Business Intelligence: Time/Cost Calculator Guide

What is the Business Toolbox data telling us about project costs, time allocation and estimated versus actual hours? We explore the anonymised data from the Time/Cost Calculator Guide to uncover key trends and insights that can help members make more informed commercial decisions.

Every project entered into the ACA’s Time Cost Calculator Guide (TCCG) contributes to something much bigger than an individual practice. Collectively, ACA members are building a valuable source of anonymised business intelligence for the architecture profession.

With 644 projects, 464 offices, 501 users and almost 1000 member logins over the past 12 months, the TCCG is providing meaningful insights into how practices price projects, manage overheads and allocate resources. More importantly, it is revealing trends that can help practices improve profitability and make more informed commercial decisions.

WHAT THE DATA IS TELLING US

The typical architectural practice is a small business

The data reinforces what many members already know – the Australian architectural profession is overwhelmingly made up of small practices.

The median participating practice employs just two staff, with a median profit margin of 10%. Residential accounts for almost half (48%) of all shared projects, reflecting the significant role this sector continues to play across the profession.

These figures reinforce the importance of having easy-to-use, practical business tools that help practices understand their costs, benchmark their performance and make commercially informed decisions.

Overheads is one of the most significant costs of running a practice

Across the shared data, the typical practice carries approximately $36,000–$43,000 in overheads per staff member each year, while half of all participating firms fall between $21,000 and $67,000 per staff member.

The largest overhead categories are shown below.

Administration salaries and occupancy costs are by far the largest overheads, together accounting for almost $30,000 per staff member each year. For practices reviewing their fee proposals or business performance, these benchmarks provide valuable context for understanding whether their own overhead structure aligns with similar firms.

Time for schematic design is under-estimated

One of the strongest insights emerging from the TCCG relates to how practices allocate effort across the life of a project.

Analysis of 447 project phase records reveals a remarkably consistent trend. The results show that we continue to underestimate design.

While Design Development, Contract Documentation and Contract Administration generally come in at or below the original estimate, Schematic Design consistently exceeds expectations, averaging 189% of estimated effort across all projects and an extraordinary 250% for individual house projects.

This suggests that many practices continue to underestimate the time required for concept development, client engagement, design refinement and option testing during the earliest stages of a project.

For many practices, this represents a significant commercial opportunity. By placing greater emphasis on the front end of fee proposals and project budgets, practices may be better positioned to recover the true cost of design and improve overall project profitability.

Educational facilities were the notable exception, with later project phases tending to exceed estimates. This highlights that different project sectors may require different fee allocation strategies, reinforcing the value of benchmarking against real project data.

A growing industry benchmark

The strength of the TCCG lies in the willingness of ACA members to contribute anonymised project data.

Over the past 12 months:

• 944 member logins were recorded.
• 255 new users joined the platform.
• 38 new projects were added.
• More than 1,650 project phase edits were completed.
• 2,080 page visits have been recorded since page tracking commenced.
• June 2026 recorded the strongest month of member activity.

Every project strengthens the benchmark. Individual practice data remains completely anonymous, while collectively creating an increasingly robust evidence base that benefits the entire profession.

The Time Cost Calculator Guide is no longer simply a project costing tool. It is becoming an industry-wide business intelligence platform, helping practices benchmark performance, understand where projects succeed or struggle, and make better commercial decisions based on real-world data from their peers.

As participation grows, so too does the value of the insights. Every project contributed helps build a stronger, smarter and more commercially sustainable architectural profession.

Next steps

Head here to access the ACA Architects’ Time/Cost Calculator Guide.

For a CPD webinar showing you how to get the best out of the TCCG, check out Fees, Salaries & Profit – Getting the numbers right.