Modernize your
operations

Take the guesswork out of starting, maintaining, and growing your small architecture, engineering, or design business by tracking your project data all in one place.

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Testimonial image — Matthew Hettler

Co-founder and Principal of Format Architecture Office

Running a business is hard!

Managing your operations shouldn't involve guesswork.

Alongside taking care of your core service offerings, you're also tasked with juggling the day-to-day management of your operations. With various schedules, budgets, expenses, and invoices across multiple projects, the questions and unknowns can quickly pile up...

Will I be profitable this year?: As a business owner, profitability is always at top of mind. Over time, you may develop a pretty good feel for overall profitability, but wouldn't you rather know for certain so that you can make operational decisions without guessing?
What's my hourly rate?: Still setting your rate based on what a colleague recommended? Or maybe you reused the rates from your old office? Every business is different, and your rates should be based on actual operational data!
Wait, what did we do last time?: A lot of time can be wasted digging through old project folders to find a budget or schedule to reference on a new project. Shouldn't all of that data be consolidated and easy to reference?
Can I afford to hire?: Growing your business can be intimidating if you don't know what you can afford. Over-extending yourself by taking on projects without the right level of staffing can be even worse. How do you know when it's time to hire?

Manage projects

Take control of your data

Format Projects helps you track project data from proposal through completion to keep your team synced and to build helpful metrics for reference on future projects.

Create budgets.: Track construction budgets to better understand typical costs for different trades and types of projects.
Set schedules.: Track typical service and phase durations throughout the course of a project.
Track billing.: Always know how much of your fee is left to be paid and which reimbursables you still need to bill for.
Track hours.: Monitor your teams' hours to know when certain thresholds are hit or if you may need to shift staff for an upcoming deadline.

Streamline proposals

Put your data to use

With previous project already being tracked in Format Projects, write that next proposal with detailed metrics to pull from. No more guesswork!

Know your rates.: Set your hourly rate knowing your monthly overhead and anticipated revenue for the year.
Plan your time.: Review hours from previous projects to estimate how long specific services or tasks will take.
Verify your gut.: Is your gut telling you that a schedule or budget sounds too aggressive? Manage expectations by checking with your previously completed projects.
Stay synced.: Create and download gantt-style schedules so that team members always know which phase the project is in and what's up next.

Grow confidently

Make informed decisions

Track how your office is growing throughout the year and confidently plan for new hires and new projects.

Run projections.: Generate monthly reports to track your projected revenue, expenses, and profit.
Set goals.: Set revenue goals for the year to come up with a billable hourly rate for the year that will help you get there.
Manage staffing.: Know when to hire based on project metrics and available revenue.
Consolidate your data.: All of your project-related data in one place and easily accessible.

Simple pricing

Tailored to your operations

Get started for a single base fee that only increases as you add employees and expand your operations.

Sole Proprietor

$50 /month

For when you've just left your full-time gig and are getting started on your own.

Manage projects
Profit projections
Track hours
One user account

Get started with Sole Proprietor

Small Office

$75 /month

+$10 /month /employee

For when you begin to scale up your operations with additional employees.

Everything in the Sole Proprietor plan
Employee accounts (max. 20)
Operations management for employees
Employee hour tracking

Get started with Small Office

Frequently asked questions

Who is Format Projects for?: We built Format Projects specifically for architects, engineers, and designers who operate project-based small businesses in the fields of design and construction.
How does Format Projects compare to other project management platforms?: Format Projects allows you to track projects and the growth of your business at more of an operational level rather than a day-to-day task-based level. That said, it also offers tools, such as hours tracking, which can be used in your day-to-day workflow.
How many projects can I have?: Unlimited. Our plans do not limit how many projects you can have at any one time, so you don't have to worry about additional fees every time you start a new project.
How many users can I have?: If you have the Sole Proprietor plan, only one, but as soon as you start to hire employees, you can upgrade to the Small Office plan to add employee user accounts for an additional fee per month per user (up to a max of 20). This way, you only pay for additional users when you know your office is growing.
Once I create employee accounts, can I restrict what certain employees have access to?: Yes! When you upgrade to the Small Office plan, you gain the ability to create roles within your office, which you can use to assign restrictions to certain users. Don't want your summer interns to have access to project billing? Only want Principals to be able to create new projects? No problem.
Can I add users that aren't employees to my account?: At the moment, only employee user accounts are available, though we are planning to implement client and consultant accounts with their own dashboards in the near future.
Can I remove employee user accounts once they're create?: Absolutely. You will only ever be charged by the number of active employee user accounts you currently have set up for that month.
Who created Format Projects?: Format Projects was created by Format Architecture Office in Brooklyn, NY. We started our own architectural office several years ago and quickly realized we were guessing at many of the estimates we were putting into our new project proposals. We began developing Format Projects as a way to manage our projects and to help use the data we had obtained from completed projects to inform our operations.

Take control of your data
and get started today.

Still have questions? Send us an email and we can discuss how Format Projects can help manage your operations.

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Modernize your operations