By Kimberly Burgraff, Director of Studio Services Bookkeeping (A Division of Charrette Venture Group) I’ve sorted through a lot of messy books in the 17 years that I’ve been in the accounting industry. It’s completely understandable that non-bookkeepers struggle with accounting best practices. How would an architect know that supplies purchased for a project shouldn’t […]
Six Ways To Earn More Profit As A Small Firm Architect
The Passion Profit Cycle of Success Prior to starting our own firms, we business-owner architects experienced an “entrepreneurial seizure”, as Michael Gerber so accurately described in his book, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. It’s the precise moment when a passionate employee commits to starting her […]
Three Financial Basics
Every
Entrepreneur Architect
MUST Understand
Financial Management Terminology for Architects For many design professionals the subject of Financial Management is complex and can become problematic if the terminology used in the discussion or writing of this subject are not precise. For clarity, the term, Financial Management, refers to the accrual-basis accounting process of a professional design firm. Accrual-basis accounting is […]
How To Fix Your Profitability Problem as a Small Firm Architect
Why Architects Miss Their Profitability Targets For all professional design firms there are two different, yet interrelated levels of profitability – a firm’s overall profitability and the profitability of each completed project. Historically, the profitability of professional design firms is, on average, in the range of 8-12%. While many firms achieve profitability exceeding 12%, the majority […]
Five Fundamentals I Wish I Knew Before Launching My Architecture Firm
When Annmarie and I launched Fivecat Studio, we were “young and dumb”. We were optimistic and enthusiastic, but we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We were 29 years old, had a dream of starting our own firm and jumped. I always knew I would own my own firm. I’m a born entrepreneur. What I […]
Financial Statements for Architects
Without any education in business basics, architects rarely understand the fundamentals of business success. Some months we have money left over and other months we struggle to pay each bill. For years, I ran my business with no real understanding of how to end each month with a profit. Seven years into owning our own […]