Where we work · Jackson Square, San Francisco
Jackson Square design studios: does the principal still export to Excel to see project health?
I'm Vaughn English, based in the Bay Area. I serve San Francisco, and my audit is built for 5 to 50 person design, architecture, and agency studios like the ones in Jackson Square. The $350 audit looks at one workflow, like timesheets or project reporting, compares what you pay with what your team uses, and ends in a written keep, repair, switch, or build recommendation. If we build, the $350 is credited toward it.
Before and after
Software costs for Jackson Square design and architecture studios, starting with one report.
Before: the export routine
Check whether this sounds like your week. Someone exports hours from the timesheet or accounting system. They paste them into a spreadsheet and match them to phase fees by hand. The principal reads the result days later and asks which phases are over. If that is your routine, the audit asks: which of those steps is the software you pay for doing, and which is a person doing?
After: a project health view that updates as hours come in
Our time and budget tracker demo is a demo with fake data, not a client project. Staff log hours by project and phase. The project health view shows fee used against percent complete for each phase, flags phases at risk, and lists missing timesheets. Everything exports as plain CSV that opens in Excel or Google Sheets. It runs in your browser with no account. A real build would be scoped to your data, and the audit may just as well say keep what you have.
What it costs
What the common suites cost at studio sizes.
Architecture, landscape, and engineering studios tend to look at project accounting suites like Deltek Ajera and BQE Core. Ad and PR agencies tend to look at agency suites like Workamajig. We do not know which software any particular firm uses. These are the published or estimated prices, so you can compare them with your own invoice.
| Tool | 5 people | 10 people | 20 people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deltek Ajera (ESTIMATE, $60 to $90 per user per month) | $3,600 to $5,400 | $7,200 to $10,800 | $14,400 to $21,600 |
| Workamajig (list price, $49 per user per month, annual prepay; published tiers start at "10+ users") | $5,390 (ESTIMATE: assumes a studio under 10 pays for 10 seats, based on the tier wording) | $5,390 | $10,780 |
| BQE Core | Not published. BQE prices per user plus modules by quote. | ||
| Harvest Teams plus QuickBooks Online Plus (published prices) | $2,220 | $2,760 | $3,840 |
Yearly license cost only, before implementation. Ajera figures use ITQlick's third-party estimate; Deltek publishes no price, and ITQlick also estimates $5,000 to $20,000 to implement. Workamajig figures use its pricing page (checked 2026-09-27), 11 paid months on annual prepay. BQE's pricing page sends you to a quote (checked 2026-09-29). Harvest and QuickBooks figures use their published Harvest and QuickBooks prices (checked 2026-09-29), with QuickBooks seats for the office only. Harvest does not do phase fee billing the way A/E suites do, so it is a price floor, not a like-for-like swap.
Questions to check against your own invoice
- How many seats are on the invoice, and how many people only log time?
- For an agency under 10 people, does your plan charge for 10 seats?
- If the principal exports to Excel, what does the spreadsheet show that the suite does not? Is that reporting you pay for but do not use?
- Could the suite stay as the ledger while time and budgets move to something cheaper or firm-owned? Ask your vendor how seats are counted and how hours can be imported.
More detail: the Ajera cost guide, the Ajera alternatives guide and the timesheets and project budgets guide.
The neighborhood
Why a page for Jackson Square.
SF Heritage calls Jackson Square "San Francisco's first historic district" and describes its shift, after its "1950s rebirth," "from a land of decorators and designers to law and architecture firms in the 1960s and 70s" (SF Heritage, June 27, 2025). The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 1971, is roughly bounded by Broadway, Sansome, Washington, and Columbus, and contains several buildings that survived the 1906 earthquake (Wikipedia).
Design firms are still concentrated there. In the city's Registered Business Locations data, pulled 2026-09-29, 44 active locations in our Jackson Square search box (latitude 37.7955 to 37.7985, longitude -122.4055 to -122.3985, about 0.21 square kilometers) report one of seven codes: 12 architecture, 2 landscape architecture, 7 engineering, 8 interior design, 6 advertising, 9 PR, and 0 graphic design. That counts registered locations, not people, and codes are self-reported. You can re-run it against the DataSF API.
FAQ
Jackson Square questions.
Do you have an office in Jackson Square?
No. Workflow Ownership has no office in Jackson Square and no public street address. Vaughn English is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and serves San Francisco firms. The audit runs as an online working session.
How many design and architecture firms are in Jackson Square?
In the city business registry on DataSF, 44 active business locations inside our Jackson Square search box (about 0.21 square kilometers) report a design, architecture, engineering, or agency code: 12 architecture, 2 landscape architecture, 7 engineering, 8 interior design, 6 advertising, and 9 PR. We pulled it on 2026-09-29. It counts registered locations, including sole proprietors, not headcount, and codes are self-reported.
What does Deltek Ajera cost a 10-person Jackson Square architecture studio?
Deltek does not publish Ajera prices. Using ITQlick's third-party estimate of $60 to $90 per user per month, 10 seats come to about $7,200 to $10,800 a year, plus an estimated $5,000 to $20,000 to implement in year one. Your contract is the real number.
Does the San Francisco health care ordinance affect a small studio's timesheets?
Only if you have 20 or more workers. Under 20, it does not apply. At 20 or more, San Francisco's Health Care Security Ordinance sets minimum health care spending per hour payable: $2.74 per hour for medium employers (20 to 99) in 2026, according to Newfront, and $2.99 for 2027, according to sf.gov. The city says employers must "maintain records to show that you are in compliance with HCSO." So hours data matters. This is not legal advice; ask your payroll provider or employment lawyer.
What does the audit cost, and what do we get?
It is $350 for one workflow, such as timesheets or project reporting. You get a written keep, repair, switch, or build recommendation based on what you pay and what your team actually uses. If we later build a tool for you, the $350 is credited toward the build.
Health care ordinance sources: Newfront, 2026 HCSO rates and sf.gov, Health Care Security Ordinance, both checked 2026-09-29.
Next step
List your studio's tools. I'll price them free.
Email the tools your studio pays for: plan, seats paid, and how many people use each. Within 2 business days I send back a free one-page snapshot with the yearly cost of each tool from list prices and 3 questions for renewal. If timesheets or project reporting stand out, the $350 audit is the paid next step and is credited toward a build. See what the snapshot covers, how the audit works, or where else we work.
Email me your tool list