Architecture firms need phase-level time records. Everhour supports structured tracking across projects, budgets, approvals, and team workflows.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
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One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
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Architecture firms usually need more than a weekly total. A useful record ties each entry to a client, project, phase, task, and team member. Common phases include schematic design, design development, construction documents, bid or negotiation support, and construction phase or contract administration. That structure lets a principal compare planned effort with actual effort before the budget is gone.
A single entry should identify the work clearly enough for review later. A project architect might record 2.5 hours on construction documents for door schedule revisions, then add 1 hour under consultant coordination for a civil engineer review. Those labels separate drawing production from coordination work, and they make client questions easier to answer during billing review.
Architecture firms need a clean line between client-billable project time and non-billable work such as administration, professional development, proposals, management, marketing, and presentations. That distinction affects revenue, labor cost allocation, utilization, and project profitability. Utilization for architecture and engineering firms is commonly measured as billable hours divided by total hours.
The billing method changes how the time record is used. Hourly work may flow directly into an invoice. A stipulated sum or percentage-based agreement still benefits from time tracking because the firm needs budget control, progress support, and staffing visibility. For percentage-based compensation under AIA B101-2017, design-phase invoices use the current owner's budget for the cost of the work, not the final cost.
Architects split time across office work, client meetings, reports, drawings, specifications, contract documents, coordination, and construction-site visits. A good tracking setup gives those activities their own task or category without creating so many options that staff guess each week. Site visits, construction administration, and meeting time deserve clear labels because they often explain why a phase exceeded its original estimate.
Project records should also show collaboration work with civil engineers, planners, drafters, interior designers, and landscape architects. Internal design effort and external coordination create different management questions. A principal reviewing a delayed project needs to see whether hours went into design changes, consultant follow-up, bidding support, or construction contract administration.
A free one-off tracker is enough when you need a quick weekly total for a small project or a solo consulting engagement. It becomes weak when multiple people touch the same project, when principals need phase budgets, or when accounting needs approved time before invoicing or payroll review.
A managed workflow gives an architecture firm a durable record. Time entries move through review, corrections, and locked periods before they feed reports or billing work. Everhour Team Management supports lock rules, admin time correction, personal tracking limits, weekly capacity, approval workflow, roles, project assignments, team groups, and team-wide time policy defaults for firms that need consistent review across project teams.
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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An architecture firm should track client, project, phase, task, team member, billable status, and work date. Useful phase categories include schematic design, design development, construction documents, bid or negotiation support, and construction phase or contract administration. Task categories can cover drawings, specifications, estimates, client meetings, consultant coordination, site visits, proposals, and administration.
Fixed-fee projects still need time tracking because the firm must manage budget burn, staffing, utilization, and profitability. The time record does not always become an invoice line, but it shows whether design development, construction documents, or construction administration is consuming more effort than planned.
The common mistake is recording a weekly block of hours without phase, task, or billable status. A vague entry such as 36 hours for one project does not explain whether time went to drawings, client meetings, consultant coordination, or site visits. Granular records make progress billing and client review easier to defend.
Yes. For employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, employer records must include hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The FLSA does not require a specific timekeeping form or system, but the employer's method must be complete and accurate.
No. The FLSA does not require overtime premium pay solely because work happens on Saturday, Sunday, a holiday, or a regular rest day. Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate, unless another law or agreement adds a different rule.
Everhour Team Management lets firms set lock rules, approve submitted time, correct entries as admins, assign roles, and organize people by team groups. That workflow helps principals review project hours before reports, billing, or payroll review use the time records.
Everhour supports weekly capacity by team member, so managers can compare planned work, tracked project hours, working hours, and time off. Architecture firms can use that view to spot overloaded project teams before schematic design, construction documents, or construction administration work slips.
Set consistent time policies before project records reach accounting. Everhour Team Management gives architecture firms approvals, lock rules, roles, assignments, and capacity controls for cleaner billing and payroll review.
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