Engineering / surveying firm software, built around PE/PLS license + firm Certificate of Authorization registry

Arkathos gives a engineering a workspace tailored to how the work actually runs — This workspace is built around billing stamped engineering and survey deliverables by milestone while keeping every PE/PLS license and the firm's Certificate of Authorization current. Arkathos tailors a engineering workspace around 5 agents: Treasury, Sentinel, Scribe, Watchtower, Herald.

Compliance a engineering can't afford to miss

Watchtower tracks every license, bond, insurance policy, and continuing-education requirement for a engineering, with renewal cadences and staged reminders so nothing lapses.

• A engineering must maintain a Professional Engineer (PE) license, through the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (e.g., NY State Education Dept Office of the Professions; NJ State Board of PE&LS; TX Board of Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors; CA BPELSG; PA State Registration Board for PEs, Land Surveyors & Geologists), which renews every two years.
• The Professional Engineer (PE) license carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (2h Ethics, 28h General (technical/PDH)).
• A engineering must maintain a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) License, through the State Board of Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors, which renews every two years.
• A engineering must maintain a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS/PS) license, through the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (same board as PE in most states), which renews every two years.
• The Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) License carries a continuing-education requirement of 24 hours every two years (24h Professional Development Hours (PDH)).
• The Professional Land Surveyor (PLS/PS) license carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (2h Ethics, 28h General (surveying/technical PDH)).
• A engineering must maintain a Firm Certificate of Authorization (COA) to practice engineering/surveying, through the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (firm/entity registration), which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A engineering must maintain a Firm Certificate of Authorization (right to offer engineering/surveying services), through the State Board of Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors, which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM), through the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), which renews every two years.
• A engineering must maintain a Local Business License, which renews every year.
• The Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) carries a continuing-education requirement of 16 hours every two years (16h Floodplain management (CECs)).
• A engineering must maintain a Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) Insurance, which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a LEED AP with specialty, through the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) / U.S. Green Building Council, which renews every two years.
• The LEED AP with specialty carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (6h LEED-specific, 24h General).
• A engineering must maintain a Commercial Auto Insurance (survey field crew vehicles), which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Professional liability insurance (Errors & Omissions), through the Commercial insurance carrier (A&E professional liability), which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Certificate of Occupancy (firm office), through the Local Building Dept, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A engineering must maintain a General liability insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Cyber liability insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Workers' compensation insurance, through the State workers' compensation program / commercial carrier, which renews every year.
• A engineering must maintain a Commercial auto insurance (field survey/site vehicles), through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.

Everything Arkathos runs for a engineering

These are the agents set up first for a engineering — and because it's one platform, every plan includes all 16 Arkathos agents. Also included whenever you need them: Guardhouse, Quartermaster, Courier, War Room, Armory, Marshall, Mint Warden, Vault Keeper, Bulletin Board, Client Portal.

• Treasury — Invoicing & payment collection, Expense tracking, Accounting & bookkeeping, Business tax prep & filing, Recurring billing & subscriptions, Financial dashboards & reports.
• Sentinel — Contact & lead management, Deal / estimate pipeline, Task & follow-up tracking, SMS & email outreach, Pipeline reporting.
• Scribe — Document & contract templates, E-signature, Proposal & form builder, PDF / Word export.
• Watchtower — License & permit tracking, Certification & continuing-education (CE) tracking, Renewal reminders & alerts, Compliance document vault.
• Herald — SEO & get-found content, Social media scheduling, Email & newsletter campaigns, Brand voice & content studio, Review & reputation growth, AI-overview & directory visibility.

Your tailored engineering workspace

These are net-new, engineering-specific capabilities — not a generic CRM bolted onto your industry.

