Project Management · Module 1 · Week 1 Reference
Module 1 · Week 1 · Interactive companion
Move the figures below and watch a project fee become net service revenue, a pursuit become a weighted opportunity value, and that value enter the firm's forecast.
Part 1 · The basic economic model
A project fee is the amount a client pays. Weston & Sampson does not keep the entire fee. Part of it passes through to others before the firm earns anything with its own labor.
Direct expenses are subconsultant fees the firm passes through to another firm. Reimbursable expenses are out-of-pocket costs, such as travel and permit fees, billed through to the client at cost. Subtract both from gross revenue and the remainder is net service revenue, the revenue Weston & Sampson earns with its own labor. Net service revenue funds direct labor, overhead, and profit at the same time, not in sequence.
Direct expenses and reimbursable expenses are not present on every project. When they are present, these are the only subtractions the firm makes before it measures its own labor.
This split uses Weston & Sampson's confirmed ratios, a direct labor multiplier of 3.25 and an overhead factor of 1.60. Profit is the amount left over, close to the firm's 20 percent target. The project manager monitors these assumptions and acts when scope, effort, staffing, schedule, or risk changes.
Part 2 · Evaluate the pursuit
Estimated NET Revenue is the same kind of figure as net service revenue, recorded before the project is won. The project manager also records a win probability, an estimate of how likely the firm is to convert this pursuit into signed work.
A higher win probability should reflect stronger evidence, not a preference for the pursuit to succeed.
The weighted opportunity value is the amount of future net service revenue the firm can reasonably plan against before the pursuit is won. It is a planning input, not committed revenue.
Part 3 · Build the forecast
The firm adds weighted opportunity value to its signed backlog, the net service revenue already under contract. The combined figure is the planning view of future work, the basis for a staffing and capacity discussion.
This figure supports a staffing and capacity discussion. It remains a planning input, not committed revenue, until the pursuit is won.
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Financial figures current as of July 2026. Confirm current values with Weston & Sampson before pricing or planning.