Most architects didn’t choose their profession for the invoicing, or the admin work.
But according to the 2026 Architecture Industry Benchmark Report,, a third of all firms now say their teams spend less than half of their working time on actual design work. In 2025, that figure was 19%.
In the space of one year, the number of firms where admin has overtaken design has nearly doubled, with this balance shifting further in the wrong direction. Now, only 27% of firms report that their teams spend 71% or more of their time on design,
That gap is a signal that something structural has shifted in how architecture firms use their most valuable resource: the time and expertise of their people.
Where The Hours Are Going
For the first time, the 2026 survey asked firms to identify the specific non-billable tasks consuming most of their team’s time. Project management tasks came out on top, followed closely by client communication and approvals, then resourcing and planning. Invoicing, billing, time tracking, and general administrative work rounded out the list.
None of these things are optional. But when they are handled manually, across disconnected tools, they can quickly eat away at the day. The firms spending less than half their day on design aren’t less organised than their peers. They’re simply using more tools than they need, none of which talk to each other well enough to reduce the administrative load.
Project management software like Total Synergy brings approvals, communications, time tracking, and billing into a single connected workflow, reducing the coordination overhead that pulls your team away from design.
Utilisation is Improving, But Firms Still Lack Visibility
Despite design time being beaten out by admin, utilisation rates – the amount of working hours spent on billable work – are trending upward. In 2026, 37% of firms report a utilisation rate of 71 to 80%, up from just 11% who reported the same in 2025. Compared to 2025, there are also less practices uncertain about their utilisation rates, suggesting better tracking habits across the industry.
The challenge, however, is consistency. Only 25% of firms track utilisation as a firm-wide metric. Nearly half do so inconsistently, and a further third either do not track it at all or are unsure whether they do. Every untracked percentage point of utilisation is billable time that quietly disappears.
When project management, time tracking, approvals, billing, and resourcing all live in a single connected platform, admin overhead drops and the time available for design grows. The architecture firms that have made that shift are already seeing the difference in their utilisation numbers.
How Does Your Firm Compare?
The 2026 Architecture Industry Benchmark Report draws on responses from architecture practices across the globe to give the sector a clear picture of how firms are operating right now, covering opportunities and challenges spanning everything from profitability, staffing, technology and growth.
For more insights, and to discover how your margins, utilisation and business development efforts compare to firms like yours, download the report here to see the full picture.
About Total Synergy (Australia)
Total Synergy is an Australian software company based in North Sydney, NSW, helping architecture and engineering practices across Australia improve project visibility, resourcing, and profitability with project management and practice management software.
