you go home?

I was juuust testing you?

after 10 hours max

i don't usually count the hours per day, i judge it more on my workload.
i usually call it a day when:

1). I hit a good stopping point
2). everything that i agreed to finish that day is done
3). figure out what exactly i need to start on when i get back in the morning
4). or when its thursday night at 8pm and project runway is on in an hour.

I do my 8 hrs and I'm out....I have other things to do....like making my own wine. Unless there is a really important deadline!

well it depends... if it’s a profession for the money than 8-9 because that’s what they pay u for it( supposedly)
However if it’s a profession from passion.. Than what sort of question are u asking? U suppose to be saying “why should I go home” instead of "when should i go home"?

I typically try to work 8-8.5 per day. If there is some "critical" deadline, maybe more. Sometimes you feel like you want to help someone out (reviewing shop drawings for a GC, reviewing engineer's prelim's., etc... because you know it helps keep them on track/schedule) and I'll do more.
They key is setting reasonable expectations with higher-ups, so that a production expectation doesn't require massive extra hours week in / week out. Easier said than done though...depending on who you work for/with. I guess some bosses try to skate by with 2 people doing the work of 3. The one time my firm tried that (small office) I said to the principal: "Sure, I'll see you back here to work with me until midnight... it will be a good team effort." That lasted one evening and unreasonable expectations disappeared.

Tanacious,
how long you work has nothing to do with passion. I can be as passionate about architecture and my work in 8 hours than some who work longer hours.

You can have passion for your career, but if that is your only passion then there is something wrong with you. People have passion about family, sports etc. in addition to passion to architecture.

I think I understand the question, because there are numerous nights at the office where people look around and nobody is leaving, and so you wait and wait....but others around you are doing the same thing, they wait for you....so the days get really long some time.

You have to set up time (8 hrs, because they pay you for that) for your work and have all things iheartbooks mentioned organized...then go home and do other things you are passionate about.

when the bar throws me out....

Came in just to say I agree with poop876's comment 100%.

Problems arise when some of your coworkers have no other hobbies in life, or when the biggest slackers come out looking better then you (to upper management) since they are constantly seen putting in long hours (in most cases just to catch up).

Some of Canadian provinces will force your employer to give you additional off time for putting in extra hours. I think I like that approach. It keeps everyone honest.

steelstuds, which ones might those be?

BenC: which provinces? I haven't worked in Canada for nearly a decade. Some of my British Columbia friends came down for a visit recently. They all spoke of arch. offices letting you bank your overtime hours to be used as vacation time at a later date. They made it clear that this was the law in BC. They may be full of it. I remember Ontario arch. offices having similar policies, but back then I wasn't very interested in laws or labor policies. I haven't seen a single office in US do that, so perhaps there's something to this.

In any case, my job on the internets is to be over-opinionated, lazy and to spread misinformation and outright lies to anyone who'll listen :)

Addendum to my post:

Banking hours in US firms may be illegal. Last job I had asked the entire staff to put in additional work over the course of the year so that everyone would get an extended paid holiday between Christmas and New Years. The management made it clear to us that this was a slippery slope when it came to the law that was passed by Bush 4 years ago or so.

More hours does not equate to better hours.
The busiest are most often the least productive - especially management.
Quality & quantity of work - not time - should be the metric.
Adults earn salaries. Adults manage their time appropriately.
Also, extracurriculars are very important, balancing.

thanks folks; I don't work salary--I wasn't literally asking "when should I go home--tonight" just walking home, thinking up dumb questions for archinect. But seriously--does the office set some implicit/explicit expectation? Is there some law that says what the length of day is? I don't know this stuff