Payroll for Architecture and Interior Design Firms

Payroll in a design firm is small but personal. Most staff are on fixed salaries, with a project or annual bonus, travel reimbursements for site visits, and overtime or comp-off after crunch weeks. Interns are paid under their own terms, and freelancers are not on payroll at all. Good payroll here keeps structures consistent across designers of the same level, runs from closed attendance, pays by the 7th, and never mixes invoice payments to freelancers with salaries.

Salary structures for design roles

Build each structure from monthly gross with Basic, DA, HRA and Special in the company's percentages, and keep basic plus DA at half of gross or more, because under the Code on Wages any allowance amount beyond half of pay counts as wages when PF, gratuity and bonus are worked out. Studios often use grades such as junior architect, architect, senior architect and associate, each with a salary band. Using the same split for everyone in a grade avoids the quiet comparisons that start when two designers find out their structures differ.

Project bonuses, incentives and reimbursements

Many studios pay a bonus when a project is completed or its fee collected, or share part of the profit at year end, and BD staff may earn an incentive on new commissions. HR enters these as bonus or incentive inputs in the month they are approved, or uses a separate bonus run for a studio-wide payout; check statutory bonus eligibility separately. Site visit travel, cab fares to vendors and printing costs for submissions are reimbursed through payroll inputs, after the office manager checks the bills outside the system.

Interns and freelancers

Interns receive a stipend under their internship terms. Keep them under a separate intern employment type, and agree with your accountant how the stipend is processed. Freelance visualisers, renderers and consultants are different: they raise invoices, accounts pays them outside payroll, and they should not have employee records at all. Mixing the two confuses PF and ESI records and blurs who is actually an employee of the firm.

Month end for a small studio

In a studio of 25, month end takes a morning if the inputs are ready. The office manager closes attendance, confirms approved overtime and comp-offs, enters bonuses and reimbursements, and drafts the payroll run. Paid days come from the closed attendance month, so with calendar-day proration a designer on ₹45,000 gross with two unpaid days in a 30-day month is paid ₹42,000, which is ₹3,000 less. The principal checks the draft, the run is finalized and sealed, payslip PDFs go out, and the bank payment is released before the 7th, when monthly wages fall due.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

In Direct Payroll, create salary structures from monthly gross by grade, with Basic and DA at half of gross or more and HRA and Special from the rest.
Pick the studio's proration rule for part months, calendar days or a flat 30 days, and explain it to staff in the offer letter.
Enter project bonuses, BD incentives and approved reimbursements as payroll inputs, or use a bonus run for studio-wide payouts.
Set up interns under their own employment type, and keep freelancers out of employee records entirely.
Finalize payroll only after month close, then share payslip PDFs and take the payment batch through approval to paid before the 7th.
Use role-based masking so salary fields are visible only to the principal, accounts and HR.

Roles this applies to

Site Supervisor Site Engineer Civil Engineer Surveyor Billing Engineer

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Frequently asked questions

How are project bonuses paid in architecture firms?

Usually when a project is completed or its fee is collected, or as a share of profit at year end. The principal approves the amounts, and HR enters them as bonus inputs in that month's payroll or runs a separate bonus payroll. State the basis in writing so designers know what to expect.

Should freelance designers be paid through payroll?

No. Freelancers raise invoices and are paid by accounts outside payroll, so they should not have employee records, PF or ESI deductions or payslips. If a freelancer works like an employee, with fixed hours and supervision over a long period, review whether the arrangement should change.

How are site visit expenses reimbursed in a design firm?

Staff give bills for cabs, fuel, printing and vendor visits to the office manager, who checks them outside the payroll system. HR then adds the approved amount as a reimbursement input, so it is paid with the salary and shown separately on the payslip.

When should architecture firms pay salaries?

The Code on Wages deadline for monthly wages is the 7th of the next month. Close attendance and collect bonuses and reimbursements in the first few days, so the principal can review the payroll before it is finalized and the bank payment goes out.