Rates and costs
Set the charge out value per hour for the time your staff enter against projects.
Synergy lets you set multiple rates for different services provided. You can also invoice for subconsultants, equipment hire, travel, printing costs, on-charge expenses, and fixed rate items like site inspections. [*Business and above]
Key benefits of using Synergy practice management to assign set rates and costs across your AEC business:
- Assign rates to projects and stages
- Assign rates to stages
- Apply rates when entering timesheets
- Rates to recover costs of equipment
- Custom rates*
- Rate and cost calculator*
Set staff rates for use at project and stage level. Create non-staff rates to recover costs as expenses.
Rates are what you bill per hour for the time recorded against projects and stages. They are also how you accrue the charge against a fixed fee. An AEC practice needs multiple rates for different staff levels or services provided. Moreover, architectural, engineering and construction design businesses don’t just bill time for people, but also equipment, printing, and fixed rates like site inspections.
Synergy lets you select rates when entering timesheets or expenses and/or during invoicing. The rate value and markup percentage can be edited using variations to reflect the updated rate for each quarter or year.
Business level users and above can add rate discounts or surcharges at a project or stage level. As with every single element of Synergy, you can manage rates on any web-enabled device — desktop right down to smartphone.
Key rate types in Synergy
Here are four key staff-centered rates in Synergy:
- Staff rates — charge out rates entered by staff in their timesheets, also used for planning budget estimates and on-charging staff time spent on projects. Rates are created for a job role or category of staff (not usually an individual staff name) making staff rates easier to maintain. Customize which rates can be used by each staff member by updating the allowed rates list on their staff record (staff can have multiple charge out rates).
- Cash expense rates — markup percentage rate applied to a variable expense item (e.g. flights and hotels). This is the markup percentage applied when this expense is on-charged to your client.
- Travel expense rates — fixed cost expense items, such as mileage and per diems.
- Inspection rates — defines the charge out fee for a site inspection.
Other rate types in Synergy
- Office expense items
- Subcontractor markup
- Supplier markup
- Supplier items
- Project specific rates
- Stage specific rates