What is an architecture or engineering firm's data worth?
In this article
Why buyers want an architecture or engineering firm's recordsWhich systems hold the valueWhat never leaves your buildingWhich buyers fitA worked exampleWhat to check firstRange is our estimate from the buyers' published figures, October 2026, sources on file. Not an offer.
Why buyers want an architecture or engineering firm's records
Design firms produce revisions, reviews, RFIs and submittals for years, every one tied to a decision and a deadline. That is the documented knowledge work buyers describe, with the client and the site removed.
What a buyer is paying for is the loop: a piece of work that starts, moves through people and systems, and ends with a visible result. In an architecture or engineering firm that looks like:
- Proposal, fee, schematic design, client review, design development, permit comments, revisions, construction documents, construction administration.
- An RFI from the contractor, the response, the resulting revision.
- A permit rejection and the resubmittal.
Which of your systems hold the value
Value follows the systems that recorded the work. For an architecture or engineering firm, the usual ones are:
| System | What the buyer sees in it |
|---|---|
| Project management (Deltek, BQE, Monograph, Newforma) | phases, tasks, hours, deliverables and the review record |
| Document and drawing management | revisions, markups and the issued sets |
| Outlook and the project email | RFIs, submittals, client approvals |
| Accounting (Deltek, QuickBooks) | fee phases, change orders, write-offs |
More connected systems means a higher number. A ticket that links to an invoice that links to an email thread is worth more than any one of them alone. See every system, and how each one is exported.
What never leaves your building
The buyer scrubs before anything is used, and you approve the categories first. For an architecture or engineering firm that always means:
- Client identities and site addresses
- Stamped drawings where licensure rules restrict distribution
- Subconsultant data under NDA
- Staff personal data
How scrubbing works, and what every buyer commits to.
See what your company's records could get.
Ten questions, under five minutes, built from the buyers' own published ranges.
Get my estimate →Which buyers fit an architecture or engineering firm
- The enterprise buyers
- 30+ staff; Knowledge work; 40+ staff.
- The multi-lab licensing platform
- Agency and consultancy category.
We check your company against every program and introduce you to the one that publishes the most for your size, with the fastest payment if you are in a hurry. Every buyer type side by side.
A worked example
A 45-person architecture firm, fourteen years old, on Deltek, Newforma, Outlook and Deltek accounting. Our model: roughly $170,000 to $410,000. Fourteen years of revision history drives it.
What to check before the first call
Licensure rules in some states govern distribution of stamped documents. The buyer excludes stamped sets and licenses the process around them. Ask your state board or counsel if unsure.
Other industries
In short
- Typical range for a 40-person architecture or engineering firm with 8 to 15 years of records: $150,000 to $360,000, from published buyer figures.
- 2 of the 6 buyer types fit this industry. Any size gets checked; different buyers look at different sizes.
- Customer, patient, borrower and employee identities never leave. Buyers want the process and the outcomes.
- Owners pay nothing. The buyer pays Briggs Analytics only when the company signs.
Questions owners ask.
Do drawings get shared?
Marked-up revisions can be, with site and client removed. Stamped final sets are usually excluded.
What about subconsultants?
Their work is excluded or de-identified. Your coordination of it stays.
Is BIM data wanted?
Sometimes, as part of the revision history. On its own, less.
Which buyer?
The enterprise buyers for firms above 30. The multi-lab platform for larger ones.
