Lump sum by phase. Hours behind it.
A design development fee is fixed for the owner and sized in hours for you. The client sees the fee. You see the hours, and the one that crosses them waits.
Industries · Engineering consulting firms
Not to exceed. Held at the line.
An hourly not-to-exceed is a promise to the owner and a budget to the team. Ceed keeps both numbers and holds the hour that would cross them.
For engineering firms of two to fifty people. Sub-consultants on the same record.
Cobble Hill Development · May · site plan, 120 h not to exceedHeld
123.5 of 120 h
Thu 21 May · 3.5 h · Stormwater detention re-sizing, county review comments, rev 3 · Nadia S.
Held for approval. 3.5 h over the not-to-exceed.
ApproveDecline
$19,200
the not-to-exceed
120 h
the hours behind it
$160
the hour past it, with a supplement
$19.20
Ceed, this month
Found in the draft invoice. Or found at the hour.
The budget-to-actual report is read at month end, after the timesheets are in. The project manager chooses between a supplement the owner did not expect and a write-off, and the engineer who logged the hours never saw the number.
Ceed counts every entry against the not-to-exceed as it is logged, and the team can see how much is left. The hour that would cross it waits for the project manager, and the supplement is requested while the county’s comments are still on the desk.
“burning budget on big jobs and limping by on small jobs and hoping budget is not a problem later.”
u/BahnMiEnjoyer, professional engineer, r/MEPEngineering, May 2026.
Held. Not hidden.
The hour that would push a client over budget is saved, marked, and waits for a yes or no. Nothing is billed quietly. Nothing disappears.
- Logged
3.5 h · Cobble Hill Development · Detention re-sizing
- Held
Over the 120-hour not-to-exceed. Waiting for Ruth.
- Approved
On the May invoice at $160, under supplement 1.
One set of hours. Everything follows.
Sub-consultants. Same record.
The survey sub’s hours count against their line in your agreement. Their statement is computed from the entries your invoice used.
Beside your accounting system. Not instead of it.
Your accounting system stays the ledger. Ceed is the record of hours and money the invoice is computed from, by classification and rate.
Invoice · Cobble Hill Development · May 2026Computed
Site plan revisions, hourly not to exceed · 120 h at $160.00$19,200.00
Approved hours under supplement 1 · 3.5 h at $160.00$560.00
Total$19,760.00
Computed from the agreement dated 9 Feb 2026 and supplement 1 dated 22 May 2026. Nothing typed.
From the field. In their words.
What engineers and firm owners say in public about timesheets, billing rates and budgets nobody told them. Linked and dated. Not our words.
Said on X.
Now we fight about billable hours and WIP and other such accounting/ lawyering management philosophies utterly unrelated to all the buildings we’re trying to fix effectively.
As a structural engineer, I see this happening in engineering consulting too. Design managers who were mostly responsible for project management are now required to perform hands-on work with billable hours.
Question for #structural #engineers and other designers. Expanding scopes, fees stagnating or even reducing but need (and want) to make sure our teams are adequately rewarded for their work. Is it just market forces or is the value of our role fundamentally misunderstood?
Said on YouTube.
Said elsewhere.
- RedditIs it just me, or do timesheets in consulting encourage unpaid overtime?r/civilengineering · March 2026 · 343 votes · under-reporting hours to protect a budget
- RedditBilling rates have gone bonkers over the past 3 years, but fees and compensation have notr/civilengineering · February 2025 · 239 votes · $255 billed, $49 paid
- RedditOver budget without knowing the budgetr/MEPEngineering · June 2026 · told you are almost over, never told the number
- RedditBillable hours and how your teams handle itr/MEPEngineering · May 2026 · big jobs burn budget, small jobs limp
- ArticleEngineering Business Sentiment, Q3 2026American Council of Engineering Companies · backlog, hiring and the quarter
- ArticleDeltek Clarity Architecture and Engineering Industry StudyDeltek · 47th edition · operating profit, collection period and the numbers firms measure themselves by
Of what you invoice. That is the pricing page.
Invoice $19,200 this month for Cobble Hill Development and Ceed costs $19.20. A month you invoice nothing costs nothing. No seats, no tiers, no minimum.
Questions. Answers.
Our fee is lump sum by phase, but we budget hours. Can the hold sit on the phase’s hours?
Yes. The fee is fixed for the owner. The hours behind the phase are the budget you sized it with, and the hour that would cross them is held for the project manager.
On an hourly not-to-exceed, does the owner see the hold?
No. The hold is yours. The owner sees what the agreement puts on the invoice, and hears about the supplement from you, before it.
Our survey sub bills at their own not-to-exceed. Can their invoice be checked against their line?
Their hours are on the same record, against the line your agreement gives them, and their statement is computed from the entries your invoice used.
Department of transportation work is audited at the overhead rate. Can Ceed export hours by classification and rate?
Every entry carries who, when, how long, the task and the rate by role, on an append-only record. Invoices and statements come out as documents for your ledger. Write to hello@ceed.so with the audit format you need and a person replies.
The project manager never decides on a held hour. Then what?
A held hour is a decision someone you name owes. It is visible every morning until they make it, and the invoice is computed from what was decided.
From the blog: Held. Not hidden. The agreement said 40 hours. The month said 47. Other firms Ceed is for: Defense contractors · IT consulting · Management consulting · all nineteen.