The actual screen
One job, start to finish.
What was signed, what has been billed, what is left — and which phase each dollar is sitting in. No export, no spreadsheet, no waiting for the month to close.
For engineering, survey & architecture firms · from the owner’s chair to the field crew
Most firms run five tools for five sides of the business, and none of them agree. Stratum runs all five on one record — operations, teams, business development, financials and the back office — so your people know the results they own, your clients always know where they stand, and the firm wins because of both.
$What are the leaks costing your firm?Slide in your numbers. Takes about a minute.The job nobody hired you for
Five tools, five versions of the truth, and you're the one reconciling them on Sunday night. You find out how the month went three weeks after it ended. You became an owner to build something, not to babysit a pile of spreadsheets.
One record, from the first hour to the final invoice. Nobody re-types hours into a spreadsheet, and nobody has to reconcile two versions of the truth.
Five sides of the firm
Most firms run five tools for five sides of the business, and none of them agree. These are not five modules that sync overnight. They are five views of the same record, so a proposal, an hour and an invoice are the same piece of work all the way through.
One record. Every number built from the hour that made it.
See all fiveEvery seat
Every person knows their role and the few results that show how they’re valuable. Pick a seat to see exactly what they see.
And when somebody finishes something that matters, Stratum notices. A scoreboard nobody celebrates is just a measurement.
Sound familiar?
The phone rings, and the answer is in someone’s head, someone’s inbox, or nowhere. Here’s what changes when it all lives in one place.
“A client calls and asks where their project is. You put them on hold to go find out.”
Open the project: every milestone, every deliverable and who has the ball, on one screen. You answer before they finish the question.
“The client asks for an update on something you were sure was sitting with them.”
Every handoff is recorded with the day it went out, so you both know whose court it’s in. No more “we thought you had it.”
“The city has had the plans for three weeks, and nobody has followed up.”
Time with the agency is tracked on its own, and every wait stays flagged until someone moves it.
“Something fell through the cracks because nobody was sure it was theirs.”
Work that’s on us with nobody assigned shows up red. A dropped ball can’t hide.
“The “quick favor” turned into forty hours nobody will ever bill.”
Out-of-scope time is flagged as it’s logged, and a redline becomes a priced change order in one click.
“You find out the job lost money at closeout.”
Margin on every milestone, live, with warnings as the budget reaches 50, 75 and 90 percent.
How it works
A firm is layered, and every layer rests on the one below. Stratum builds every number from the work itself, so the top of the firm is only ever as far away as the next time entry.
The closed loop
The ripple above runs upward, from one hour to the whole firm. This one runs around, and it runs every day. It is the argument for one platform instead of five things that sync overnight.
What comes into view
“Every one of these questions was a guess at my firm. Now each answer is live, for the people who need it.” — Caleb Christen, PE, founder
Sample data shown.
Industry surveys tell you what the best firms look like. Stratum fills in your firm’s column, live, and puts each number in front of the people who move it.
| Benchmark | Median firm | Top firms | Your firm | Who sees it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor utilization | 59.2% | 65.8% | Live | Every person, their team lead and the owners |
| Net multiplier | 3.13 | 3.50 | Live | PMs by milestone; leaders by team and firm |
| A/R collection days | 70 | 55 | Live | Admin and the owners |
| Operating profit | 17.4% | 31.7% | Live | Owners and leadership |
Benchmarks: published industry survey of engineering and design firms (2023); top firms are the survey’s top performers.
Timekeeping codes mapped to direct and indirect cost pools, with FAR labor distribution exports. Burdened rates kept with their history. Exports QuickBooks-ready invoices and imports your QuickBooks history.
The actual screen
What was signed, what has been billed, what is left — and which phase each dollar is sitting in. No export, no spreadsheet, no waiting for the month to close.
What the leaks cost
Every one of these is a pain you already feel. A 20-person firm at 59% utilization loses about this much a year and never sees it on a report. These are the starting point. Yours will be different.
$196K
leaked every year
5.3% of revenue, before anyone notices
792
hours gone, a year
chasing, re-keying and reconciling
$101K
sitting in cash
work delivered, invoiced 10 days late
Twelve sliders, no sign-up, nothing sent anywhere.
Why it exists
I'm a licensed PE and an owner of a civil engineering firm. For years I was the one chasing everything: updates from my own team so I could answer a client, the city for review comments, clients for the information we needed, timecards so we could bill. I found out how the month went long after it ended, and the answers lived in my head.
So I built Stratum inside my own firm, for my own team, and it gave me my life back. I know how my people are doing. I know our clients are being taken care of. I don’t have to chase anyone to find out, so I finally spend my time on the work that actually moves the firm forward. I want that for you.
Caleb Christen, PE · Founder, Stratum
Getting started
No self-serve wizard and no six-month implementation. We sit down with you, bring your history in, and your team is logging time within the first week.
We learn how your firm is organized: divisions, teams, how you price and how you bill.
Clients, projects, milestones and past proposals, so your numbers mean something from week one.
Your team clocks in, and your first Monday dashboard builds itself from their work.
See your own firm the way the best owners see theirs: every hour, every milestone, every dollar, and every person on the team winning with you.
