Cost Per Project and Marketing ROI Calculator

Find out what a new project actually costs you to win, and what you can afford to spend.

Why this exists. Architects are told to invest in marketing without any way to work out what a project is worth to them or what they can afford to pay for one.

Region

United States, Canada and UK

Marketing spend per month

Enquiries produced per month

Enquiries that become projects (%)

Average fee per project

Margin on that fee (%)

Average additional projects from the same client over time

Everything here is calculated in your browser. Your numbers are never sent anywhere, stored or seen by us.

Cost to win one project$1,250Against a lifetime profit per client of $12,537.

Projects won per month: 1.20
Cost per enquiry: $150.00
Lifetime fee per clientIncluding 0.4 repeat projects: $63,000
Lifetime profit per client: $12,537
Return on marketing spend: 903%
Most you could pay per enquiry: $1,504.44
Annual spend: $18,000
Annual revenue from it: $648,000

You could pay up to $1,504 per enquiry and still break even. You are currently paying $150.

How this is calculated

Lifetime value counts repeat work from the same client but not referrals they generate, so the real number is usually higher.
Margin should be your operating margin after all costs including your own time.

This is a planning estimate, not professional advice. Read the full disclaimer.

Most studios have never worked out what a project is worth to them.

Once you know, the marketing decision stops being a leap of faith. A free growth audit runs these numbers on your actual pipeline.

Talk to the founder

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The thinking behind it

Where this number comes from.

Growth

Why architecture studios lose projects they have already won

Most practices do not have a demand problem. They have a response problem, and the industry data now says so out loud.

Practice

Where an architecture firm’s margin actually leaks

Six places the fee disappears between the proposal and the bank, the published benchmark for each, and the uncomfortable finding that the two metrics everyone tracks barely predict profit at all.