Team Capacity Planner
Model your team's revenue ceiling against a 12-month target. The tool runs three what-if levers side by side: raise utilisation, lift rates, or hire. The verdict tells you which one actually closes your gap most cheaply.
Team Capacity Planner
Model your team's revenue ceiling. See whether raising utilisation, lifting rates, or hiring is the cheapest lever to close your gap.
Shared assumptions
Your team (4 of 8)
Loaded cost / hour = (salary + tax + benefits + overhead share) ÷ work hours per year. Rough rule of thumb: ~1.4× their hourly wage.
Per person + team capacity
| Person | Utilisation | Annual revenue | Annual cost | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder / strategy | 55% | $132,000 | $172,800 | Below target |
| Senior delivery | 75% | $180,000 | $105,600 | On target |
| Junior delivery | 70% | $168,000 | $61,440 | On target |
| Operations / PM | 35% | $84,000 | $72,960 | Under-utilised |
| Team | 58.8% | $564,000 | $412,800 | Below target |
Current revenue ceiling
$564,000/ year
What your team would earn in 12 months at current billable hours and rate.
Gap vs. target
$36,000to close
Your 12-month target sits $36,000 above current capacity.
The cheapest-lever comparison
Cheapest lever: Raise utilisation +5pts
Your utilisation has headroom. Closing the gap from utilisation is faster, cheaper, and lower-risk than hiring. Fix tracking, audit meetings, re-scope under-utilised people. See the 4 patterns in the guide.
Raise utilisation +5pts
+$48,000
New ceiling $612,000
Low — meeting audit, time tracking, scope re-quoting
Raise rate +10%
+$56,400
New ceiling $620,400
Medium — re-quote new SOWs; risk of losing 1-2 price-sensitive clients
Hire 1 FTE @ 70% utilisation
+$64,800
New ceiling $628,800
High — recruitment, onboarding, payroll commitment
Cash outlay $103,200 / yr
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Method: ceiling = sum of (billable hrs/wk × weeks × rate) per person. Lever A lifts team utilisation 5 points (capped at 85% to avoid the burnout band). Lever B raises blended rate 10%. Lever C adds 1 FTE at 70% utilisation and subtracts loaded cost. Sources: Sortlist Agency Operations Survey 2024, AgencyAnalytics 2025 Pricing Benchmark, Hinge Research Institute 2024, Productive.io 2024 Agency Benchmarks, Float 2024 Resource Management Report.
How this planner works
Every agency runs on the same capacity equation. Revenue ceiling equals team size, multiplied by utilisation, multiplied by billable hours per week, multiplied by weeks worked, multiplied by billable rate. Five variables. You can move any of them to raise the ceiling.
The planner takes your team as it stands and projects an annual revenue ceiling. Then it asks: what is the cheapest path to your 12-month revenue target? Three levers are modelled. Lever A raises team utilisation by 5 percentage points (capped at 85% to stay out of the burnout band). Lever B raises blended rates by 10%. Lever C adds one full-timer at average loaded cost and 70% utilisation, with their annual cost subtracted from the ceiling gain.
The cheapest lever is the one that closes your specific revenue gap with the smallest cash outlay and lowest disruption. For most small agencies, the answer is Lever A. Utilisation has headroom, fixing tracking and trimming meetings closes the gap, and no payroll commitment is required. About one in five agencies are actually in the position where hiring is the right answer. The planner tells you which group you are in.
The per-person table shows where each team member sits relative to the target utilisation band. Anyone in the under-utilised or below-target bands is your fastest path to the lifted ceiling. Anyone in the at-risk or burnout-risk bands is a hiring signal even if your overall gap is closed.
FAQ
When is the right time to hire your next person?
When two things are true at the same time. First, your team's billable utilisation is sustainably at 75% or higher (in the target band, not below it). Second, you have at least 60 days of trailing capacity strain — not a single busy week. If utilisation is below 70%, you almost certainly do not need to hire; you need to fix utilisation first. The capacity equation says hiring lowers average utilisation, so hiring into a low-utilisation team makes the underlying problem worse.
How is this different from a utilisation calculator?
A utilisation calculator tells you where your current team sits. A capacity planner answers a different question: given your 12-month revenue target, what is the cheapest lever that closes the gap? Three levers are available: lift utilisation, raise rates, or hire. Most agency owners reach for hiring first. The math usually says fix utilisation, because raising utilisation by 5 points often closes the gap at zero cash outlay.
What is the cheapest-lever comparison?
The tool runs three what-if scenarios side by side. Lever A: raise team utilisation by 5 percentage points (toward the target band). Lever B: raise blended billable rate by 10%. Lever C: hire one additional full-timer at average loaded cost and 70% utilisation. Each scenario shows the new revenue ceiling, the gain over current, and the disruption cost. The verdict line tells you which lever closes your specific revenue gap most cheaply.
Should I hire a contractor or a full-time employee?
A contractor at $75-$125/hr can replace 0.5-0.8 FTE for variable work with no post-engagement burden. The right rule of thumb: if demand is durable beyond 6 months and the skill set is core, hire FTE. If demand is project-bound, seasonal, or you are not yet confident the volume holds, hire a contractor first. Float's 2024 Resource Management Report has more on contractor economics.
Why does the tool cap utilisation lift at 85%?
Because sustained utilisation above 85% correlates with 35% higher staff turnover in the following 12 months (AgencyAnalytics 2025 Pricing Benchmark Report). Replacing a senior team member costs 6-12 months of their fully-loaded salary. Modelling a lift past 85% would suggest revenue that, in practice, you would lose to attrition. The 85% cap keeps the recommendation honest.
Want the full method?
Read the guide: When to hire your next person.
The three levers explained, the 60-day rule, the contractor option, and a 4-step pre-hire checklist.
Read the guideAscend tracks billable utilisation as you work, not at month-end.
Timer attached to every project. Utilisation visible per person every week. The five workflows agencies run, in one workspace.
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