normal_header
NEW: Embedded Payroll in CORE! Learn more.
  • Platform
      Benefits
      streamline-sharp
      Win projects
      Target the right clients and win more profitable projects
      clock
      Plan projects
      Balance workload, forecast new projects, and set teams up
      project-screen
      Manage projects
      Deliver your firm's best work on budget and on time, always
      payment-icon
      Manage finances
      Strengthen finances with streamlined processes and live data
      user-data
      Use data
      Access real-time data to unlock insights and make decisions
      cog-automation-dark
      Gain efficiencies
      Maximize efficiency firm-wide to focus on what matters most
      Features
      project-screen
      Accounting
      Keep a pulse on your firm's financial health in real time
      dollar-dark
      Billing & Invoicing
      Send accurate invoices in less time and get paid faster
      laptop-favorite-star-dark
      CRM
      Power collaborative business development with built-in CRM
      3d-scale-dark
      Integrations
      Seamlessly integrate the platforms you use with BQE CORE
      ONE
      Payroll
      Process payroll, pay your team, and file taxes within CORE
      cube
      Project Management
      Take control with real-time visibility into project progress
      user-data
      Reporting & Analytics
      Access real-time reports that lead to smarter decisions
      user-multiple-group
      Resource Planning
      Build smarter staffing plans that optimize delivery and profit
      clock
      Time & Expense Tracking
      Easily keep time and expense entries up to date
  • Solutions
      Role
      project-screen
      Administrative Staff
      Keep the firm running at full speed
      payment-icon
      Finance Teams
      Manage cash flow, maintain financial clarity
      user-multiple-group
      Principals & Owners
      Keep your finger on the pulse of the firm
      project-screen
      Design and Project Staff
      Know what to work on, when
      streamline-sharp
      Project Managers
      Take control of your projects
      Industry
      cube
      Architecture
      Practice your passion, perfect your practice
      user-data
      Engineering
      Do what you love, automate what you don’t
      3d-scale-dark
      Consulting
      Reclaim your time, and your focus
  • Why BQE
      Why BQE
      We understand your firm’s needs. Our founders created our best-in-class platform to more successfully manage their own project-based architecture and engineering firms — and depended on it to drive better outcomes every day.
      Our Story
      Reviews
      Case Studies
      Superheroes
      Quotes
  • Pricing
  • Resources
login
Book Your Demo

Embedded Payroll in CORE:

Group Demo

Thursday, December 11, 2025
12pm ET | 9am PT 

Payroll Without the Busywork 

Running payroll shouldn’t feel like running a project of its own. With CORE Payroll, powered by Gusto, you can process payroll, pay your team, and handle all tax filings without ever leaving the system you already use to manage projects and billing. 

Whether you’re looking to save time, improve accuracy, or reduce compliance headaches, CORE Payroll helps A/E firms focus on what matters most: designing, building, and serving clients. 

We’ll also leave ample time for Q&A, so you can get your specific payroll questions answered live. 

Guest Speakers:  

  • Matt Cooper, BQE's Chief Executive Officer
  • Chris Vernon, VP of Product Management
  • Faisal Syed, Director of Product Management

During this session, you'll learn how integrated payroll can benefit your firm: 

1

Timesheet hours and pay rates flow automatically into payroll (ie: no manual re-entry). 

2

Payroll totals post instantly to CORE’s general ledger, giving you up-to-date financials.

3

Real-time sync with Gusto reduces errors, shortens payroll cycles, and saves hours every pay period. 

4

Job costing data updates instantly, so you see the true cost of every project as it happens. 

BQE presents - MBA Series Session 2

Macroeconomics of the A/E Industry:
The forces shaping competition, demand & growth

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

2pm ET | 11am PT

Architecture and engineering firms are often thought of as design organizations, but in practice they operate as economic actors. They exist inside long, capital-intensive cycles where demand is driven by interest rates, public funding, and investment confidence. Those forces shape backlog, staffing needs, and profitability long before changes show up in financial statements.

This dynamic creates familiar challenges for firm owners. Backlog can look strong even as future demand weakens. Hiring decisions feel urgent during expansion and painful during slowdowns. Margins tighten as labor costs rise faster than fees. By the time these issues are visible in the P&L, the underlying economic conditions have often been in motion for months or years.

In this webinar, we’ll take an MBA-style approach to A/E firm economics. We’ll examine which macroeconomic indicators matter most to A/E firms, how to interpret them, and how to translate economic signals into practical decisions around hiring, backlog, pricing, and risk. Participants will leave with a clearer framework for economic decision-making, a self-assessment of their firm’s economic readiness, and a simple, repeatable dashboard they can use to reduce whiplash and build resilience across economic cycles.

Speaker:

  • Austin Miller, CMO of BQE

During this session, you'll learn:

  • 1
    Interpret macroeconomic indicators to forecast A/E demand by applying trends in ABI, Dodge Momentum, interest rates, and construction activity to staffing and backlog decisions.
  • 2
    Evaluate backlog quality using a structured confidence scale (funding certainty, timing confidence, scope stability, contract risk) and distinguish between high- and low-confidence backlog.
  • 3
    Implement trigger rules for firm actions (e.g., hiring, discretionary spend, BD focus) tied to leading indicator thresholds such as ABI levels, proposal volume trends, and backlog aging.
  • 4
    Quantify labor economics impacts on profitability by comparing wage growth, billing rate changes, utilization, realization, and leverage to reveal margin pressure points.
  • 5
    Design and use a one-page economic dashboard that consolidates external signals, backlog health, labor economics, profitability, and risk flags into a monthly and quarterly review cadence.
  • 6
    Adjust strategic priorities based on macroeconomic signals by linking economic trends to decisions about sector focus (public vs. private), counter-cyclical service offerings, and timing of capital investments or acquisitions.
  • 7
    Anticipate economic cycle shifts by placing macroeconomic forces into a lead-lag timeline (rates → planning → starts → firm revenue) and mapping that timeline to firm planning horizons.

Guest Speakers:

  • Matt Cooper, BQE's Chief Executive Officer
  • Chris Vernon, VP of Product Management
  • Faisal Syed, Director of Product Management
REGISTER
CORE Payroll Webinars (3)
all-in-one
BUILT FROM EXPERIENCE

Designed by A&E pros for A&E firms

We built the software that helped us run our own firms better. Since then, we’ve spent the last 30 years optimizing it. As the industry evolves, so does BQE CORE. It’s the only proposal-to-paid solution that empowers everyone at a firm to streamline processes, close workflow gaps, and unlock real-time visibility into project performance and profitability.

Finally, you can get back to doing the impactful work you love.

Book Your Demo