In architecture, project management is crucial. But that doesn’t mean you need a complicated strategy to deliver great work.
To simplify the process, focus on your scope, schedule, and pricing.
These factors are the key to keeping architecture projects within budget, delivering them on time, and meeting client expectations.
Here’s how to approach these three elements and excel at project management for architects:
1. Control your scope: Stay true to what was requested
Your scope document defines the necessary work for the project, including the deliverables, tasks, and deadlines. This info is critical for keeping architects, project managers, and clients on the same page.
With a detailed project scope, it’s easier to avoid scope creep. Which happens when clients ask for extra work you haven’t planned for or discussed.
Scope creep can cause projects to go over budget, which compromises your firm’s profitability.
It can also cause you to miss deadlines, which can delay other client projects and impact those relationships.
In architectural project management, you’ll typically encounter two different types of work scopes: client-generated and custom.
For a client-generated scope, the prospect provides their own detailed requirements and solicits bids through a request for proposal (RFP) process.
RFPs are common for projects where organizations need to compare standardized bids from several different architecture firms and choose the best one based on the scope and cost. Like public sector projects that require added transparency.
An RFP offers the scope up front so you can tailor your project bid based on the requirements, including:
- Project details (e.g., goals and challenges) and organization background
- A statement of work (SOW) that outlines the deliverables, tasks, and timeline
- Submission guidelines like deadlines and formatting requirements
For other types of projects, you’ll usually collaborate with your client to develop a custom work scope.
This approach is more common for specialized projects with more creative flexibility. Like a boutique interior renovation.
To establish your custom scope, have a clear, open conversation with your client at the start of the project. Then, document the:
- Project overview: A brief description of the project’s goals (e.g., “to create a sustainable community hub”) and the functional and aesthetic elements the client envisions (e.g., meeting rooms, fitness facilities, and public outdoor spaces)
- Key deliverables: What your firm will produce to meet the objectives of the project (e.g., design plans, construction documentation, and a detailed cost estimate)
- Architectural services to be provided: The project phases, including details for each. For example, the final phase might be construction administration, which includes site visits, contractor coordination, change orders, and project closeout.
- Exclusions: Specific elements the scope doesn’t include (e.g., permitting and approval fees)
- Project limitations: Clarify any constraints that’ll shape how your team approaches design and execution. Like following historical preservation requirements. Or meeting a strict deadline for seasonal business needs.
- Additional services: An optional section that details any extra services included in the scope beyond standard work
No matter which type of project scope document you’re using, the key is to create a clear contract that specifically outlines what is (and isn’t) included. This way, you can set appropriate expectations, stick to realistic timelines, and keep projects profitable.
Use our scope of work document as a template for your firm’s projects. We designed it to help you develop custom bids faster—without missing key elements of the scope.
Top Tip
If scope changes happen, revise the project plan, timeline, and budget to reflect these updates in real time. If you don’t, you risk the project going over budget, the timeline getting pushed back (potentially delaying other projects), and additional scope creep.
2. Manage your schedule: Balance timelines with team capacity
To complete projects on time without overloading your team, you have to manage the schedule carefully.
Neglecting this part of the process leads to problems like delayed timelines, stressed team members, and lower work quality. Which can compromise your firm’s reputation, your relationship with clients, and your team’s wellbeing.
The key to successfully managing your schedule?
Setting a realistic project timeline.
To do this, you need to factor in your team’s availability, project complexity, and any external factors. Like permit timelines and consultant availability.
Instead of guesswork, review historical data to confirm what timelines looked like for previous similar projects.
Then, use Scoro’s “Bookings” module to manage capacity planning.
The heatmap shows each person’s remaining billable hours and highlights availability:
- Green = booked with time still available
- Red = overbooked
- Stripes = tentative bookings (confirm before finalizing to avoid clashes with planned time off)
You can toggle the heatmap to show percentage, booked hours, or remaining hours.
Once you’ve reviewed availability, use this data—alongside historical project insights—to build a realistic timeline.
Here’s an example:
| Phase | % total of hours | Estimated hours | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Schematic Design | 15% | 330 | 2–3 months |
| Phase 2: Design Development | 20% | 440 | 2–3 months |
| Phase 3: Construction Documents | 40% | 880 | 3–4 months |
| Phase 4: Construction Administration | 25% | 550 | 6–8 months |
| Total | 100% | 2,200 | 13–18 months |
Once the project kicks off, monitor the timeline closely with Scoro’s Gantt chart. It displays project phases and milestones. And when you move milestones or change timelines, the Gantt chart automatically updates.
