Industries · Architecture firms
Stop finding outthe fee is goneat Stage 4.
We build practice systems for architecture firms that connect projects, stages, timesheets, drawing issues, authority submissions and fee invoicing — so partners see the health of every job while there's still time to act.
- P-2407Private villa · Al BarariFee at riskFee used 71% · stage 58% completeDetailed design
- P-2411G+4 residential · Al FurjanComments3 municipality comments · response due ThuAuthority approval
- P-2398Office fit-out · Business BayOn trackSite visit Tue · 3 RFIs openSite
- Projects by stage
- Fees & timesheets
- Drawing register
- Transmittals
- Authority approvals
- Variations
- Team resourcing
- Client portal
01Where practices lose margin
The drawings are on time. The fee isn't.
Most architecture firms track design carefully and the business loosely — hours, stages, revisions and invoices live in separate places until the month-end surprise.
01Fee burn is discovered after the stage is over
What happens
Timesheets go into one tool, the fee schedule sits in the appointment letter, and stage progress is a partner's estimate in a weekly meeting.
What it costs
A detailed design stage quietly consumes most of its fee by the halfway point, and nobody sees it until the hours report at month end.
With one system
Every stage has its fee, planned hours and live hours booked against it, with progress set by the project lead — and an alert when burn runs ahead of completion.
02Client changes become free work
What happens
A client moves the kitchen, adds a basement or asks for a third façade option by WhatsApp. The team just does it.
What it costs
Scope creeps revision by revision, variations are raised late or never, and the conversation about extra fees happens when goodwill has already run out.
With one system
Changes are logged against the project as they're requested, linked to the drawings and hours they affect, and turned into a variation for the client to approve.
03Nobody is sure which revision went to whom
What happens
Drawings are issued by email from different people's inboxes; the register is a spreadsheet updated when someone remembers.
What it costs
Contractors price from superseded drawings, consultants coordinate against old backgrounds, and disputes turn into archaeology through sent folders.
With one system
A drawing register with revisions, status and transmittals — every issue records what went, which revision, to whom and when.
04Authority submissions are tracked in someone's head
What happens
Permit packs, NOCs from master developers and utility providers, and civil defence drawings each sit with a different person, with comments arriving by email.
What it costs
Resubmission deadlines slip, consultants are chased at the last minute, and the client hears about delays before the partner does.
With one system
Each submission is a record with its pack, owner, submitted date, comments, response due date and outcome — the system tracks the step, your team handles the portal.
05Resourcing is a whiteboard and a guess
What happens
Who is working on what next month is decided in the studio meeting and kept on a whiteboard or a shared sheet.
What it costs
Some architects are double-booked during submission weeks while others sit between projects, and new work is accepted without knowing when the team can start it.
With one system
A forward plan of people against projects by week, built from stage dates, so partners can see capacity before saying yes to a new commission.
06Invoicing waits for a partner to check the stages
What happens
Stage invoices depend on someone confirming what's complete, finding the fee split and typing the invoice into accounting.
What it costs
Completed stages go uninvoiced for weeks and work in progress builds up quietly on the balance sheet.
With one system
When a stage milestone is signed off, a draft invoice is prepared from the fee schedule for finance to review and send.
02Practice platform preview
What your practice system could look like.
Switch between the views a partner, project architect and practice manager would open every day. Every screen is designed per practice in discovery.
- P-2407Private villa · Al BarariFee at riskFee used 71% · stage 58% completeDetailed design
- P-2411G+4 residential · Al FurjanComments3 municipality comments · response due ThuAuthority approval
- P-2398Office fit-out · Business BayOn trackSite visit Tue · 3 RFIs openSite
- P-2402Mixed-use block · JVCOn track4 tender returns due 14 NovTender
- P-2415School extension · SharjahClient reviewOption C with client for 9 daysConcept
Illustrative interface with sample data — your system is designed around your stages, fee structures and team.
