Keep design hours, project budgets and client billing under control
TimeMagick is time tracking and project profitability software for architecture firms.
1-month free trial · See TimeMagick pricing
In an architecture practice, professional hours are the main project cost
An architecture fee is usually agreed before the design exists. Behind it sits an assumption about how many hours concept design, design development, documentation and construction support will take. Then the brief changes, a planning comment requires another option, or documentation takes longer than expected, and the fee stays the same.
The practice rarely loses margin in one moment. It loses it phase by phase, in hours nobody compared with the fee until the project was nearly finished. TimeMagick keeps the hours, the phase budgets, the plan and the billing on the same project, so the comparison happens while the work is still running:
Step 1
Concept
Project created with its fee's hour budget and phase tasks.
Step 2
Design Development
Architects track time against the phase they are working on.
Step 3
Documentation
Phase budgets and deadlines followed on the Gantt.
Step 4
Client Review
The client comments in the project channel and follows progress.
Step 5
Construction Support
Site and query hours still tracked against the same project.
Step 6
Billing
Approved billable hours move to Project Billing and the invoice.
Phase names are examples; you create your own tasks and statuses.
Track hours by project phase, not only by project
Knowing a project used 400 hours says little. Knowing that schematic design took 122 hours against 110 planned, while documentation has barely started, tells a project architect where the fee is going. In TimeMagick, every entry is recorded against a project and a task, and the tasks can be your phases:
A project total
Retail flagship: 412 h
You know the total, not which phase used it.
Project and phase
- Retail flagship → Schematic Design → 122 h
- Retail flagship → Design Development → 164 h
- Retail flagship → Documentation → 68 h
Illustrative totals built from individual time entries.
TimeMagick has no built-in architecture phase templates; you create the tasks that match your stages. The Windows desktop app also records the active application, so time in design and drawing software shows up in app usage, without screenshots and without opening your files.
How time tracking worksStop the fee's hours running out before the project does
Fixed fees make the hour budget the most important number on an architecture project. When a fee assumes 600 hours, the practice needs to see how many are left before documentation starts, not after construction support has ended.
Example · fixed-fee retail store
- Budget
- 600 h
- Spent
- 412 h
- Remaining
- 188 h
69% of the budget used. Documentation, tender and construction support still have to fit in the remaining hours.
Give the project its hour budget and each phase task its own share. TimeMagick then shows budget against time spent on the project card, in the project overview, on each Gantt task, beside the billable total in tracked-time approval and on the admin dashboard. Budget alerts and forecasting work from the same numbers, and Projects Over Budget is one of the headline KPIs.
When a phase goes over, the conversation about additional services can happen while the change is fresh, with the hours to support it.
Plan submission deadlines and who will meet them
Planning submissions, tender packages and client reviews all land on fixed dates, and the same architects usually work on several projects at once.
- An interactive Gantt per project, with phases as tasks under the project
- Drag to reschedule, resize to change duration, with progress in each bar
- Assignees, budget and spent hours beside every phase
- A portfolio Gantt across every client's projects
- Resource planning that shows who is working on which project tasks, across projects
The Projects board keeps every project visible by status, with custom statuses and two automatic ones that follow whether time is being tracked.
Count models, printing and subconsultants against the project
Staff hours are the biggest cost, but not the only one. Physical models, plot printing, subconsultant fees and site travel all reduce what a project earns. In TimeMagick, company expenses are linked to the project, given your own categories and sent through approval.
Recurring costs such as software subscriptions go into Recurring Expenses, with their own approval queue and payment history.
How expenses workKeep design decisions attached to the project
Which facade option the client chose, when the ceiling height was confirmed, what changed after a site visit: those decisions explain later why a phase took longer. Every TimeMagick project has its own channel, next to its phases, hours and budget, with file attachments and search.
Files shared in a channel are attachments to the conversation. TimeMagick is not a drawing register or document approval system, and it does not manage BIM or CAD files.
How project communication worksGive clients controlled visibility into their project
Clients and developers ask where the design is, what is due next and how much time has gone in. Client Members are external accounts linked to one or more of your clients, with a Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels and Sensai.
The Client Dashboard shows Total Projects, Total Tasks, Completed, Weekly Hours Logged and Overdue Tasks, with project status and upcoming due tasks. Clients follow the project and talk in its channel; your team keeps control of the project itself.
How the client portal worksApprove billable hours before they reach the invoice
Hourly work, additional services and fixed-fee stages all need someone to decide which hours are charged. In tracked-time approval, the approver sets a billable percentage for each entry, with the project budget shown beside the total. For example:
- 4 hours worked
- approved at 50%
- 2 billable hours
- Project Billing
- invoice
Project Billing shows billable hours against hours already billed for each client and project. Invoices have duration-based and quantity-based lines, taxes and notes, download as PDF, and can be issued from multiple legal entities and billing accounts in different currencies. TimeMagick takes the project as far as the invoice; it is not accounting software.
