Free agency tool
Agency utilization and capacity calculator
Enter headcount by role and the hours you already sold on retainers. See monthly billable capacity, team utilization, and whether it is time to hire, sell more, or raise rates.
Billable capacity is available hours times each role's utilization target. Compare that to the hours you already sold on retainers: load above 80% is tight, and sustained load at 85% or higher is a hiring trigger.
- Owners / partners
10 to 25% target. Above that, you are not running the agency.
Owners / partners headcount1 - Directors
30 to 45%. Strategy and escalations, not full delivery.
Directors headcount1 - Account managers
40 to 50%. Client work is billable; pipeline is not.
Account managers headcount2 - Senior leads
55 to 65%. Delivery plus QA and mentoring.
Senior leads headcount3 - Delivery specialists
70 to 75%. Most of the day is client work.
Delivery specialists headcount5
- Billable capacity
- 1,073h / mo
- Team utilization
- 57.1%
- Billing capacity
- $160,975/ mo
- Load
- 76.4%253 h headroom
Capacity covers committed work with room for overages and a sick week.
| Role | People | Target | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owners / partners | 1 | 15% | 24 h |
| Directors | 1 | 40% | 63 h |
| Account managers | 2 | 45% | 141 h |
| Senior leads | 3 | 60% | 282 h |
| Delivery specialists | 5 | 72% | 564 h |
| Total | 12 | 57.1% | 1,073 h |
Why use it
Decisions the numbers should make for you.
Capacity planning is how agencies grow without burning out the delivery team or hiring into underpriced work. Use the calculator before you open a req or renew a thin retainer.
Load at 85% or higher for two months, with pipeline demand, is a hiring trigger. The calculator shows the gap in hours so you hire into the right role instead of guessing.
Headroom below 70% load usually means capacity sitting idle. That is a sales and packaging problem, not a productivity problem.
If the team is maxed out and billing capacity barely covers loaded cost, utilization will not save you. Reprice retainers or raise the blended rate before you add seats.
Specialists should be mostly billable. Directors should not. Role-based targets keep the plan honest and stop fictional client hours from padding utilization.
How it works
The same math we use to plan a hire.
Built from the utilization and capacity guide. Related terms: utilization rate, capacity planning, and realization rate.
173.3 scheduled hours per month, less PTO and holidays. Measuring against scheduled hours in a PTO-heavy month understates utilization.
Specialists should be mostly billable. Directors should not. The calculator defaults match the ranges operators actually hold.
Load is hours promised on retainers divided by billable capacity. Above 80% leaves no room for overages or a sick week.
Questions
What does this agency utilization calculator do?
It turns your headcount and role mix into monthly billable capacity, a team utilization target, and retainer load. You can see how many billable hours the agency can deliver, what that capacity is worth at your blended rate, and whether committed retainers leave room to hire or room to sell.
How is utilization calculated?
Utilization is billable hours divided by available hours for the same period. Available hours are scheduled hours minus PTO and holidays. This calculator starts from 173.3 scheduled hours per month (2,080 / 12), subtracts your PTO policy, then multiplies by each role's target.
What utilization should each role target?
Delivery specialists 70 to 75%, senior leads 55 to 65%, directors 30 to 45%, account managers 40 to 50%, and owners 10 to 25%. One target for everyone punishes the people whose non-billable time is most valuable.
How do I know the hours already sold on retainers?
Add up the monthly hours you promised each active retainer client, by department or in total. If a client pays for 40 hours of SEO and 20 hours of content each month, that is 60 committed hours. If you do not track allocations, estimate from last month's logged hours per retainer client, or leave the field at zero to see capacity only.
When is it time to hire more people?
When load sits at 85% or higher for two or more months, committed retainer hours exceed 80% of capacity, and the pipeline still adds demand. A single busy month is not a hire. Hire into the role that is over capacity, not into a generalist seat.
When should an agency raise rates instead of hiring?
When the team is busy but billing capacity looks thin relative to payroll, or when load is high because retainers were underpriced. Raising rates or repricing retainers fixes realization; hiring into underpriced work adds cost without fixing margin.
Why is team-wide utilization often near 55 to 60%?
Because the mix includes owners, directors and account managers with lower targets. Raising every target by 10 points burns out specialists and stops directors from planning. Change the role mix if you need the team-wide number to move.
See utilization by person while there is still time to act.
Verbial shows each person's hours against their target, paces retainers by department, and flags load before the month breaks.