Illustrative demo · sample dataCan you picture your own projects on it?
Build your practice system03Solutions
The parts of a practice system — chosen for your practice.
Every project's position in one view
Projects & stages
Each project carries its client, appointment, stages, key dates, team and current status — with stages that match how you actually work, from brief to site.
- Stage plans per appointment
- Key dates and milestones
- Project team and roles
- Status and risk flags
Every project's position in one view
Projects & stages
Each project carries its client, appointment, stages, key dates, team and current status — with stages that match how you actually work, from brief to site.
- Stage plans per appointment
- Key dates and milestones
- Project team and roles
- Status and risk flags
Not every practice needs every module. We scope the ones your operation actually uses, and add the rest when you need them.
04AI inside the system
AI that keeps the practice side of practice moving.
AI in your practice system works on its own records — timesheets, stage plans, registers, comment letters and minutes. It reads, drafts and flags; architects stay responsible for the work.
AI never makes design, code, structural or fire-safety decisions, and it doesn't certify, stamp or submit anything to an authority. It drafts and summarises for your team to check, and the architect of record decides.
- 01
Fee-burn alerts
Which stages are using fee faster than they're progressing?Compares hours booked with stage progress and planned hours, flags the projects drifting and shows what's driving it — a revision round, a single task or an unplanned extra.
- 02
Authority comment responses
Architect reviews every replyTurn this comment letter into a response table.Reads the uploaded comments, lists each one against the drawings it refers to, assigns an owner and drafts a response sheet — the technical answers come from your team.
- 03
Meeting minutes to actions
Summarise today's client meeting and log the actions.From your notes or a transcript, drafts the minutes, lists decisions and actions with owners, and flags anything that looks like a change of scope for a possible variation.
- 04
Fee proposal drafting
Partner approves the feeDraft a fee proposal for a G+2 villa in Dubai Hills.Builds a stage-by-stage draft from your standard scope and comparable past projects, with the hours each stage actually took — for a partner to adjust and approve.
- 05
Plain-language reporting
How did fee recovery look across residential projects this quarter?Answers from your own timesheets, fees and invoices, with the figures and the projects behind them — no report building needed to ask a question.
05A day with ORCHESTR
A project architect's Monday, two ways.
- 08:30The week is already laid outDue submissions, open comments, pending sign-offs and the client's weekend change request are on one project page.
- 09:30Capacity on screenThe forward plan shows who is free from which week, so the bid decision takes minutes.
- 11:00The transmittal answers itThe register shows the revision issued, to whom and when — and that it's been superseded since.
- 14:00Comments become tasksEach comment is logged against its drawing with an owner and a due date, and the response sheet is drafted.
- 16:30Hours booked against stagesHours go in against the project and stage the same day, so fee burn is accurate for the partner review.
- 18:00The partner sees it firstThe partner sees the villa's burn running ahead of progress and books a variation conversation with the client.
An illustrative day — every system is designed around how your team actually works.
06Integrations
Works alongside your design tools.
Integrations depend on what each provider exposes — we confirm every connection in scoping before committing to it. Names are examples of categories we work with, not partnerships.
- Design & CDE
- Autodesk Construction Cloud (via API where available)Revit, AutoCAD and PDF sets as linked documentsExisting common data environment (via API or export)
- Documents
- SharePoint / OneDriveGoogle DriveDropbox
- Email & calendars
- Microsoft 365 / OutlookGoogle Workspace
- Accounting
- Zoho BooksQuickBooksXero
- Messaging
- WhatsApp Business APIEmailMicrosoft Teams
- Data
- Existing timesheet tools (via export)SpreadsheetsBI tools
07How we build your system
Built around your practice — not a template.
