Utilisation Rate Calculator
Available hours, billable utilisation and recovery from the numbers you already have.
Utilisation is the share of available hours that are billable. Recovery is how much of that billable time you actually turned into fee. This calculator works both out from contracted hours, leave, bank holidays, non-billable time and fee earned.
Utilisation compares billable hours with available hours. Recovery compares the fee earned with the value of those billable hours.
Calculator
Change any figure and the result updates. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere. Defaults are illustrative.
Capacity
Year to date or full year
Utilisation
- Contracted hours
- 15,600 h
- Less leave, bank holidays, non-billable
- 2,700 h
- Available hours
- 12,900 h
- Billable hours
- 9,500 h
- Value at charge-out rate
- £807,500
- Fee earned
- £740,000
- Recovery rate
- 91.6%
- Effective rate per billable hour
- £78
Utilisation and recovery together show whether time is both billable and paid for.
Results exclude VAT. Figures are rounded to the nearest pound or hour.
What the numbers mean
Available hours are what is left after leave and non-billable time; utilisation and recovery are ratios against them.
- Available hours
- Contracted hours less annual leave, bank holidays and the training, admin and sick days you expect.
- Utilisation
- Billable hours divided by available hours.
- Recovery
- Fee earned divided by the value of billable hours at charge-out rates. Below 100% means time was written off or fees were set low.
- Effective rate
- Fee earned divided by billable hours: the rate you actually achieved.
What good looks like
There is no authoritative UK benchmark, so compare roles with each other and with last year.
Directors and practice owners carry business development, management and reviews, so their billable share is lower than project staff. RIBA's practice management white paper reports owners spending just under half their time on billable work, and architects and assistants nearer 70%. Track each role separately and watch the trend rather than chasing a single number.
For the fuller discussion see architect utilisation rate and the ten practice KPIs.
Questions practices ask
Short answers to the questions behind this calculator.
What is a good utilisation rate for an architect?
It depends on role. Project staff commonly sit well above practice owners, who carry management and business development. There is no authoritative UK benchmark, so compare roles and track the trend.
What is the difference between utilisation and recovery?
Utilisation measures how much available time was billable. Recovery measures how much of that billable time was actually paid for. A practice can be busy and still unprofitable if recovery is low.
Should leave count as available time?
No. Remove annual leave, bank holidays and expected training, admin and sick days before calculating utilisation, otherwise the rate is understated and targets are unfair.
How many bank holidays are there in the UK?
England and Wales usually have 8, Scotland 9 and Northern Ireland 10, with occasional one-off additions. Use the count for the year and nation you are planning.
Where Avoice fits
Avoice records time in the same place the work happens, so billable and non-billable hours are split automatically, utilisation is shown per person and per project in People and Staffing, and recovery falls out of the fee each stage actually earned against the hours booked..
To see it on your own projects, book a demo.