labor. A general architecture-firm benchmark is 60%-65% of total labor dollars, and Deltek reported a 61.1% median utilization for 2024 in its A&E study.
Use the calculator result as one checkpoint against budget and fee recovery. Applying 60%-65% to a 2,080-hour year equals 1,248-1,352 billable hours, but that is an arithmetic equivalent, not a universal personal quota. AIA notes individual targets can reach 80%+, while over 90% is not realistic because vacation, holidays, and sick time generally account for about 10%.
A one-off calculation is enough when you need to price a change request, review an hourly phase, or check whether a draft invoice matches approved time. It is also enough when the project has a clear rate schedule, a small number of entries, and no dispute over billable versus non-billable work.
A managed workflow is the better fit when architects, designers, and principals all contribute time across phases. Everhour Billing & Invoicing converts tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, excludes non-billable tasks, applies rates, and exports invoices to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks with status details synced back to Everhour.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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Billable time is direct labor spent on client project work that the contract allows you to charge. That can include design, documentation, coordination, meetings, site visits, and approved additional services when the agreement treats them as billable. Marketing, firm administration, training, and internal management time usually stay outside the client invoice unless the contract states otherwise.
No profession-wide billing increment applies to architects. AIA treats compensation method and rate schedules as project-specific business decisions and does not publish recommended compensation schedules. Use the owner-architect agreement or firm policy for rounding, whether entries are kept to 0.1 hour, 0.25 hour, whole minutes, or another defined increment.
Yes, but the purpose changes. On a fixed-fee project, billable hours usually measure budget burn, utilization, and implied hourly recovery rather than creating a pure time-and-materials invoice. If a $60,000 phase takes 420 direct hours, the implied average recovery is $142.86 per hour before considering overhead, profit, taxes, or later write-downs.
No. The United States has no federal VAT/GST or national sales-tax rate for billed professional time. Tax treatment is state and local, and services are taxed differently by jurisdiction. Hawaii applies general excise tax to business activities, New Mexico gross receipts tax includes services performed in New Mexico, and Texas taxes specified taxable services.
The common mistake is mixing fee models without labeling them. Hourly additional services, fixed-fee base scope, reimbursable expenses, and percentage-fee work should not be collapsed into one undifferentiated hours total. Keep each line tied to the contract basis, personnel rate, phase, and billable status so the invoice matches the agreement.
Everhour Billing & Invoicing turns tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, calculates amounts from rates, and excludes non-billable tasks. Invoice data can be grouped by project, task, person, date, or another available breakdown before export to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks.
Use calculated architect hours as a quick check, then keep billing durable with Everhour. Convert approved billable entries and expenses into client invoices without rebuilding timesheets manually.
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