Logiciel pour architectes : honoraires par phase & chantier

I Who is it for

A tool designed for architecture firms of 3–20 people, not for large international agencies or solo architects just starting out.

An architect’s tools fall into two disconnected worlds: design (Archicad, Revit, SketchUp) on one side, and management (Excel for fees, accounting software for invoicing, email for site coordination) on the other. Orizen doesn’t replace your design software: it takes over everything that isn’t design — sales, mission phases, fees, site management, profitability. Four profiles stand out in particular.

Partner architect / agency manager (3–20 people)

You respond to tenders, design, monitor sites, and on Friday evening you manually recalculate where each project’s fees stand in a spreadsheet that barely keeps up.

All in Orizen: tender pipeline, mission phases, fees per phase, site. The agency dashboard updates automatically.

Project manager / project architect

You manage multiple missions in parallel, each at a different phase (one in APD, another in DET), with design offices, contractors and a project owner to keep informed. Information gets scattered between emails and meetings.

One project = its MOP phases, joint contractors, site reports and progress. You see where each mission stands at a glance.

Executive assistant / agency management

You issue progress fee notes by copying amounts from one spreadsheet to another, hoping you don’t mix up the phase percentages.

Fee notes are generated from phase progress, pro rata, with no re-entry. The Pennylane export is one click away.

Management — control & profitability

You know your turnover, but not your margin. A flagship project can be a point of pride and a money pit: no one really compares fixed fees against actual time spent.

Timesheet by project and phase, margin = fees − charged time. Finally, you know which projects and phases make or lose you money.

II The agency’s 3 flows unified

Tenders, mission phases, fees — all in one tool, seamlessly.

The visual breakdown below: the unique challenges faced by architecture firms (long tender cycles, phase-based fees, multiple stakeholders, invisible profitability), how Orizen addresses each, a typical use case for a 3–20 person firm, and a day in the life of an equipped agency.

What you experience daily

The specific challenges of architecture firms

Win tenders and competitions, split fees by project phase, track multiple sites and know if each project is truly profitable — it’s a full-time management job on top of the design work.

Phase-based fees that are hard to track

Your fees are expressed as a percentage of the works amount and broken down by phase (ESQ, APS, APD, PRO, ACT/DCE, VISA, DET, AOR). Knowing at all times what is committed, invoiced and remaining for each phase is a spreadsheet nightmare.

Invisible project profitability

Your fees are often fixed, but the actual time spent isn’t. Without time tracking per project, you don’t know which projects are profitable and which are losing you money.

Multiple stakeholders on every project

Client representatives, structural and MEP engineers, quantity surveyors, contractors: each project involves around ten stakeholders. Without a central hub, site meeting minutes and decisions get lost in emails.

Tenders & competitions: time-consuming

Public tender applications and competitions tie up weeks for modest success rates. Without a structured pipeline or deadline tracking, you miss submissions or waste effort on poorly qualified opportunities.

Orizen for architecture agencies

Everything you need, in one tool

Each module is designed to adapt to the specifics of project management and the MOP law.

CRM pipeline for tenders & competitions

Track your public and private tender applications and competitions: submission deadlines, tender documents, client, potential co-contractors. Alerts notify you before each submission deadline.

Competitions Tenders Deadlines

Phase-based project management (MOP law)

Structure each mission into phases (ESQ, APS, APD, PRO, ACT/DCE, VISA, DET, AOR) with milestones, progress and site meeting minutes. You always know which phase each project is in.

MOP phases Milestones Site

Fees as % of construction cost

Enter the estimated works amount and your fee rate; Orizen allocates fees per phase according to your distribution key. You see the committed, invoiced and remaining amounts, phase by phase.

% works By phase Allocation

Progress-based fee notes

Generate your fee notes from phase progress: when a phase reaches its completion percentage, the note is calculated pro rata. Deposits, interim payments and final balances follow the same logic. Pennylane export included.

Progress tracking Deposits Pennylane

Timesheet by project → profitability

Each team member logs their time per project and phase. Orizen calculates the actual margin (fees − charged time) and shows you, phase by phase, which projects are profitable and which are overrunning.

Time spent Project margin Per phase

BET subcontracting & client portal

Declare subcontractors (BET structure, MEP, quantity surveyor) with their fee share and track your net portion of the project management team. The client portal lets the project owner monitor progress without accessing your internal space. Project management contract signed online.

BET / subcontracting Client portal e-Signature

Typical use case

Profile: architecture agency, 3–20 people

Project management agency

3 to 20 people Fees from €300k to €3M France

Before Orizen: 4 tools, no margin visibility

Tenders tracked in a spreadsheet, phase-based fees recalculated manually, invoices generated in accounting software, sites managed by email. Every month-end, the partner spent half a day piecing together the status of each project—never truly knowing which were profitable.

With Orizen: everything is centralised

Tender pipeline and mission phases in one tool Fee notes generated from phase progress Project margin visible: fees − actual time spent Pennylane export for the accountant with no re-entry

A typical day with Orizen

From tender to site, seamlessly

Here’s how an associate architect organises their day with Orizen.

