Have you reduced your fees, with the intent of obtaining more work? The economy dumps and projects vanish. In reaction, the architect drops her fees. Revenues plummet and the firm shutters its shop. Sound familiar? Do you fall somewhere in that scenario? I hope not. Reduced fees will not save your practice. It will kill it. Our strategy is different... and so far, it's worked. We held our fees at the level required to cover our overhead and make a profit (which, interestingly enough, is a … [Read more...]
Recruit Your Clients to Help you Better Serve your Clients
Starbucks Coffee Co. has built a website dedicated to the interaction with their customers. It's called My Starbucks Idea. Have an idea that will improve the Starbucks customer experience? Drop them a line at their website. The best ideas are actually implemented in Starbucks stores throughout the world. Check out the website here: mystarbucksidea.force.com How can we recruit OUR clients to help us serve them better? … [Read more...]
Architects Can Learn Much from Other Industries
What can we learn from other industries to make the traditional architectural and construction processes better? Hospitals are filled with checklists and other systems to make sure that every step of a procedure is done correctly. NASCAR racing teams also use checklists and directives from multiple layers of team members, each with their own specialty. Toyota uses their Product Development System, also known as Lean Manufacturing, to make every subsequent product better than the last. At … [Read more...]
Too Many Choices?
When performing our Design Development phase with clients, we typically assist them in selecting all their finishes, plumbing fixtures and lighting. This process is completed most efficiently when we discover and learn, through questionnaires and images, what our clients like and what they dislike. Then, with thorough knowledge of their taste, we offer a limited number of items from which they select. We find that when clients attempt to perform this task themselves, they are often … [Read more...]
Be Nice!
Besides creating wonderful residential architecture, marketing our firm well and encouraging our clients to spread the word about Fivecat Studio, I believe a major part of our success is "likeability". Clients expect architects to design well. They expect us to provide a quality service at a reasonable cost. It is actually rather difficult to distinguish your firm from others. One thing that sets our firm apart is that people like us. We're nice. I just had a client tell me the other day that … [Read more...]
White Windows
Many years ago, before Annmarie and I started our residential architecture firm, I was a project manager with Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson Architects in Mt. Kisco, New York. I worked very closely with the senior partner at the time, Dick Kaeyer. My first assignment as Project Manager was a major addition and renovation project for a church and facilities in Yorktown Heights. Dick designed the project and I developed it through construction drawings. Then, in order to learn the tips and … [Read more...]
Remark-able Customer Service
I am constantly looking to other industries to find ideas for my own business (a great tip for architects in itself). Here's a very interesting post about customer service by Joel Spolsky, CEO of Fog Creek Software. … [Read more...]