Software for architects and engineering practices: HOAI in the cloud.

What software for architects and engineering practices needs to do

Architecture and engineering practices have a unique steering and billing framework: the German Honorar­ordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure (HOAI). It governs fee tables, fee zones, eligible costs, percentage phase shares and special rules. A pure standard project software rarely models this cleanly. What remains is Excel: HOAI calculator spreadsheets, manual transfer into fee invoicing, parallel time tracking in a separate app.

teamspace integrates HOAI into the project and time-tracking model. Per engagement, fee tables, fee zones and phases are pre-configured. Hours go on work phases, down payment invoices emerge automatically, the final invoice offsets everything correctly.

HOAI work phases pre-configured

teamspace ships templates for HOAI work phase 1 to 9 per HOAI 2021. Per engagement you can:

• Pick the fee zone (I to V).
• Record eligible costs.
• Activate or skip phases (e.g. when LP 8 site supervision was awarded externally by the client).
• Set phase shares as percentage or absolute.
• Apply refurbishment surcharges.
• Override special rules per engagement.

Per work phase plan hours are estimated, hours actually logged, plan-vs-actual compared live and the fee share steered accordingly.

Hours, travel costs, third-party costs on the project

Architecture and engineering projects live on hours, travel and third-party costs. teamspace captures all three on the same data foundation:

• Hours per work phase or work package, with rate cards by person and role.
• Travel costs by kilometre (e.g. site-supervision drives), per daily allowance or as flat rate per route.
• Third-party costs (structural commissioning, expert reports, building physics) as expenses on the project.
• Receipts by photo through the mobile app, with activatable GoBD mode retained.

The mobile app is built for the field: offline mode, receipt photo, optionally GPS location for site-supervision visits.

Site diary and project documentation

The project documentation supports site diaries, minutes, photos and schedules directly on the project. Per construction phase a wiki page, attachments with version history, links to the tasks and tickets of site supervision. In later disputes the historical state at a cutoff date can be reconstructed at any time, with activatable GoBD mode retained for 10 years.

Down payment invoices and final invoice

HOAI fees are typically billed in down payment invoices per phase milestone. teamspace automates this:

• On reaching a phase milestone, a down payment invoice is created with the corresponding phase share.
• Expenses and travel costs are billed per period or aggregated to the final invoice.
• The final invoice offsets all down payments, with activity record as PDF attachment.
• Credit note with audit trail on subsequent adjustments.

More on project billing software.

XRechnung for public-sector clients

Public-sector clients in Germany (municipalities, federal states, federal agencies) have required XRechnung since late 2020. teamspace produces XRechnung in standard format (CIUS, UBL/CII); dispatch happens via Peppol or by email to the central invoice receiving point. ZUGFeRD is the default for private B2B engagements.

More on e-invoicing.

Multi-discipline engagements

In larger building projects, architect, structural engineer and MEP planner often appear as a consortium. teamspace runs multi-discipline engagements as one engagement with multiple fee tables. Per discipline its own phases, rate cards, final invoice to the respective addressee. From the client’s view one ledger; from the fee view clean separation.

Reviewed in the requirements check

Wondering whether teamspace is the right software for your architecture or engineering practice? In a 15- to 30-minute call we look at your HOAI logic, site-supervision workflow and billing. For more on the integrated modules, see project management, time tracking and invoicing software.