.svg)
.png)
.png)
.svg)
.png)
.png)
Asked at an AIA Convention workshop on construction contract administration whether CA was a profit center, one attendee out of more than 50 said yes.
AIA Best Practices: Budgeting for the construction phaseConstruction administration (CA)
When does your Construction Administration (CA) fee run out?
Enter one project's fee and the construction-phase work you expect. You will see the month your CA budget is spent, what the rest of construction costs your firm, and how much of the project's profit that takes.
This project
Unbilled CA time
Of planned profit
CA share to break even
CA fee spent over construction
Cumulative CA time at your billing rate, month by month.
Expected spend
CA fee
Unbilled
Tighter process
Each RFI
Each submittal
Each change order
Each month of delayMeetings, site visits and pay applications alone
Where the CA hours go
Expected effort by activity, valued at your billing rate.
What a tighter RFI and submittal process is worth
Cut the hours each RFI and submittal takes, and the coordination around them.
Meetings, site visits, pay applications, change orders and closeout stay as entered. The dashed line on the chart shows this case.
Industry data
Why CA rarely pays for itself
Published figures from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), its insurance program, Navigant Construction Forum and Deltek. Each links to its source.
The usual rule of thumb gives CA a fifth of the fee, after schematic design, design development, construction documents and bidding. AIA's own guidance works through why that share runs short.
AIA Best PracticesRFIs per $1 million of construction on $5M to $50M projects, from Navigant's study of 1,362 projects. Smaller projects generate more RFIs per dollar than large ones.
Navigant Construction Forum, via the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC)Average cost to review and respond to one RFI in the same study, at roughly 8 hours of combined project-team time each.
Navigant Construction Forum, via ASCCDesign firms insured through CNA's professional liability program that face a claim in a given year. The AIA Trust notes that most claims against design professionals start during construction.
AIA New York, Victor and AIA TrustAverage operating profit for architecture and engineering firms in Deltek's 2026 Clarity study, with utilization just under 60%. A CA overrun comes straight out of that margin.
Deltek Clarity 2026How this is calculated
The CA budget is your design fee multiplied by the share for CA. Hours are valued at your blended billing rate, the same way fee burn shows up when you compare timesheets to the fee.
Each activity is spread across construction the way CA work usually lands: submittals front-loaded, RFIs peaking mid-construction, change orders and ASIs building toward the end, meetings, site visits and pay applications every month, and punch list and closeout in the final month.
Coordination overhead is added on top of every activity. It stands for logging, distributing, filing and following up, the time that rarely gets its own timesheet code.
The example is an $8M project with an 8% fee. Its RFI count uses Navigant's rate for $5M to $50M projects. The other counts and hours are illustrative, so replace them with your own. Per-item hours are your firm's time only, which is less than the combined project-team time Navigant measured.
The result is a planning estimate for one project. It is not accounting or legal advice.
Glossary
Terms used on this page
Plain definitions of the construction-phase terms, money measures and sources above.
Construction phase
- Architect's supplemental instruction (ASI)
- A written instruction from the architect that clarifies the drawings or orders a minor change, without changing the contract sum or schedule.
- Change order
- A signed change to the construction contract that adjusts scope, cost or schedule. The architect usually prepares or reviews it.
- Closeout
- The end of the project, when warranties, manuals, as-built drawings and final paperwork are collected and the architect certifies final completion.
- Construction administration (CA)
- The architect's services while the building is under construction: answering questions, reviewing submittals, visiting the site, certifying payments and closing out. AIA documents also call it construction contract administration (CCA).
- Owner-architect-contractor (OAC) meeting
- A regular meeting of the owner, architect and contractor to review progress, open questions and decisions.
- Pay application
- The contractor's monthly request for payment. The architect reviews it against the work in place and certifies the amount due.
- Punch list
- Items found incomplete or not matching the contract documents near the end of construction, which the contractor must fix before final completion.
- Request for information (RFI)
- A formal question, usually from the contractor, asking the design team to clarify the drawings, specifications or design intent.
- Submittal
- Shop drawings, product data or samples the contractor sends to the architect to confirm they follow the design before materials are ordered or installed.
Money and time
- Blended rate
- The average hourly billing rate across everyone working on the project, weighted by the hours each person spends.
- Coordination overhead
- Time spent logging, distributing, filing and chasing items, which rarely gets its own timesheet code.
- Fee burn
- How quickly the hours charged to a project use up its fee.
- Operating profit
- What a firm keeps after its operating costs, shown here as a share of net revenue (revenue less consultant and other pass-through costs).
- Professional liability claim
- A claim that a design professional's error or omission caused someone a loss.
- Utilization
- The share of staff hours that are billable to projects.
Organizations and studies
- American Institute of Architects (AIA)
- The professional association for architects in the United States. The AIA Trust provides insurance and risk-management resources to its members.
- American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC)
- A trade association whose newsletter summarized the Navigant RFI findings cited here.
- CNA and Victor
- CNA is a US insurer. Victor manages its professional liability program for design firms and publishes its claims data.
- Deltek Clarity
- An annual benchmarking study of architecture and engineering firms by Deltek, a project-management software company.
- Navigant Construction Forum
- The construction research group of the consultancy Navigant, which studied over a million RFIs across 1,362 projects.