This article is sponsored by Engineers Australia and written by Mahlab.
Growing an engineering firm comes with challenges—especially when outdated processes, disconnected systems, and financial blind spots make it harder to manage projects effectively.
As firms expand, tracking resources, managing finances and staying ahead of project risks become more complex. The key to sustainable growth? Implementing the right tools and strategies to improve visibility, enhance decision-making and keep operations running smoothly at any scale.
As engineering firms expand, they often encounter operational bottlenecks that slow them down – whether it’s managing time tracking, resource allocation, or project accounting. Without scalable processes in place, inefficiencies can pile up, making it difficult to keep projects on track and maintain profitability.
Many firms start small, relying on basic tools such as spreadsheets to manage operations. But as project demands increase and teams grow, these tools quickly become impractical – leading to project delays, mismanaged resources and rising costs.
For growing firms, the key to scaling successfully lies in integrating flexible, purpose-built systems that streamline workflows, improve financial visibility, and provide real-time insights.
Below, we highlight four common growth challenges and how the right systems can solve them.
1. Disconnected Systems
Scaling a firm comes with growing pains, and for Resource Development Consultants Limited (RDCL), a geotechnical engineering firm in New Zealand, disconnected systems became a major obstacle. Managing up to six projects daily with more than 35 staff, they struggled to track project progress efficiently.
Finding the right project management software was a turning point.
“Finding a software platform with the flexibility to drill down into detail and also provide a bird’s eye view was instrumental in helping us scale,” Logan McLennan, RDCL’s operations manager, explained.
In the firm’s early days, when the team was just 15 people, projects were managed in a hands-on way – one engineer would oversee a job from start to finish, keeping much of the project information in their head.
“Now, we’re three times the size,” Logan said. “We can’t interact with every staff member that may be involved in a job anymore.”
As RDCL scaled, they needed a system that could centralise project data, improve visibility, and help managers make informed decisions without being directly involved in every detail.
2. Lacking Financial Visibility
As firms grow, managing project finances becomes more complex – especially when dealing with multiple fee structures such as capped fees, inspection rates and hourly rates. Without a clear system in place, tracking project budgets and financial performance can become overwhelming.
For DRAC Consulting, a building services and sustainability consultancy, organising financial data across multiple projects was a major challenge. They had a “mountain of data” that needed organising to track performance against the original plan and achieve project deliverables.
“It’s about visibility of data, being able to look at what we used to do on 15 spreadsheets in one place,” David Yeates, a consultant with Total Synergy, a specialised software for engineering and architectural firms, told create.
Addressing bottlenecks in approvals and task allocation can also help firms scale more smoothly.
“Those workflows may change a bit as far as approvals and allocation of tasks go,” Yeates said. “The bigger firms have got a resource manager whereas some of the smaller firms wish they did but can’t afford it – but the core processes remain scalable.”

3. Informed Decision Making
For engineering firms, hiring the right talent at the right time is critical. But without performance data, it can be difficult to determine the best staffing structure for a given project.
Data insights pulled from specialised software such as Total Synergy allow firms to:
- Identify the ideal skill mix for each project
- Avoid overburdening staff
- Improve accuracy when bidding for new work
“You can look at how we performed against the plan when we first bid on the job,” Yeates said. “We said we were going to need an associate and an engineer, but we ended up doing it with a senior engineer and a graduate. Does that help us bid better next time?”
Having access to this kind of data allows firms to refine their hiring and staffing decisions over time, ensuring projects are completed efficiently without overextending resources.
4. Avoiding Project Risks
One of the most valuable aspects of real-time project tracking is the ability to catch potential problems early. When firms can monitor hours worked against budget in real time, they can spot scope creep and inefficiencies before they become major issues.
“You can look at this data live,” Yeates said. “You’re not going back to five-year-old projects that have been archived for two years. You’re looking at the concept design stages on projects that are currently in documentation or in construction. The data is a living thing.”
For HERA Engineering, having access to real-time data through their software made a significant impact on their ability to manage projects proactively.
Managing Director Matteo Tirapelle explained that their software’s ability to flag early warning signs provided a “vital window of opportunity to implement corrective measures”.
By improving financial tracking and data visibility, HERA Engineering was able to focus on strategic planning, allocate resources more effectively, and make decisions that aligned with their long-term growth strategies.
This approach not only helped them evaluate individual project performance but also gave them a clearer picture of overall business health.
“By identifying issues before they escalate, we’ve been able to take timely action, resulting in a more efficient use of resources and, ultimately, enhanced profitability,” Tirapelle said.
Scaling with Total Synergy
RDCL, DRAC Consulting, and HERA Engineering – all Total Synergy customers – have grown successfully by improving operations, gaining financial clarity and making smarter, data-driven decisions.
Total Synergy is a software platform built for architecture and engineering firms, bringing together project financials, resource planning, collaboration and real-time insights in one seamless solution. Whether moving beyond spreadsheets or optimising complex projects, Total Synergy gives firms the visibility and control they need to scale with confidence.
