Architecture and Engineering Firms
Win more proposals. Protect project margins. Give PMs their week back.
Your senior people should not be spending nights rebuilding resumes, hunting for past project examples, checking subconsultant invoices, updating project status decks, or answering the same standards questions again and again.
MVP.dev builds AI automation systems for architecture and engineering firms that plug into the tools you already use, including Deltek Vantagepoint, Deltek Vision, Ajera, Unanet AE, BQE CORE, Monograph, Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Bluebeam Revu, Newforma, Procore, ProjectWise, OpenAsset, Microsoft Project, and Smartsheet.
We help firms reduce proposal drag, shorten project reporting cycles, improve invoice review, and free principals and PMs from low-value administrative work.
Production-ready in 3 to 4 weeks.
Get a Workflow Fit Assessment See the Architecture & Engineering Firms Automation DemosBuilt for firms with plenty of work, but too much of it stuck in manual handoffs
This is for architecture firms, engineering firms, civil practices, MEP firms, structural firms, landscape architecture studios, design-build teams, and multidisciplinary A&E firms that want more delivery capacity without adding more administrative load.
You are likely a strong fit if:
- Your proposals still require hours of manual resume, project sheet, and boilerplate assembly
- PMs spend too much time updating status reports, fee burn, schedules, and project notes
- Subconsultant invoices, contracts, and change requests are reviewed through email and spreadsheets
- Your team loses time searching standards, specs, prior RFIs, meeting minutes, and project correspondence
- Your firm uses Deltek, Ajera, Unanet AE, BQE CORE, Monograph, Autodesk, Bluebeam, Newforma, Procore, or a similar A&E stack
- You want workflow improvement inside your current systems, not a disruptive software migration
If your firm is growing but principals, PMs, and marketing coordinators are still buried in manual review, manual reporting, and manual proposal assembly, there is almost certainly margin trapped inside the workflow.
The fastest wins we usually find
Proposal assembly without the last-minute scramble
Most firms do not lose proposal time on strategy. They lose it finding the right resumes, project examples, boilerplate, scopes, and win themes under deadline.
We build proposal workflows that pull from your project history, resumes, OpenAsset libraries, prior proposals, CRM notes, and pursuit requirements to draft a first-pass package your team can review.
The goal is simple:
- Relevant project sheets suggested automatically
- Resumes matched to the pursuit requirements
- Cover letter and approach drafted from approved source material
- Compliance gaps flagged before submission
For many firms, this can cut first-draft proposal assembly from 10 to 15 hours to 2 to 4 hours, while keeping principals focused on strategy and review instead of document hunting.
See the Proposal Builder Demo →Project margin visibility before the write-off
Project profit usually leaks slowly. By the time the monthly report is cleaned up, the fee burn problem is already real.
We build project dashboards that pull from systems like Deltek Vantagepoint, Ajera, Unanet AE, BQE CORE, Monograph, Microsoft Project, and Smartsheet to show budget burn, labor utilization, schedule risk, AR status, and PM action items.
Each PM or principal can see:
- Which projects are drifting over budget
- Where labor burn is outpacing percent complete
- Which invoices or AR items need attention
- What changed since last week
- What action should happen next
The goal is not another dashboard. The goal is catching margin leaks 2 to 4 weeks earlier and reducing the manual reporting burden on PMs and accounting.
See the Project Dashboard Demo →Subconsultant invoice and contract review
Subconsultant invoices are easy to approve too quickly and painful to unwind later.
We build review workflows that compare subconsultant invoices against contracts, scopes, POs, prior invoices, rate tables, percent complete, and change order history before the PM approves payment.
Your reviewer gets a short answer:
- Does the invoice match the contract?
- Is the billing amount expected?
- Are rates, reimbursables, or phases unusual?
- Is there missing backup?
- Should this be approved, reviewed, or escalated?
This can reduce manual invoice review time by 30 to 50 percent on recurring subconsultant billings and create a cleaner audit trail for every approval.
See the Invoice Due Diligence Demo →Project knowledge retrieval with cited answers
Senior staff should not be interrupted every time someone needs a standard detail, prior RFI answer, code note, spec section, meeting decision, or client preference.
We build cited-answer systems that let staff ask plain-English questions and get responses grounded in approved project files, BIM standards, specs, SOPs, meeting minutes, RFIs, submittals, and past deliverables.
Every answer includes a source trail so staff can verify it before using it.
- No blind AI answers
- No unsupported claims
- No guessing from stale project files
Firms often recover 5 to 10 hours per week across PMs, project architects, engineers, and coordinators by cutting repeated search and interruption time.