• PE/PLS license + firm Certificate of Authorization registry (Watchtower): Track each engineer's PE and each surveyor's PLS individual license per state PLUS the firm-level Certificate of Authorization required to legally offer services in each state, with PDH hour ledgers, renewal dates, and reciprocity — including a go-dark alert if the firm's COA lapses in a state where it has active projects or open pursuits.
• Stamp & seal application log (Scribe): A register recording which licensed PE/PLS sealed each deliverable (drawing set, survey plat, calc package, report), the seal/issue date, and the engineer in responsible charge — an audit trail tying every sealed document to a then-current license for liability and board-audit defense.
• Phase/milestone billing with reimbursables (Treasury): Engineering-fee phasing (proposal → milestone → invoice) with reimbursable pass-throughs specific to the trade (subsurface/geotech testing, recording fees, survey monuments, lab work), retainers, and progress billing against percent-complete.
• Survey field-crew scheduling & site routing (Quartermaster): Schedule survey crews to job sites (boundary, topo, ALTA/NSPS, construction stakeout) with day-of routing between sites, equipment/instrument assignment, and tie-back to the project — the field-ops layer a survey firm needs that pure office billing doesn't cover. (Quartermaster/Dispatch are secondary agents but this workflow is net-new.)
• Certified payroll / prevailing-wage for public work (Marshall): For Brooks Act / publicly-funded contracts, capture Davis-Bacon prevailing-wage rates by labor classification and generate weekly certified-payroll (WH-347) reports per project — the compliance artifact public engineering/survey work requires before it can invoice.
• Surveying-vs-engineering sales-tax classifier (Treasury): Classify each deliverable line as taxable surveying/mapping vs exempt professional engineering by state nexus rules, so invoices apply sales tax only on the surveying line and only in states where it is taxable — backing the surfaced Sales tax tab with vertical-correct defaults.

The agents and tabs you get

Treasury for a engineering surfaces Financial sheet, Invoices, Draft estimate, Transactions, Sales tax, Chat. Sentinel for a engineering surfaces Overview, Contacts, Tasks, Chat. Scribe for a engineering surfaces Documents, Templates, Chat. Watchtower for a engineering surfaces Compliance items, Calendar, Chat. Herald for a engineering surfaces ✦Studio, Compose, Get found, Directories, Schedule, Chat, Brand voice.

Frequently asked questions

best software for a land surveying business

Depends on the job: QuoteIQ for estimating/scheduling/invoicing, Trimble Business Center or Carlson for data processing, BQE Core for accounting. Arkathos bundles CRM, scheduling, invoicing, payroll and compliance in one flat-priced platform.

how much does surveying business software cost per month

Office/business platforms run roughly $30-$700/month (e.g., QuoteIQ) and often charge per seat; field and CAD data software costs far more upfront. Arkathos uses flat pricing with no per-seat fees.

project management software for engineering firms

BQE Core, Deltek Ajera and Monograph connect project delivery to financials in real time, unlike generic boards like Asana. Arkathos ties jobs, billing and reporting together with no per-user cost.

how do land surveyors keep track of jobs and field notes

Purpose-built job books like SurveyOps and Cyanic Job Book organize work by section-township-range, sync field notes and photos from phones, and keep field crews and office staff on one shared record.

do engineering firms need a crm

Yes. Bids and proposals span years, so a CRM tracks the pipeline from first contact through award and delivery and prevents missed follow-ups. Arkathos includes CRM plus proposal tracking and reminders.

best time tracking and billing software for engineering firms

BQE Core, BigTime and Sage Intacct handle project time, job costing and milestone/progress billing. Arkathos covers time, invoicing and payroll together, flat-priced with no per-seat fees.

how do i track continuing education for pe license renewal

Use NCEES's free CPC Tracking in your MyNCEES account; hours vary by state (Florida 18/2yrs, Texas 15/yr, including ethics and laws). Arkathos can track renewal and filing deadlines.

how to schedule survey field crews and dispatch jobs

Field-service dispatch tools assign jobs, track crew GPS, optimize routes and push updates from one dashboard, replacing phone-and-spreadsheet coordination. Arkathos includes scheduling that ties bookings straight to invoicing.

What licenses and insurance does a engineering need?

Arkathos tracks 16 items for a engineering, including Professional Engineer (PE) license, Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) License, Professional Land Surveyor (PLS/PS) license, Firm Certificate of Authorization (COA) to practice engineering/surveying. Each renewal and expiration is monitored in Watchtower with staged reminders.

What continuing education is required for a engineering?

The Professional Engineer (PE) license carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (2h Ethics, 28h General (technical/PDH)). The Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) License carries a continuing-education requirement of 24 hours every two years (24h Professional Development Hours (PDH)). The Professional Land Surveyor (PLS/PS) license carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (2h Ethics, 28h General (surveying/technical PDH)). The Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) carries a continuing-education requirement of 16 hours every two years (16h Floodplain management (CECs)). The LEED AP with specialty carries a continuing-education requirement of 30 hours every two years (6h LEED-specific, 24h General). Watchtower logs hours by category and flags shortfalls before the deadline.

Which Arkathos agents does a engineering get?

Arkathos tailors a engineering workspace around 5 agents: Treasury, Sentinel, Scribe, Watchtower, Herald.

How is the Arkathos workspace tailored for a engineering?

Beyond the standard tools, Arkathos builds engineering-specific features: PE/PLS license + firm Certificate of Authorization registry; Stamp & seal application log; Phase/milestone billing with reimbursables.

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