Utilization / Billability rate? 1

[proletariat]

The ratio of billable hours to worked hours required by your company?

Also include your title and industry.

Me:
81%, Civil Engineer Project Manager, Consulting Engineering Company

 

[mtu1972]

One previous company had a stated goal of 80% and went so far as to shift tasks between offices to keep people at or above that level. Another had an unspoken target of 90%, which was hard to reach.

My present employer has no stated targets but I keep my time out of habit and am running as follows:
57% billable
12% marketing and proposals
31% overhead

And these numbers are off of a 32 hour work week which has been mandatory for most of this year.

Senior Structural Engineer / Project Manager
37 years experience

GJC

 

[Ron]

mtu1972...it would appear that your company is losing money on you! Do you carry a reputation that makes you a "Rainmaker"? Do you supervise others? The numbers don't work otherwise.

 

[mtu1972]

Ron -

You are probably right. The funny thing (not ha ha funny) is that there are a lot of people here with far lower utilization rates than mine. We are amazed that there were no layoffs after the contract people were let go. So far the reduced hours has been the only sacrifice.

The two previous calendar years I was at 96 and 97%.

I do bring in some work from 3 clients who specifically request my involvment. That has certainly helped me.

GJC

 

[mtu1972]

Forgot to answer -

Only supervise structural project teams

Sometimes I make it drizzle

GJC

 

[Electic]

The goal is 100%. Electrical distribution systems consultant with over 25 years experience. I do not normally manage people, but sometimes have a support staff and work independently as a consultant to other organizations. The philosophy started out that anything preventing me from leaving the office was billable.

Reality is that I work 10 hours per day to allow non-billable marketing and technical updates, and often work one day per weekend to make deadlines. Much of how much I bill depends on the individual contract allowances and including the 'extra time' I put in to run the business I bill from 100% to as low as about 72%. I enjoy what I am doing, and have made concessions (extra hours) to keep the family budget okay.