Engineering and architecture · Design practices
Fractional CFO for engineering and architecture firms
A design practice wins work on a fixed fee and is paid as stages are reached, so the margin depends on hours the client never sees. We help you track profit while each project is running, bill each stage as soon as it is reached and plan the cash for the people you hire next.
What engineering and architecture principals are deciding
Rules and rates are stated in general terms. Your legal adviser or tax adviser can confirm how they apply to your business.
Which projects are making money right now
A fixed fee job can be on time and still over its hours, and unless hours are tracked against progress, the overrun shows only at the final invoice.
How to set fees for the next proposal
The fee needs the full cost of each hour, from salary and on costs to the office, software and insurance.
When to hire the next engineer or architect
Each hire adds wages, super and, once Australian taxable wages pass $1.3M a year, Queensland payroll tax before the fees arrive.
What the firm is worth when the founder signs every drawing
Buyers discount a practice that depends on one principal, and the capital gains rules change on 1 July 2027. Your tax adviser can confirm how they apply to you.
Illustrative example · Design practice · Queensland
A fixed fee project, 20 per cent over its hours
A practice wins a project for a fixed fee of $180,000 and budgets 900 hours. The full cost of an hour, counting salary, on costs and overheads, is $155, so the planned cost is $139,500 and the planned profit $40,500, or 22.5 per cent of the fee.
The project runs 20 per cent over, at 1,080 hours. The cost rises to $167,400 and the profit falls to $12,600, or 7.0 per cent of the fee. The fee earned for each hour drops from $200 to $166.67.
$40,500
Planned profit
$12,600
Profit after the overrun
68.9%
Share of the profit lost
$166.67
Fee earned an hour, down from $200
Tracking hours used against the share of the work complete, stage by stage, shows an overrun while there is still time to talk to the client about scope.
Illustrative, modelled on a design practice project of this size. Not a client engagement.
Method: project cost as hours times a full cost rate of $155 an hour; profit as the fee less that cost. Worked in code on 22 October 2026.
How an engagement runs
Every engagement starts with discovery and a diagnostic in the first two weeks. We get under your numbers, from fees, hours and stage billing by project to the full cost of an hour, payroll and aged debtors, and surface the issues and opportunities that matter most to a design practice.
In weeks three and four we set up clean reporting, a cash flow forecast and the rhythm of reviews. The first decisions land in the second month, in pricing, cash or cost, and from the third month we are part of how the business runs, alongside your accountant and bookkeeper. The fractional CFO service page sets out the full scope.
Tools to start with
Free tools for the questions engineering and architecture principals ask most, each with its result on screen straight away.
Reading for engineering and architecture principals
Common questions
Do you replace our accountant?
No. Your accountant keeps the tax returns, BAS, year end accounts and the advice on how profit is taxed, and your bookkeeper keeps the books. We add the forward looking work: cash forecasts, project margins and the cost of an hour, and the numbers behind decisions on fees, hiring, partners and a sale. We share what we find with your accountant, so everyone works from the same figures.
What does it cost?
The fractional CFO partnership starts from $3,750 a month, billed month to month with no long term lock in. When you need a figure for the business, before a sale or a handover, an indicative valuation starts from $4,500 and a comprehensive valuation from $13,500. Each of these is a starting price.
How is the fee sized?
Engagements usually stay at the starting price. Some need closer oversight or a deeper assessment, and the scope and fee rise to match. Find your fit confirms your price based on the characteristics of your business, and the pricing page explains how everything is sized.
Do you work with engineering and architecture firms outside Brisbane?
Yes. We work with engineering and architecture firms across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and further afield across Australia. Most of the monthly work happens over video calls and shared reports, with visits to your office as each engagement needs, so distance changes little. The locations we serve page has the detail.
What do you need from us to start?
Read only access to your accounting software and your project or timesheet system, the last two years of financial statements, the fee, budget and hours for your current projects, aged debtors and your payroll summary. A first meeting with the principals covers how projects are won, run and billed. Nothing needs to change in your systems before we start.
Talk it through with us
A 45 minute discovery call is complimentary. Bring the fees and hours for three current projects.