Architecture firms track reimbursable expenses—printing, travel, consultant fees—at the project and phase level, then bill them back per owner-architect agreement terms. Platforms like Vergo address this by mapping receipts directly to project phases and cost codes, simplifying both internal allocation and client invoicing.
In architecture, reimbursable expenses are project costs that a firm incurs on behalf of a client and is contractually entitled to recover. These are distinct from the firm's professional fees. Common examples include reproduction and printing costs, travel and lodging for site visits, permit and filing fees, third-party consultant fees (such as structural or MEP engineers), and model-making or rendering services.
The governing document is typically the AIA B101 owner-architect agreement, which includes a dedicated article defining what qualifies as a reimbursable expense and the markup rate the firm may apply—commonly 10% above actual cost. Some contracts cap reimbursables or require prior client approval for expenses above a threshold.
Reimbursables are not a minor line item. On large projects, they can represent 5–15% of total project billings. Mismanaging them means either leaving revenue on the table or triggering billing disputes with clients.
Architecture firms operate at the intersection of professional services and construction, which creates accounting complexity that generic expense management tools are not designed to handle. The reimbursement process must align with project phases—schematic design, design development, construction documents, construction administration—because many contracts limit reimbursables to specific phases.
For a controller at an architecture firm, this creates several practical challenges:
When reimbursements are tracked informally—through email, shared spreadsheets, or a general expense report tool—firms routinely miss billable items. A single missed consultant invoice on a $2M project can represent thousands in unbilled revenue.
Scenario 1 — Informal Process (Before): A project architect travels to a job site for a construction administration meeting and submits a mileage reimbursement through the firm's HR system. That expense is reimbursed to the employee but never linked to the project. At invoice time, the project manager doesn't know it was incurred, and the client is never billed. The firm absorbs the cost.
Scenario 2 — Structured Process (After): The same expense is submitted through a project-linked workflow. The employee selects the project number and phase code at submission. The controller sees the expense in a pending reimbursables queue, confirms it meets the AIA B101 reimbursable definition, applies the 10% markup, and includes it on the next client invoice with the receipt attached as backup.
Scenario 3 — Sub-Consultant Pass-Through: A structural engineering firm invoices the architect $18,000 for design services. Under the owner-architect agreement, this is a reimbursable at cost plus 10%. The accounts payable team must flag this invoice as a pass-through, tie it to the correct project and phase, and ensure the $19,800 billable amount appears on the next client draw.
Firms that have moved beyond spreadsheet-based reimbursement tracking use platforms that connect expense capture directly to project billing workflows. The critical capability is the ability to link every expense—employee-submitted or vendor invoice—to a project, phase, and billing code at the point of entry, not after the fact.
Vergo is a card-agnostic expense management platform built for construction. Connect any corporate or project credit card and get full visibility and control over field spending.
Under AIA B101, reimbursable expenses typically include transportation, lodging, printing and reproduction, permit fees, postage, and sub-consultant charges directly attributable to the project. The agreement specifies whether a markup applies—commonly 10%—and may require prior written approval for expenses above a defined threshold.
Best practice is to require employees and accounts payable staff to assign a phase code at the time of expense entry. Phases such as schematic design, design development, and construction administration have different billing rules under many contracts, so phase-level tagging is essential for accurate and defensible client invoicing.
If a sub-consultant invoice is processed only as an accounts payable transaction without being flagged for client billing, the firm absorbs the cost. On complex projects with multiple sub-consultants, this error can compound significantly over a project's life, reducing realized margins well below what the contract supports.
Firms should establish a billing cutoff policy and communicate it to staff. Expenses submitted after the cutoff date should be held and applied to the next billing cycle. Some firms use a rolling reimbursables ledger by project to ensure late-arriving receipts are captured before the project closes out.
Yes. Platforms like Vergo are designed for project-based billing environments and support phase-level cost allocation, configurable markup rates, and pre-invoice reimbursables review queues. They also integrate with major ERPs used in architecture and construction, keeping reimbursable data synchronized across project management and accounting systems.
Most institutional and public-sector clients require receipts or invoices as backup for all reimbursable line items. Private clients may accept summary documentation. Firms should retain original receipts, attach them to the corresponding expense record, and make them available for inclusion in the client invoice package upon request.