How billing and invoicing workKnow which architecture projects are actually profitable
A project that won an award can still have lost money. A client who sends repeat work can still be your lowest-margin relationship once all the redesign hours are counted.
TimeMagick's KPI module uses the tracked hours, budgets, client rates, expenses and billing already in the system: Profit, Avg Client Margin, Effective Rate, Projects Over Budget, Low-Profit Projects, Uninvoiced Hours and Client Health, alongside the other headline KPIs.
Illustration (demo data, fictional projects and clients).
Example workflow · fictional
Example: a fixed-fee retail store design
A practice agrees a fixed fee for a retail store, based on 600 hours of work. In TimeMagick, the firm would:
- Create the project with its client and a 600-hour budget, and add phase tasks from Concept Design to Tender / Procurement, each with its share of the hours.
- Schedule the phases on the Gantt and check each architect's other projects in resource planning.
- Have the team track time against the phase they are working on.
- Notice that schematic design went past its budget, and discuss the extra option with the client in the project channel.
- Record the physical model and printing costs as project expenses.
- Approve the hours with a billable percentage, check Project Billing and create the invoice.
- Compare the project's profit and margin with other projects in the Profitability module.
This is an illustrative example, not a customer case study.
Where TimeMagick fits in an architecture practice
TimeMagick manages the hours, budgets, plans, client visibility, billing and profitability behind each project. Your BIM and CAD tools stay as they are: TimeMagick does not replace Revit, ArchiCAD or AutoCAD, and it does not manage drawings, models or their versions.
Pricing is per user, and every plan includes every feature. See TimeMagick pricing. For time and project reports with Excel export, see Reports & Analytics.
TimeMagick for architecture firms: key facts
- TimeMagick is time tracking and project profitability software that architecture firms use to track hours by project and phase.
- Design phases are tasks the firm creates, each with its own hour budget; TimeMagick has no architecture phase templates.
- Each project's hour budget is shown against time spent, with budget alerts and forecasting.
- TimeMagick includes a Projects board, per-project and portfolio Gantt, and resource planning.
- Project expenses such as models, printing and subconsultants can be linked to the project and approved.
- Every project has its own chat channel with file attachments.
- Client Members get a workspace with Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels and Sensai.
- Tracked time is approved with a billable percentage before it reaches Project Billing and the invoice.
- The KPI module shows Profit, margin, Effective Rate, Projects Over Budget, Low-Profit Projects and Uninvoiced Hours.
- TimeMagick does not replace BIM or CAD software and takes no screenshots.
Frequently Asked Questions
Phase hours, fixed-fee budgets, planning, client access, billing and profitability for architecture practices.
Is TimeMagick suitable for architecture firms?
Yes, for practices whose fees depend on the hours behind each project. Architects track time against project tasks, managers compare hours spent with each project's hour budget, work is planned on a Gantt, clients get their own workspace, and the same hours feed approval, invoicing and project profitability.
Can TimeMagick track hours by project phase?
Yes, using tasks. You create tasks for the phases you use, such as Concept Design, Schematic Design, Design Development, Documentation, Tender / Procurement and Construction Support, give each one a budget, and architects track time against them. TimeMagick does not ship architecture phase templates; the phases are tasks you define.
Can TimeMagick track fixed-fee architecture project budgets?
Yes. Each project has an hour budget and each task can have its own. Budget against time spent is shown on the project card, in the project overview, on the Gantt, in tracked-time approval and on the admin dashboard, with budget alerts and forecasting. Projects Over Budget is a headline KPI.
Does TimeMagick include Gantt and resource planning for architects?
Yes. Each project has an interactive Gantt with drag to reschedule, resizable durations, assignees, progress, budget and spent time, and a portfolio Gantt shows every client's projects together. Resource planning shows who is working on which project tasks across projects.
Can architecture clients access their projects in TimeMagick?
Yes. Client Members are external accounts linked to one or more of your clients. Their workspace has a Dashboard, Projects, Timesheets, Report, Message Channels and Sensai, so they can follow progress, hours and due tasks and take part in project channels. They cannot edit your projects.
Can architects approve billable hours before invoicing?
Yes. Tracked time waits in approval, where the approver sets a billable percentage for each entry. Project Billing then shows billable hours against billed hours for each client and project, and invoices are created with duration-based and quantity-based lines, taxes, notes and PDF download.
Can TimeMagick record project expenses such as models and printing?
Yes. Company expenses can be linked to a project, given your own categories, such as models, printing, subconsultants or travel, and sent through approval, so the project's cost includes more than staff hours.
Can TimeMagick show which architecture projects are profitable?
Yes. The KPI module shows Revenue, Profit, Avg Client Margin, Effective Rate, Projects Over Budget, Low-Profit Projects, Uninvoiced Hours and Client Health, from the tracked hours, budgets, client rates, expenses and billing already in TimeMagick.
See your project hours before the fee runs out
Start a 1-month free trial and track your first architecture project against its phases and budget.