What is a good utilisation rate for an agency?
A good utilisation rate is the one your pricing and your plan assume, set per role rather than as one number for everybody. For reference, Deltek's Clarity study of architecture and engineering firms, published on 12 May 2026, put staff utilisation at just under 60%. PeopleMuster measures utilisation as hours logged against expected hours, by project and department.
Chasing 100% is the classic mistake. A team booked solid has no room for leave, a sick day, a sales call or a code review. One surprise pushes a project late, and the next one pushes two.
Start from the week, then work down. At 60% of a 40-hour week, a person spends 24 hours on client work. At 75%, that figure is 30 hours. Those six hours go on meetings, admin, learning and cover for colleagues on leave. Your target decides how much of that you allow.
Set the target by role. A developer who spends the day in the code should carry more client hours. A team lead also reviews work, mentors and talks to clients. One company-wide number hides that difference and punishes the people doing the glue work.
Split billable from total. Total utilisation counts every logged hour against expected hours. Billable utilisation counts only the hours on client work you charge for. PeopleMuster flags each project as billable or non-billable, so both views come from the same timesheets.
Measure from logged hours, not memory. People log their day by project against an expected week, 40 hours by default, and managers approve each sheet. The reports screen breaks utilisation down by project, by department and by sheet status, so draft hours and approved hours never blur together.
Read the trend, not one week. A single week at 45% might be a holiday. Four weeks sliding downwards is a pipeline problem. A week-over-week view shows which of the two you're looking at.
Treat outside figures as a reference point. Deltek's 12 May 2026 figure describes architecture and engineering firms. Your own logged hours, set against your own targets, are the benchmark you can act on.
Related questions
Is 80% utilisation too high for an agency?
For many delivery roles 80% leaves little slack. It means 32 client hours in a 40-hour week, with 8 hours for meetings, admin, learning and leave cover. Check it against what your team actually logged over the last month.
Should utilisation targets differ by role?
Yes. People who manage, sell or review carry fewer client hours than people who deliver. Set one target per role, then compare each department's logged utilisation against it.
What utilisation rate do architecture and engineering firms report?
Just under 60%, according to Deltek's Clarity study of architecture and engineering firms, published on 12 May 2026. The figure covers staff utilisation across the firms Deltek surveyed.
Where does PeopleMuster get the hours behind utilisation?
From daily timesheets. Each person logs hours by project, a manager approves the sheet, and utilisation compares those hours with the expected week, 40 hours by default.