08:30 — Morning

Pipeline and deadlines review

In 5 minutes, she sees the tenders to submit this week, ongoing competitions and projects with a phase nearing its billing deadline. Orizen alerts her to a submission 3 days in advance—just enough time to finalise the report with the BET.

10:00 — New contract

Project management contract signed online

A project owner validates the full mission. They create the project with its MOP phases, enter the works amount and their fee rate: Orizen automatically allocates fees by phase. The project management contract goes out for e-signature, and the client signs immediately.

14:00 — Site meeting

Progress reports and fee notes

On a project in the DET phase, she enters the site meeting minutes and updates the progress. The phase reaches a milestone: Orizen suggests the corresponding fee note, calculated pro rata. One click, and it’s generated and ready to send, with no manual recalculation.

17:30 — End of day

Up-to-date profitability dashboard

Without lifting a finger, the dashboard reflects the real-time situation: committed and invoiced fees, time spent per project, margin per phase, ongoing competitions. Before the agency meeting, management can see at a glance which projects are on budget and which are overrunning.

III How it works

An agency equipped in one day, not six months.

Three clear milestones: commercial foundation + projects in Day 1 phases, first fee note at progress Week 1, and profitability monitoring Month 1.

Day 1 — The foundation

Pipeline, projects and phases in place

Import tender pipeline and clients
Ongoing projects created with their MOP phases and works amount
First design contract issued and signed online

Week 1 — The fee cycle

First progress fee note

Time tracking by project operational for the team
First fee note generated from phase progress
Pennylane connector configured, Orizen onboarding call

Month 1 — The control

Management and partners monitor the margin

Real-time agency dashboard (fees, time spent, margin)
Deadline alerts for tender submissions and billable phases
Profitability analysis by project and mission phase

IV FAQs

Answers to the questions we’re asked most often.

What are the specific management needs of an architecture firm?

An architecture firm combines several unique workflows: a long sales cycle involving public or private tenders and competitions; fees expressed as a percentage of the work amount, broken down into mission phases (MOP law: ESQ, APS, APD, PRO, ACT/DCE, VISA, DET, AOR); site monitoring with meeting reports and work progress statements; and profitability that depends on the gap between often fixed fees and actual time spent. A generic CRM ignores MOP phases and site work; an industrial ERP does not understand project management. Orizen is designed for all these workflows together.

How does Orizen track fees per phase according to the MOP law?

Each project is structured into mission phases (ESQ, APS, APD, PRO, ACT/DCE, VISA, DET, AOR). You enter the estimated work amount and your fee rate; Orizen automatically allocates fees per phase according to your distribution key. As the mission progresses, each phase moves to "in progress" then "completed", triggering the corresponding fee note. You can see at any time what is committed, invoiced and remaining to be invoiced, phase by phase.

Can tenders and competitions be managed in Orizen?

Yes. The sales pipeline is designed for the long cycles of architecture: applications for public and private tenders, competitions, award ceremonies, submission deadlines. Each opportunity carries its key dates, documents (tender dossier, brief, sketch), the client and the potential co-contractors. Alerts notify you before a submission deadline, so you never miss a filing due to lack of follow-up.

How do progress-based fee notes work?

Fee notes are generated from phase progress: when a phase reaches a completion percentage (or is completed), Orizen produces the corresponding fee note on a pro rata basis, aligned with the phase’s fee amount rather than manual entry. Down payments, interim statements and final balances follow the same logic. No more spreadsheets recalculated by hand for each funding request.

How much does Orizen cost for an architecture firm?

Orizen is billed per active user (architects, design draughtsmen, project managers, management). The pricing remains within the range of industry-specific software on the market, but natively includes CRM, phase-based project management, fees, timesheets, e-signature and client portal—without stacking additional modules. For a firm of 3 to 20 people, it’s one clear subscription instead of four separate tools.

Does Orizen handle co-contracting with engineering firms and site monitoring?

Yes. For each project, you can declare co-contractors (structural, MEP, quantity surveyor, acoustician, etc.) along with their fee share, allowing you to track your net portion of the design team’s fees. On the construction side, Orizen centralises meeting minutes, work progress reports and milestones, with a client portal so the project owner (MOA) can monitor progress without accessing your internal workspace.

V Our conviction

An architecture firm isn’t managed like an industrial SME.

An agency has three interdependent flows: commercial tenders and competitions, MOP mission phases, and fees as a percentage of the works amount. For years, these had to be managed in three separate systems — with hours of recalculations for every payment request.

Design software (Archicad, Revit) is indispensable for drafting but doesn’t handle sales or fees. Industrial ERPs, on the other hand, ignore mission phases, progress-based fee notes and site tracking. For a 3–20 person firm, neither truly fits.

We’ve seen too many firms discover that a flagship project was a money pit because no one compared fixed fees to actual time spent, invoice a phase late due to outdated progress tracking, or miss a competition deadline because it was buried in an email.

So we built Orizen for architecture firms of 3–20 people. All three workflows in one tool, up and running in a day, hosted in France. Because a firm that wants to design with peace of mind doesn’t have time for an IT project—but can no longer rely on spreadsheets that hide its margins.