Fee Burn Calculator
Is this stage on track? Hours used against progress, and what it will take to finish.
Hours used means nothing on its own. The useful comparison is hours used against how far through the stage the work really is. Enter the stage fee, the rate, hours to date and percentage complete; the calculator shows the fee earned, the burn, the projected hours at completion and the overrun.
If the share of budget used runs ahead of the share of work done, the stage will overrun unless something changes.
Calculator
Change any figure and the result updates. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere. Defaults are illustrative.
The stage
Optional
Status
- Budget hours
- 533 h
- Hours used
- 400 h · 75% of budget
- Progress
- 60% complete
- Fee earned to date
- £24,000
- Value of hours spent
- £30,000
- Earned less spent
- -£6,000
- Estimate at completion
- 667 h
- Hours still needed
- 267 h
- Required pace
- 44 h/week
- Projected margin on stage
- -25%
Fee used is 15 points ahead of progress. Check for scope creep that should be an additional service, rebalance the team, or agree a revised fee before the stage closes.
Results exclude VAT. Figures are rounded to the nearest pound or hour.
What it calculates
Earned value for a single RIBA stage, in hours and in pounds.
- Budget hours
- Stage fee divided by the blended rate.
- Fee earned
- Stage fee multiplied by percentage complete.
- Estimate at completion
- Hours to date divided by percentage complete, assuming the current pace continues.
- Variance
- Estimate at completion less budget hours. Positive is an overrun.
The honest input is percentage complete. Ask the project lead what is left, not how much has been done. For reading the patterns see how to read a fee burn report and timesheets by RIBA stage.
Red, amber, green
Simple thresholds keep the weekly review quick.
- Green: fee used within 5 points of progress.
- Amber: 5 to 15 points ahead. Watch weekly and name the cause.
- Red: more than 15 points ahead. Act this week: scope, team or fee.
Adjust the thresholds to your practice; the point is that they are agreed before the stage starts.
Questions practices ask
Short answers to the questions behind this calculator.
What is fee burn?
The share of a stage's fee, or budget hours, used so far, measured against how far through the stage the work is. Burn running ahead of progress is the early warning of an overrun.
How do you calculate estimate at completion?
Divide hours to date by percentage complete. If 400 hours have delivered 60% of the stage, completion needs about 667 hours at the same pace.
How often should architects review fee burn?
Weekly for live stages, by the project lead, with a monthly director review. Monthly alone finds overruns too late to act.
What should I do when a stage is overrunning?
Check for scope creep that should be an additional service, rebalance the team mix, tighten the remaining scope, or agree a revised fee with the client before the stage closes.
Where Avoice fits
Avoice shows this for every live stage without a calculator: hours from timesheets roll up against each stage fee, the project lead records percentage complete in the weekly review, and the stage turns amber or red on the project and in Financials when burn runs ahead of progress..
To see it on your own projects, book a demo.