Free RIBA Plan of Work Project Template
Architecture practices lose fees between stages, not inside them: the concept change reworked into Stage 3 without a variation, the construction-stage hours that outrun the Stage 5 share. This template lays the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 out as eight phases with a sign-off at the end of each, so the fee schedule, the programme and the hours are one record from Stage 0 to handover.
No credit card. Opens as a real project on the Free plan.
What’s inside
All 22 tasks are below, across Stages 0 to 7. Each stage ends in a short client sign-off task, because the sign-off is where the fee becomes invoiceable and where the scope stops moving for free.
22
Scheduled tasks
8
Phases
6
Milestones
~60
Weeks end to end
Why the stage sign-off is the unit that matters
The RIBA Plan of Work is a sequence of decisions, and each stage ends with one: the client approves the brief, the concept, the coordinated design, the technical design. A practice that treats those sign-offs as the moments its fee becomes invoiceable, and its scope becomes fixed, keeps two things straight that otherwise drift: what has been paid for, and what has been agreed. This template puts a milestone at each of them.
Every task carries estimated hours because that is how the phase gets measured. Progress on a stage is the share of its estimate that has been approved on timesheets, so a Stage 3 that has consumed 80 percent of its hours at 40 percent of its deliverables is visible in the week it happens rather than at the fee reconciliation. The estimates are a starting shape for a mid-sized project; resize them once the appointment is agreed.
Fees are quoted per stage, as the RIBA appointment expects. In Onplana that is one milestone line per stage on the deal, which becomes the project's milestone schedule and is recognised as each sign-off completes, and it is why the sign-offs are milestones rather than tasks. What the template does not do is invoice: the invoice and the ledger posting still happen in your accounting system.
The plan, phase by phase
Stage 0, Strategic Definition2 tasks
Confirm the business case and the outline brief
The client requirements, whether a building is the answer at all, and the outline project brief. Record the appointment scope and the fee basis alongside.
Agree the appointment and the fee schedule by stage
Scope per stage, fee per stage as a share of the total, and what counts as an additional service. This is the record every later change is priced against.
Stage 1, Preparation and Briefing3 tasks
Develop the project brief and the site information
Spatial requirements, quality and sustainability outcomes, site surveys and constraints, the planning context.
Prepare the project programme and procurement strategy
Stage durations, the procurement route, and the consultants the project needs and when.
Stage 1 client sign-off
Brief and programme approved. The Stage 1 fee becomes invoiceable on sign-off.
Stage 2, Concept Design4 tasks
Prepare the concept design options
Massing, layout and appearance options tested against the brief, with a preferred option recommended.
Coordinate the structural and services strategy
Outline structural and MEP strategies aligned with the architectural concept before it is fixed.
Prepare the Stage 2 cost plan and programme update
Order-of-cost estimate against the budget; the programme re-baselined on the concept.
Stage 2 client sign-off
Concept approved. Changes from here are priced and scheduled, never absorbed.
Stage 3, Spatial Coordination3 tasks
Develop the spatially coordinated design
Architectural, structural and services information coordinated in one model and clash-checked, with the planning drawings derived from it.
Prepare and submit the planning application
Planning drawings, the design and access statement, supporting reports; submitted and validated.
Stage 3 client sign-off
Coordinated design approved and the planning application submitted.
Stage 4, Technical Design4 tasks
Produce the technical design
Construction-level information: details, specifications and schedules, coordinated with every designer.
Discharge the pre-commencement planning conditions
The conditions that gate a start on site, tracked to discharge.
Prepare the tender documentation and run the tender
Pricing documents, the tender period, returns analysed and a contractor recommended.
Stage 4 client sign-off and contract award
Technical design complete and the contractor appointed. The construction-stage fee starts here.
Stage 5, Manufacturing and Construction3 tasks
Administer the building contract
Site inspections, instructions, valuations and certificates through construction.
Respond to contractor queries and design changes
Queries answered, changes assessed for cost and programme, and instructed formally.
Inspect and certify practical completion
Snagging, the completion inspection and the certificate.
Stage 6, Handover2 tasks
Hand over the building and plan the defects period
The building manual, as-built information and the defects inspection schedule.
Issue the final account and close the appointment
Final certificate, final account, and the fee reconciled against the stage schedule.
Stage 7, Use1 task
Plan the post-occupancy evaluation
What will be measured a year in, by whom, and how the lessons feed the next brief.
Milestones
Six milestones: four stage sign-offs, practical completion and handover. They render as diamonds on the Gantt chart, which makes the gap between the Stage 4 sign-off and practical completion, the part of the fee most exposed to contractor performance, visible at a glance.
Stage 1 sign-off, brief agreed
Day 42 of the plan
Stage 2 sign-off, concept approved
Day 98 of the plan
Stage 3 sign-off, planning submitted
Day 168 of the plan
Stage 4 sign-off, contract awarded
Day 266 of the plan
Practical completion
Day 378 of the plan
Handover complete
Day 406 of the plan
Frequently asked
Is this the 2020 Plan of Work or the 2013 one?
The 2020 edition: Stage 3 is Spatial Coordination rather than Developed Design, Stage 5 is Manufacturing and Construction, and the sustainability and planning tasks sit where the 2020 Plan puts them. Rename a stage if your appointment still uses 2013 wording; the structure is the same.
How do I quote a fee per stage?
On the deal, add one milestone line per stage with its share of the fee, send it as the quote, and when the client accepts it the lines become the project's milestone schedule. Each amount is recognised when its sign-off milestone completes, so the margin report shows stage revenue against the hours that earned it.
Where do the customary percentages per stage come from?
From practice rather than from a rule: Stages 2 to 5 carry most of the fee and Stage 4 is usually the largest single share. The template names the sign-offs and leaves the split to your appointment, because it varies by procurement route and by client.
How is progress on a stage measured?
By hours. Each stage's progress is the share of its estimate that has been approved on timesheets, and a project manager can override it with a percentage when the hours and the deliverables disagree. That is why every task in the template carries an estimate.
We are migrating from Microsoft Project. Do our stages become these phases?
A migrated schedule arrives with its stages as summary tasks, and Onplana imports them intact with dependencies, baselines and costs. Use this template for new appointments; an imported plan keeps its own structure.
Start with the plan already built
Open the RIBA Plan of Work (Architecture) template free and your phases, tasks, and milestones are scheduled before the kickoff meeting. No credit card, no time limit.