AI staff for architects who would rather be designing
A practice is paid by the stage, and every stage has its paperwork: a fee proposal against the RIBA Plan of Work, timesheets nobody fills in until the invoices are due, a planning application waiting on one consultant's report. AI staff can draft the proposal, chase the timesheets and gather the documents. Your architects keep the design and every decision.
The hours a practice cannot bill
Fee proposals and appointments
A director prices each enquiry stage by stage against the RIBA Plan of Work, usually in the evening, from the spreadsheet of the last similar job. The ARB's Architects Code expects written terms of engagement in the client's hands before work starts. In a busy month the design starts first and the paperwork follows.
Timesheets and stage invoices
The practice manager or studio manager chases timesheets in CMap or Rapport3, asks each project lead how far the stage has got, raises the invoices in Xero and then chases those too. A stage that has used more hours than its fee allows is usually found after the hours are spent.
Planning application documents
In England an application is valid only with its form, fee, plans, certificates and whatever the council's local list asks for. Someone in the project team gathers the set, often waiting on a consultant's report, and submits it through the Planning Portal. The council's decision period does not start until the application is valid.
Design team meeting actions
The project architect chairs the meeting, then owes everyone the minutes and the action list. The engineer's drawing, the services consultant's report and the client's answer on the brief wait on those actions being chased. When the minutes slip, the next meeting opens on the same items, and nobody can show who agreed what.
Roles for Architects
Quote and proposal preparation
Drafts the fee proposal from the enquiry and your past jobs, set out by RIBA stage with your rates and standard exclusions. A director sets the fee and signs off the terms of engagement.
Timesheet chasing
Reminds each person whose timesheet is missing before the invoice run and tells the practice manager who is still outstanding. It never fills in hours for anyone, and project leads approve the time.
Invoice and payment chasing
Prepares each stage invoice from the fee schedule once the project lead confirms the stage is reached, then sends reminders on overdue ones. Disputed fees and extra work go to a director.
Meeting follow-up and notes
Drafts the design team meeting minutes from the transcript or notes you give it and reminds your own people of their actions before the next meeting. The project architect approves the minutes before issue.
Works with
It drafts.
You approve.
We manage.
You don’t need a complex new platform. Your AI worker operates inside your existing tools under human supervision.
Human-in-the-loop
High-impact actions (sending emails, updating compliance records) wait for explicit human approval before execution.
A full audit trail
Every action is logged with who approved it, and we go through it with you each month.
Nothing to maintain
If a workflow breaks or a system changes, we fix it. Keeping it running is our job.
UK-hosted and kept separate
Your data is stored in the UK, and is never used to train AI models.
Questions owners ask
Can an AI agent submit a planning application for us?
No. It can list what the council's validation checklist asks for, gather the documents and chase the consultants whose reports are missing. One of your team checks the set and submits it. What goes to the planning authority in your client's name is your decision.
Will it work with CMap, Total Synergy or Rapport3?
CMap and Total Synergy each publish a way for other software to connect, as does Xero. The agent uses that published way in; the route and what your licence permits are agreed with you before it starts. For Rapport3 we confirm the route with its maker first, and tell you the answer before you commit to anything.
Does an agent write our fee proposals?
It drafts them, with the stages, the scope, your rates and your standard exclusions set out the way your past proposals are. A director sets the fee, checks the scope and sends it. The Architects Code puts the terms of engagement on the architect, and that does not change.
Will it warn us when a stage is running over its fee?
It can show it, not decide it. With hours in your time system and the fee schedule, it reports each live stage's hours against its fee on the day you set and marks the ones heading over. Whether to raise a variation, absorb it or talk to the client is a director's call.