- 01
Understand your business
We learn how the business actually runs — people, tools, hand-offs and where time is lost — before proposing anything. - 02
Map your workflows
Every workflow is mapped end to end: who does what, when, with which information, and what should happen automatically. - 03
Design your system
Screens, records, permissions and integrations are designed around those workflows, and the scope is agreed in writing. - 04
Build and integrate
We build in stages and connect the tools you keep, so your team sees working software early and gives feedback as we go. - 05
Test and launch
We test with real scenarios, migrate the agreed data, set up roles and access, and onboard the team. - 06
Support and improve
After launch we support the system under an agreed arrangement and extend it as the business changes.
08Why it matters
What changes for the practice.
We don't quote savings we haven't measured. In discovery we baseline how your team works today, so improvements can be tracked against your own numbers.
Fee health you can see mid-stage
Burn against progress is visible while the stage is running, not after it closes.Changes that get paid for
Client requests are logged and turned into variations instead of disappearing into revisions.One source of truth for issues
Every drawing issue is recorded, so revision questions are answered in seconds.Submissions that don't stall
Each authority step has an owner, a date and a next action.Confident bid decisions
Partners see team capacity before committing to start dates.Stages invoiced on time
Completed milestones turn into draft invoices instead of waiting for someone to notice.
09Possible use cases
How different practices could use it.
Examples of what we could build — not completed client projects.
Villas without the fee leak
Stage fees, timesheets and a change log for a small team designing private villas, where repeated client revisions are the biggest risk to margin.
Twenty projects, one picture
Projects, drawing registers, approvals and resourcing across residential, commercial and education work, with a partner dashboard on top.
Design and fit-out on one record
Architecture stages and interior packages under one project, with procurement-ready drawing issues and site supervision invoicing.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi, side by side
Office-level teams and fee targets with shared project records, so work and people can move between offices without losing the numbers.
FAQs
Architecture practice questions, answered.
Real estate & property
01Does this replace Revit, AutoCAD or our CDE?
No. Design stays in your design tools and models stay where they are. The practice system manages the work around them — projects, stages, fees, registers, approvals and people — and links to drawings and models rather than storing them as the source of truth.
02Can it follow our own stages and fee structures?
Yes. Stages, fee splits, supervision fees, retentions and lump-sum or time-based appointments are set per project the way your appointments are written. We map them from real contracts in discovery.
03Will architects actually fill in timesheets?
That's a design question we take seriously. Time entry is built to take seconds — against today's projects and stages, from desktop or phone — and partners only see useful fee numbers if it's easy enough to do daily.
04Does it submit to Dubai Municipality or other authorities?
No. Your team submits through the official portals as they do today. The system tracks each submission — pack, owner, dates, comments, responses and outcome — and can prepare the document lists and response sheets that go with them.
05Can it keep our drawing register and transmittals?
Yes. Drawings and documents are registered with revisions and status, and every issue creates a transmittal record. If you already use a common data environment, we can connect to it where it allows instead of duplicating it.
06Can we bring in existing projects and timesheet history?
Usually, from your current spreadsheets, timesheet tool exports or accounting system. We agree what moves — live projects, fee schedules, historical hours for benchmarking — before launch.
07What does AI do with our project information?
It reads and drafts: fee-burn alerts, comment response sheets, minutes and proposal drafts. It never makes design or technical decisions and works only on data the user is allowed to see. Anything sent to a client or authority is reviewed by your team first.
08Can clients and consultants log in?
If you want them to. Each party sees only what's been issued or assigned to them — drawings, approvals, meeting actions — under access you control.
09Does it work for a firm with more than one office?
Yes. Offices can have their own teams, targets and reporting, with shared projects and a practice-wide view for partners.
10How is a practice system priced?
It's quoted after a discovery call, based on the modules, integrations and team size involved. Support and hosting are agreed separately, in writing.
Start here
Let's mapyour practice.
Tell us how projects move through your studio today. We'll come back with how one system could connect stages, fees, drawings, approvals and people.
- 01We get back to you to arrange a call.
- 02A focused conversation about how your practice runs today.
- 03If there's a fit, a written scope and quote — no obligation.
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