ACA Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator Guide
The new and improved ACA Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator Guide (TCCG) gives practices a powerful tool to manage project time and costs with confidence. By combining practice-specific data with reliable calculations, the TCCG provides a solid foundation for developing accurate, tailored fee proposals. The Guide assists practices of all sizes to assess the true time and cost required to deliver an appropriate level of service across diverse building types, service levels and procurement methods.
Log in to the Architects’ Time / Cost Calculator – July 2025 update
The July 2025 update incorporates 47 enhancements to make the TCCG more powerful, stable and user-friendly than ever. Highlights include a complete visual redesign for a fresh, mobile-friendly experience and an automated deployment system for faster updates. Users will also benefit from improved page titles, smarter administrative tools with new calculation algorithms, and many other refinements to make time/cost tracking even easier.
Calculate fees with confidence and track innovation
The TCCG combines information you supply about your practice’s overheads, costs, expertise and project details with historic data about required hours to generate a suggested fee. It helps you tailor this information to the particulars of your office.
The TCCG allows you to factor in Innovation and Commercial Risk through Office Variables.
Benchmark your practice
The Guide also acts as a powerful benchmarking tool, letting you compare your overheads with those of similar sized practices. For example, are you paying significantly more for Professional Indemnity insurance than others? The Guide helps you find out, arming you with the insights you need to keep overheads under control.
Track multiple projects with ease
You can save an unlimited number of projects within the TCCG, each with its own overheads, hours and fees. This means you can track the specifics of each project, ensuring accurate cost estimation and better budget management. Need a quick calculation? The TCCG also acts as a simple calculator without needing full project details.
Improved visuals and a fresh interface
The updated TCCG delivers a smoother, more visually engaging experience with a complete visual redesign. The fresh new look features modern fonts, a sleek navigation style, a refreshed colour scheme and improved help sections. New interactive charts make data visualisation clearer and more useful, while the updated layout and functionality of project management buttons improves usability.
The interface for managing project phases has also been enhanced, with a consistent theme carried across all pages. Additional improvements include better welcome screens and a more intuitive onboarding process.
Whether you’re an ACA member, a university member or an invited guest, you’ll benefit from a streamlined single login with one login screen. The fresh interface is optimised for mobile devices and improved support for Safari – perfect for Apple users on the go.
Better information, more accurate fees
By providing clear insight into the real time and costs associated with projects, the Guide puts architects in a stronger position to negotiate fair fees that reflect the true time and resources needed to deliver quality work. This benefits both practices and clients.
The Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator is part of the ACA Business Toolbox, and is available to all members at no cost.
THE GUIDE PROCESS
The Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator provides a four-step process:
- Steps 1 and 2 allow practices to calculate their office overheads and office variables – this means that the cost calculations for each project are specific to the particulars of the individual practice. The data entered for Step 1 and 2 remain in place over time, and can be readily edited as practice circumstances change.
- Step 3 identifies the estimated range of hours required for the project, based on multiple sets of historic data for different project types.
- Step 4 identifies a charge-out rate for the project based on the information supplied about the practice and the project. Individual practices must then make their own adjustments in relation to project hours – based on specific knowledge of the expertise and experience within the practice. This enables the architect to determine a fee appropriate to their circumstances.
If you have queries about using the Guide, please contact us at national@aca.org.au.
We hope you find the Guide useful.
Paul Viney led the development of the ACA Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator on behalf of the ACA VIC/TAS, and Jeff Beach of Big Dog Software built it. The ACA thanks Paul and Jeff for the enormous commitment they have made to this project, which is in its fourth version and has become a highly effective tool for architects across Australia.