See the Cited Knowledge Base Demo →Your current tools stay in place
We build the workflow layer around your existing A&E environment.
Supported and common systems include:
Your project records stay where they are. Your drawings, models, timesheets, invoices, and proposals stay in the systems your team already knows.
We add the workflow layer that reads, routes, reviews, summarizes, drafts, and writes back when appropriate.
Three focused offers
Proposal Acceleration System
For firms losing too many nights and weekends to pursuit assembly.
Includes
- Pursuit workflow mapping
- Resume and project sheet source review
- Prior proposal and boilerplate ingestion
- Compliance checklist generation
- First-draft cover letter and approach sections
- Principal review workflow
- Proposal handoff documentation
Best for
- Architecture firms
- Engineering firms
- Marketing and BD teams
- Firms responding to recurring RFQs and RFPs
Project Margin and PM Reporting System
For firms where fee burn, utilization, AR, and schedule risk are too hard to see until the damage is done.
Includes
- Project KPI mapping
- Data source review
- Budget burn and labor tracking views
- Exception queues
- Weekly PM dashboards
- Principal-ready summaries
- Workflow handoff documentation
Best for
- PM-led delivery teams
- Multi-office firms
- Firms with fixed-fee project risk
- Operators trying to improve utilization and margins
Project Knowledge and Document Review System
For firms where standards, specs, RFIs, meeting notes, and project history are hard to find when the team needs them.
Includes
- Document source mapping
- Spec, RFI, submittal, and meeting note ingestion
- Cited-answer knowledge base
- Subconsultant invoice review flows
- Human review thresholds
- Role-based access
- Audit logs and source trails
Best for
- Design teams with repeated standards questions
- Firms with large project archives
- PMs managing many subconsultants
- Teams that need faster answers without losing control
Start with one workflow. Prove the ROI. Expand from there.
You do not need a full AI transformation project to get value.
The safest path is to pick one painful workflow, automate it, measure the results, and then expand once the system proves itself.
Most firms start with one of these:
- Proposal assembly and pursuit support
- Project margin dashboards
- Subconsultant invoice review
- Standards and project knowledge retrieval
- Weekly PM reporting
- Document intake and classification
This keeps the first project focused, measurable, and easier to approve.
Typical engagement range
Most architecture and engineering automation builds start with a focused pilot.
Starter Workflow Pilot
Best for one high-value workflow
$7,500 to $15,000
Firm Automation Buildout
Best for multiple workflows, multiple offices, or project delivery operations
$15,000 to $40,000
Ongoing Optimization and Support
Best for firms that want continuous improvement, reporting, new workflows, and support
$1,500 to $7,500 per month
Final pricing depends on workflow count, system access, project data complexity, approval rules, document volume, security needs, and whether the workflow writes back into production systems.
The first step is not a giant commitment. It is a workflow fit assessment that identifies the fastest path to measurable ROI.
What waiting costs
Manual A&E workflows do not just waste time. They quietly cap revenue and erode margins.
Every month you delay:
- Principals lose strategy and client time to proposal assembly
- PMs spend more hours updating reports than managing risk
- Fee burn problems are spotted after the margin is already gone
- Subconsultant invoice issues are caught late or not at all
- Staff interrupt senior people for answers buried in old files
- Growth requires more coordinators and admin support instead of better leverage
If your firm is already busy, workflow automation is not a side project. It is how you create capacity without simply adding more overhead.
How the engagement works
Week 1: Find the highest-value leak
We review your proposal process, PM reporting flow, subconsultant invoice review, project knowledge search, or document intake process.
You get:
- Workflow map
- Automation opportunity ranking
- KPI targets
- Fixed-scope recommendation
- Implementation plan
We define success before building anything.
Week 2: Build against your real workflow
We connect to the systems, documents, exports, project records, proposal libraries, invoice files, or reporting data needed for the selected workflow.
We build around your actual process, not a generic architecture or engineering template.
Week 3: Test, tune, and review
We run real historical examples through the workflow in staging. For proposal workflows, this can include prior pursuits. For invoice workflows, this can include prior subconsultant invoices and contract terms.
You see:
- Accuracy results
- Exceptions
- Failure cases
- Confidence thresholds
- Review queue behavior
- Estimated time savings
Nothing goes live until the workflow is validated.
Week 4: Deploy, monitor, and support
We deploy the workflow, train the relevant users, monitor initial results, and support the first production cycle.
You get:
- Production workflow
- Dashboard or review queue
- Documentation
- Admin handoff
- 30 days of support
- Recommendations for the next workflow
Most builds are designed to pay back in 6 to 8 weeks of live use, depending on volume, labor cost, workflow scope, and how much principal, PM, coordinator, or accounting time is recovered.