This way, you can easily identify issues and delays early on and can make quick adjustments to keep the project on schedule. Like bringing in an extra contractor if a team member needs to focus on a different project instead.
3. Control pricing and costs: Stay profitable without compromising quality
To keep your projects (and your firm) profitable, you have to control what you charge and what you’re paying for.
Your pricing should align with the project’s scope, timeline, and complexity. In addition to the work itself, your pricing should also factor in your costs — including internal costs like your team’s hours and external costs like contractor fees. So you make a profit while staying competitive.
A clear contract with a set fee helps eliminate misunderstandings and ensures you get fair compensation for your work.
Cost estimations should accurately represent project expenses and labor costs. Careful cost tracking helps identify when you’re over budget on hours or materials so you can adjust the scope or timeline early before the issue escalates.
Fee estimation
A lump sum approach is common for standard projects with clear scopes and deliverables. This fee estimation method is a best practice for project management in architecture because it’s simple and effective.
Essentially, you and your client agree on a fixed fee for the entire project based on its scope. Then, the fee stays the same unless the scope changes.
You can use either a top-down or bottom-up method to estimate the fee:
- Top-down: Start with an overall fee based on project goals or historical data. Then, allocate time and money to individual phases.
- Bottom-up: Calculate detailed costs for each project phase. Then, add them all up to get the total amount.
For an architecture project, the costs might look like this:
| Phase | % of total fee | Estimated hours | Blended rate $ | Phase fee $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Schematic Design | 15% | 330 | $120 | $39,600 |
| Phase 2: Design Development | 20% | 440 | $120 | $52,800 |
| Phase 3: Construction Documents | 40% | 880 | $120 | $105,600 |
| Phase 4: Construction Admin | 25% | 550 | $120 | $66,000 |
| Total | 100% | 2,200 | — | $264,000 |
Scoro’s “Quotes” module makes it easy to price your architectural projects. Once you develop high-level estimates for each phase, just enter them into the quote.
Since this module saves your labor rates, all you need to do is select a role or person and input their hours. Scoro automatically calculates costs.
Track project costs in real time
Architectural projects typically include two types of costs:
- Your team’s time (labor costs)
- External costs (consultant fees, expenses, etc.)
Even when you use a lump sum fee, you need to track project costs as the work progresses. This way, you keep the project within budget and make sure the lump sum fee is aligned with the actual scope of work.
Regularly review billable hours and external costs to identify discrepancies early on.
Say you estimate 100 hours for a phase. But midway through, you’re at 150 hours.
This way, you can adjust the scope quickly (e.g., by having a clear conversation with the client about pricing or timing adjustments) and correct course sooner rather than later.
Which helps budget management by preventing bigger cost issues or other surprises later in the project.
Have your team use Scoro to easily (and accurately) log time for tasks and projects.
Say a team member spends five hours working on the schematic design phase of a project. They can log that time on their weekly timesheet or by using the stopwatch icon on the main menu.
Scoro also helps you track expenses. By turning a quote into a purchase order, all the quote details (e.g., quantities and pricing) automatically transfer over. Which means you don’t need to manually input this data, helping you save time and avoid errors when managing expenses.
As the project progresses and your team logs their hours and costs, Scoro automatically tracks the difference between estimated and actual costs. Check the “Quoted vs Actual” table to compare.
You’ll see actuals in black and quoted values in grey, so it’s easy to compare progress and spot issues early.
If costs are significantly higher than anticipated, make some changes to maintain profitability. For example, have a qualified junior employee step in for a senior employee to reduce labor costs. Or meet with the client to revisit the scope.
Simplify project management in architecture with Scoro
Managing your scope, schedule, and pricing isn’t just good practice. These elements are essential for keeping architectural projects on time and within budget—helping your firm stay profitable.
Take Mallol Arquitectos. The architecture firm struggled to accurately track their time and resource use on projects. Which compromised their ability to measure project progress and forecast work.
After switching to Scoro, the firm could manage its project data in one place, in real time. Which helped the company set clear KPIs and make data-driven decisions about client projects and staffing.
Want to simplify project management and improve profitability for your architecture firm? Try Scoro’s architectural management software for free for 14 days.
