Every year at this time, my family celebrates Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, my son’s birthday, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Needless to say, it’s a busy week for us. We have family visiting from near and far… grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Since Christmas Eve, we’ve been moving from one party to the next. It’s exhausting, but honestly, there is nothing more important than spending time with family and friends.
A few years ago, we started a new tradition at the firm. With the economy limping along and our revenues… let’s just say, less than they used to be, we decided to give to our staff the gift of time in lieu of a cash bonus. On the Friday before Christmas, we closed the studio early and headed to one of our favorite local hot spots for a lunch. We celebrated “survival” for another year and toasted to the success we have planned for 2013. We then shut down the studio for the week and each headed off to spend time with our families.
It’s a great opportunity to stop, think, plan and get motivated for the coming year, but it’s tough to be away from the studio for any significant amount of time. In order to keep projects progressing, much needs to be accomplished prior to taking the break. Then, upon our return, we must gear up quickly and pick up where we left off. To make things worse, many of our projects in construction continue on without us. Issues requiring our attention are waiting to be addressed upon our return.
Success in life, for me, is finding that all important balance between the firm and my family. (Tweet This)
Being an owner of an architecture firm is not easy (especially during the past few years), but the ability to schedule my time to provide proper attention to both the firm and my family is something I will never trade. Every morning, I wave to my kids and blow kisses as they load on to their big yellow buses and head off to school. I attend my kids’ band concerts, watch their school plays, meet with their teachers and I have missed not one swim meet. I am very involved in my kids lives. God put me on earth to be their dad and I take that responsibility very seriously.
But… I also have an architecture firm to run. We have over a dozen active projects of all shapes and sizes. We’ve increased our marketing efforts and decreased staff. That means we’re very busy. I am wearing many hats and performing many tasks each day. How does one get it all done?
It’s not easy.
The year 2013 will be pivotal. We’re seeing our pipeline of projects filling up and I expect we’ll start growing again. So, how do I find the balance between the firm and my family when we’re in transition and getting busier every day? I set priorities. I stay inspired to succeed and I plan. Next week, between catching up on projects and addressing pending questions, I’ll be updating our business plan and adjusting it to respond to the current and upcoming market conditions.
How do YOU find the balance between the firm and your family?
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A quick side note… I’d love to know what you think of the new site. With a major increase in traffic and big plans to grow the site to include more than just my weekly blog rant, I needed to move to a new hosting service. I embraced the opportunity to upgrade the design to be more functional and easier to read.
I’d love to know what you think…
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New site looks great!
Thanks Jason. I appreciate the feedback. Have a happy New Year.
Hello,
Just wanted to let you know your blog is fun to read and informative of the ups and downs of the industry.
I am not a schooled architect but a designer with an engineering and business background. I work in this capacity as a second income but rely on it more heavily than ever.
I particularly enjoy your commentary on the work-life balance as sometimes we burn the candle at both ends doing what we have to for our families and spending time with them. Gods word is important to know when to say when…
Question to you is what do you feel is a fair hourly rate for a designer such as myself vs. a square foot price not including engineering? I work with a number of engineers but sometimes feel I do not charge enough for my time.
Some smaller projects like additions it may work out to be 50 to 60 per hour…but on the larger New homes is seems is it close to 25.00 an hour. Sometimes I feel I am trading sleep and family time for a low return although I depend on it as a single earner because I want my wife to be with the kids…
Take a look at my site and give me some feedback. I would love for someone like you to critique a set of plans and feedback to me on what they are worth…
I enjoy contacts in this field as I hope to have a better 2013.
Patrick Broderick
Patrick,
Your comment is exactly what this site is all about. The business side of our industry is a mystery to so many architects and designers. Schools don’t teach it and firms often don’t share it. Most architects who start their own businesses, whether a startup firm or freelancer, must learn the fundamentals of business the hard way… by making mistakes, losing money and disappointing clients.
Entrepreneur Architect is dedicated to teaching architects, designers and other creative professionals the things we need to know to be successful in business, leadership and life. Stay tuned. This year we’re going to get deep into how to start a business and keep it running successfully… and I’m going to be sharing details and specifics.
I did receive your email, but I am happy to respond to your question here on the blog with the hope that others will join in and contribute to the conversation.
Rates for freelance designers and draftsmen are driven by the market for which they serve and their individual skills as a designer. In Westchester County, NY (the market my firm serves) a skilled freelance designer earns between $40 and $80 per hour. The firm hiring the freelancer must cover the designer’s fee, their overhead and have enough left over to make a profit. Otherwise, hiring a freelance designer doesn’t make good business sense. In Westchester, firms will invoice a designer’s time at $100 to $150 per hour.
I hope this is helpful for your situation. Thanks for the comment and I too am looking forward to a successful 2013.
Spread the word about Entrepreneur Architect. Great things are happening here : )
Good interface for the new site.
Interesting post!
As designers, its often a hard task to schedule (and stick to!) our time efficiently. From my experience, there has to be a ‘Designer’s schedule’ and a ‘Manager’s schedule’. In an ideal scenario, both should not coincide. I have tried to explore the same in;
http://architecturesense.blogspot.in/2012/07/architects-schedule.html
Cheers
That’s a great idea Binu. Keeping separate schedules for each role will help us be more productive during the time for each task. I constantly find myself multi-disciplinary multitasking.
Thanks Mark. I found it really counterproductive at times to mix all of em.
You are sharing genuinely interesting and engaging thoughts. Keep writing!
I too like the look of your new site, and look forward to seeing you grow.
I really like your idea of closing the office at noon, having a great lunch and celebration, then closing the office for a week. I know it is not easy, but it has to be so appreciated by everyone (especially your family).
It’s a difficult balance, but well worth the sacrifice. I meet too many seniors who tell me that the only things that matter in the end are your family and friends. Business is important, but we will never regret spending too much time with our loved ones.
I run a firm with a business partner and six employees. Regarding balancing work and family, since my first one was born almost 12 years ago, I make sure to be home at 4 pm at least one workday a week. This means less hours work that day but it strengthens my bond with my children tremendously! Being part of their mid week afternoon life which many small business owners miss.