Built for confidential project and client workflows
Architecture and engineering workflows have to protect client data, project records, drawings, contracts, and proprietary standards.
Our systems are designed around:
- Least-privilege access
- Encrypted data in transit and at rest
- Role-based access by project, office, client, and discipline
- Human review thresholds before client-facing output
- Audit logs for AI-assisted decisions
- Source-grounded answers with document trails
- Client-owned cloud deployment when required
- Clear handling rules for NDA, public-sector, CUI, or ITAR-sensitive project data
For firms with client confidentiality, public-sector, SOC, ISO, CUI, ITAR, or strict project access requirements, we design the implementation around your security needs from the start.
Example outcomes
| Workflow | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Proposal assembly | Manual resume, project sheet, and boilerplate hunting | First-draft package with source-backed sections and compliance gaps |
| Project margin review | Monthly reports cleaned up after problems appear | Weekly PM dashboard showing burn, risk, and next actions |
| Subconsultant invoice review | Manual checks across email, contracts, and spreadsheets | One-page review memo before approval |
| Standards and project research | Interrupting senior staff or searching old folders | Cited answers from approved specs, RFIs, notes, and standards |
| Project status reporting | PMs rebuild updates from timesheets, schedules, and notes | Draft weekly summary with exceptions and owner-ready actions |
Why MVP.dev
MVP.dev builds AI business operating systems, internal tools, and automation layers for companies that need real operational outcomes, not AI experiments.
You get:
- 25 years of software architecture and delivery experience
- AI automation strategy and implementation under one roof
- Practical systems built around existing workflows
- Human-in-the-loop design where accuracy matters
- Clear KPIs before development starts
- Production-minded delivery, not prototype theater
The goal is not to impress your team with AI.
The goal is to give them time back, reduce operational drag, protect project margins, and help the firm produce more value with the people and systems it already has.
Building the operating playbook too?
Our partners at osforyour.business/architecture-engineering cover the org-design, process, and people side of running a modern architecture or engineering firm. We handle the execution layer that makes it run, so the system they help you design actually delivers the hours back.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time or money can this save?
It depends on volume, but proposal, PM reporting, project knowledge, and invoice review workflows usually contain the fastest savings. A 30-person firm may recover 10 to 25 staff hours per week across marketing coordinators, PMs, principals, and accounting. Larger firms can often find $5,000 to $15,000 per month in recovered time, reduced write-offs, faster proposal assembly, and earlier margin visibility. During Week 1, we define the target KPIs before the build starts.
Will this work with Deltek, Ajera, Unanet AE, Autodesk, Bluebeam, or Newforma?
Yes. We build around your current stack. Depending on access, we can use APIs, database connections, exports, secure document access, or structured intake workflows. The goal is to improve the workflow around your existing systems, not force a migration.
Will this replace our project management, ERP, BIM, or document management tools?
No. Your ERP stays in place. Your drawings and models stay in Autodesk, ProjectWise, Procore, or your document system. Your PMs keep using the tools they know. The automation layer reads, routes, summarizes, drafts, and writes back only where appropriate and approved.
Can this help with proposals and RFP responses?
Yes. Proposal workflows are often one of the best first pilots for A&E firms. We can help organize project sheets, resumes, prior proposal language, pursuit notes, boilerplate, and compliance requirements so your team starts from a stronger first draft instead of a blank page.
Can this handle project-specific knowledge without making things up?
Yes. For knowledge retrieval workflows, answers are grounded in approved documents and include citations or source trails. Staff can verify the source before using an answer. We do not recommend using unsupported AI output for code, engineering, legal, or client-facing decisions without review.
Is this safe for confidential client and project data?
We design the system around your security requirements. That can include encryption, least-privilege access, role-based permissions, audit logs, client-owned cloud deployment, source trails, and special handling for NDA, public-sector, CUI, or ITAR-sensitive project data.
What is the first step?
Start with a workflow fit assessment. We identify the workflow with the highest ROI potential, estimate the time or margin impact, and recommend a focused pilot. You will know what should be built, why it matters, what it should cost, and how success will be measured before committing to a full implementation.
Get the hours and margin back
If your firm is still relying on manual proposal assembly, spreadsheet-based PM reporting, email-driven invoice review, or senior staff memory to answer project questions, there is likely a faster way to run the operation.
MVP.dev can help you identify the highest-value workflow, build the automation layer, and deploy it inside your current architecture and engineering stack.
Get a Workflow Fit Assessment See the Architecture & Engineering Firms Automation Demos