[ Industry advisory · Professional services ]

Strategic advisory for surveying and planning practices working long-cycle projects.

Surveying and town planning practices live with approval timelines they don't control. Fees are agreed up front, scope expands through council and referral cycles, and the work in progress quietly grows on the balance sheet. We help owners see WIP, recovery and pipeline clearly — and run the firm on the work it's actually being paid for.

[ What we hear, again and again ]

The pressures inside surveyors & town planners.

None of these are signs of a poorly-run business. They're signs that the financial relationship around the business hasn't kept up.

  • 01Council and referral-agency cycles dragging projects well past the original scope
  • 02Fixed-fee proposals quoted before the full approval pathway is known
  • 03WIP and unbilled time growing quietly across long-cycle projects
  • 04Field, drafting and planning capacity rarely matched cleanly to demand
  • 05Pipeline visibility weak — too dependent on a handful of developer relationships

[ How we work ]

What strategic support actually looks like.

  1. 01

    Project-level WIP, recovery and write-off tracked monthly, not at year-end

  2. 02

    Fee scoping and variation discipline built into the proposal stage

  3. 03

    Capacity (field, drafting, planning) modelled against committed work

  4. 04

    Pipeline and forward revenue reviewed by client and project type

  5. 05

    Tax, structure and director economics treated as their own discipline

[ The numbers that matter ]

What good operators in this industry actually watch.

Not a long list — the handful of numbers that, watched consistently, change how the business is run.

  • 01

    WIP days

    Unbilled time sitting on the balance sheet

  • 02

    Recovery rate by project type

    What's billed vs what was recorded

  • 03

    Variation capture %

    Out-of-scope work actually billed

  • 04

    Utilisation by team

    Field, drafting, planning — separately

  • 05

    Pipeline coverage

    Forward fee revenue against capacity

[ Across the year ]

A real cadence — not a tax-time call.

See the full 12-month cadence →

[ The honest line ]

Surveyors and planners who manage WIP, scope and pipeline as a discipline — not an afterthought — build calmer practices and stronger margins across the cycle.

[ The next conversation ]

Get paid for the work you actually do.

Bring the messy stuff. The numbers, the pressures, the decisions you've been putting off. The first conversation is structured, candid and obligation-free.

Book an introductory call →See the Command Centre

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