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What it is
A general project management tool answers "what is due and who is doing it". Architecture project management software also answers "what did we agree to charge for this phase, how much of it is billed, and what has not been invoiced yet".
That second set of questions is the difference. It means the product holds the client, the scope and fee from the proposal, the phases of the project with their own billing methods, the time staff log against those phases, and the invoices that result, all linked rather than kept in separate files.
Why a task board is not enough
The AIA's March 2026 survey of firm leaders found that 97% still work within traditional design phases, from schematic design through construction administration. The same survey found the project measures firms track most often are fees (79%), design hours by phase (66%) and budget versus actual (63%).
Those are fee and phase questions, not task questions. The AIA's guidance on charging for services also lists several ways architects bill, including percentage of completion, hourly billing and project milestones. A firm that mixes those methods on one project needs software that can hold more than one billing method at a time. The fixed fee or hourly article covers why that decision is better made one phase at a time.
The project lifecycle in software terms
- Proposal. The scope, the fee and the terms, written and sent to a client. Look for whether the client can respond without an account.
- Contract. The agreement that follows an accepted proposal. Look for whether it starts from the proposal or has to be retyped.
- Project setup. The client, the budget, the billing arrangement and the people involved.
- Phases. The stages of the work, each with a fee and a billing method (fixed, hourly or non-billable). This is the step general tools handle worst.
- Tasks. The work inside each phase.
- Time. Hours logged against a project, phase or task, priced at the right rate.
- Billing. Invoices built from phase progress and unbilled hours, without double billing earlier work.
- Payment. Recording what the client has paid against each invoice.
- Reporting. What was invoiced, what was collected, and where the hours went.
Some systems extend this with expense tracking, resource planning, project accounting and staff-cost reporting. Those are real needs for some firms and are covered in Monograph vs BQE CORE and BQE CORE alternatives.
Where Rizqo fits in that lifecycle
| Step | What Rizqo does | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| Proposal | Written in sections, sent by secure link. The client accepts or declines without an account. See proposals. | |
| Contract | Generated from an accepted proposal and signed online through a secure link. See contracts. | |
| Project setup | Client, budget, billing type, rate card and owner. A project can be created from an accepted proposal, prefilled with title, client and value, and the rate card is chosen on the project. See projects. | |
| Phases | Fixed, hourly or non-billable, with their own amount and progress. RIBA stages can be added in one step. See phases. | |
| Tasks | A list or a kanban board inside each project. See tasks. | |
| Time | A weekly timesheet by project, phase and task, with the rate stored on each entry. See time tracking. | No built-in stopwatch. |
| Billing | Invoice lines assembled from fixed phase progress and unbilled time, emailed as a PDF. See invoices. | No AIA G702 or G703 forms. |
| Payment | Payments recorded against each invoice. See payments. | |
| Reporting | Revenue and effort for every project, exported to CSV, Excel or PDF. See reports. | No staff cost data, so no margin, profit or work in progress. |
Rizqo does not offer resource planning, expense tracking or an accounting integration. It compares each project's invoiced fees against its budget, which is a fee view rather than an hours view.
The detail on each step is in separate guides: proposals, time tracking and billing by phase. The glossary explains the terms, including project phases and fee structures.
Project management or practice management
The two terms overlap and vendors use them loosely. In practice, project management is about one commission: scope, phases, tasks and time. Practice management is about the firm: the pipeline of proposals, billing and collections across every project, utilization, and the accounts behind it.
Rizqo covers the commercial half of both. It handles proposals, project phases, time and billing, and reports across all projects. It does not cover the accounting and resource-planning half. A firm that needs those should compare accounting-first systems, and the architecture project management software guide shows how to test several against one real project.
Who Rizqo suits, and who it does not
Rizqo suits a practice that wants proposals, projects, phases, time and invoices connected without running a full project-accounting implementation, from a solo practitioner to a studio of ten or more. See about Rizqo and plans and pricing.
It does not suit a firm that needs to calculate gross margin, work in progress or overhead allocation inside the same system, or one that requires contractor pay application forms. The project profitability article explains what can and cannot be measured without staff cost data.
Questions
Do architects need specialized project management software?
Not always. A solo architect with a few clients can run on a spreadsheet and an invoicing tool, and six signs your practice has outgrown spreadsheets describes when that stops working. The case for specialized software grows when fees are split across phases, billing mixes fixed and hourly work, and more than one person logs time.
Can Rizqo bill by percentage complete?
Yes. A fixed phase has an amount and a progress percentage, and each invoice bills the progress made since the last one. Hourly phases bill the unbilled time logged against them. Both can appear on one invoice.
Does Rizqo replace accounting software?
No. It records invoices and payments but is not a general ledger, and it has no QuickBooks or Xero integration.
How much does Rizqo cost?
Plans and what each includes are on the pricing page. Every plan includes every core module and starts with a 14-day free trial, no card required.