Two Burned Projects
Last spring I put out proposals to two prospective clients who needed an architect because of fire damage. One was a detached accessory dwelling unit (backyard cottage) that was replacing a garage that burned down (if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know how that turned out). The other was a interior remodel that resulted from a fire that destroyed the roof and main living space of a house-but left the exterior and bedrooms on both ends of the house unharmed.
Within twenty four hours of putting out both proposals, I got a no from the interior remodel prospect. The clients realized that they didn’t have the funds to do anything but rebuild. Or maybe they realized that paying for an architect would eat up what little extra funds they thought they had. Construction is expensive and many prospects don’t realize this until they start talking to professionals. They don’t realize that building (or rebuilding) also means permit fees, architect fees, engineering fees, other consultant fees, landscaping, contractor fees, taxes, and much else. Often the first conversation with an architect is the wake up call on how pricy even the smallest project can be. That’s okay. That’s part of our job: education.
When I meet a client and write a proposal I usually don’t have a strong sense of the design solution. Instead, it’s all possibilities and dreams. I don’t want to show up pretending to know the answers. Answers take time to find and need to be a reaction to the context. Often clients already have good, half-formed ideas that I want to hear about. I don’t want my preconceived notions to make me judgemental. Their ideas and the existing conditions help us (it’s always us, not me) come up with tons ideas-some end up being great, others are garbage. Some will work; others will be ruined by reality. In the end, we’ll pick the right solution based on the various limiting factors (zoning, codes, cost, personal preferences, etc.). But the beginning of the project is about listening and data collection, not championing pure genius that I plucked from the heavens…usually.
As I was reading their e-mail—which basically went, “thanks, but no thanks. We appreciated talking with you and will tell all our friends about you, but we can’t afford to do anything creative. We’re just going to let the contractor rebuilt what was destroyed”—the solution to their remodel popped into my head. Fully formed. There it was. The most economical, and probably best, solution to their problem. I lost the prospect because they couldn’t afford even a low fee, and there was the solution like a phoenix rising from the ashes. They shouldn’t move the kitchen. They shouldn’t move the fireplace. They shouldn’t move or expand the master bath. They should just rebuild those in the exact location, but build nothing else. Don’t add back in the walls. Don’t enlarge any of the windows. Since the defining criteria of their remodel was budget and working with rebuilding what was, the solution was to rebuild some but not all of what they had. And do that in the best way possible.
Because the project was lost and I might as well turn this into a marketing exercise, I did a five minute sketch on the computer and set it over to them with an e-mail outlining the idea (I fortunately had an ugly but serviceable CAD background). The solution didn’t make me any money but I was happy to give them advice on how to rebuild their home in a wiser manner. And I’m sure that kindness will pay dividends in the future at some point.
They never responded to me, so I have no idea if they listened or not. But I tried. I gave them the basic tools necessary to make their home a little better than it otherwise could be.
BTW, in the image above: I brought the AUTOCAD file into my Shoegnome Open template for ARCHICAD, exploded the DWG into linework, changed the Renovation Status of some lines to Demolition to get them to read properly as red dashed lines, added some Leaders and Text, and then quickly placed a Wall with a Door (both Favorites). If I were doing this in ARCHICAD 20, I would also set up/switch to a Graphic Override Filter that would make everything black and white. Or I suppose I could just change the Renovation Filter, if I didn’t mind losing the poché everywhere. I probably could use my default Graphic Overrides and just quickly change the Layers of the various elements-by deleting the Layers and moving the content to the Layers I wanted. For instance, moving the bed to the furniture Layer would make it automatically show up gray. I suppose I could have done that manually, but I was trying to be as quick as possible. Funny, writing this all out reminds me how easy graphic changes now are. Next time I’ll slow my thinking down just a little and make sure that even the simplest free sketch I send out of my office is still as pretty as can be.
Subscribe to my blog to read more about the tricky world of being an Architect in the 21st century: Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube. If you want to read about more rejections, check out my friend’s blog Rejectomancy. It’s about writing, but the pain and triumph is the same as for architecture, or really any profession.
Phil Allsopp
The sad thing, Jared, is that the architecture profession has allowed the public perception of what it is, what it does and the value it delivers to be defined by bankers, lawyers, real estate investment trusts, builders and producers of Home and Garden TV. Essentially architects are too often regarded as an expensive blueprint production service that builders don’t need. So…a contractor’s license-obtainable after a few weeks of classes and tests-trumps (no pun intended) the many years of education and professional training that an architect brings to the table.
You hit on an important point – architects educating clients. Well, there’a huge amount of remedial education that public needs when it comes to the decisive role in human wellbeing and health that architecture plays. So many people live and work in poorly designed and shoddily built places, which take a little something away from being human each minute they are occupied. Its not noticeable by and large but when a whole society is persuaded to live and work (and play and learn) in built-on-the-cheap environments, over the years it shapes meaner outlooks, makes people feel disconnected from family and neighborhoods – especially among the 16-22 age group – and persuades people to think that the places they inhabit are little more than real estate commodities with a for-sale or for-rent sign on them. And we wonder why so many of our urban areas are in crisis and why so many people living at the lower end of the economic spectrum feel bitter toward others.
As Winston Churchill has been quoted as saying “First we shape our buildings, and thereafter our buildings shape us.” Based on the $2.5 Trillion a year the US spends on treating chronic diseases, many of which are either aggravated by or caused by the places we inhabit, that quote is dead right. So the need to educate and inform the general public about what architects do and the value they bring to them in terms of wellbeing, safety, happiness even, and health is extreme. As more and more people crowd into ever larger urban regions, the need for better quality, better designed, better-performing, more durable, affordable and healthier places for people to live, work, learn and play cannot be ignored. This problem certainly cannot be left to builders, realtors, “home builders” (they are house builders at best), handymen or other charlatans who think that human habitat can be purchased at the local Home Deport and thrown up on the cheap. Imagine allowing the guy down the street who has a nice new X-Acto blade set to do lunchtime knee surgeries. People would die by the thousands – which is why its not permitted. Allowing the same amateurish approach to human habitat also causes death and injury only in a less dramatic but nevertheless insidious fashion and drives much of the $2.5Trillion economic boat anchor our nation has to drag along each year. This is why the profession at large needs to take major steps to engage with policy makers, our banking system and the general public to begin to transform people’s perceptions about the real value that architects actually bring to the table. Lives and the wellbeing of millions depend on it.
My 2 cents
Jared Banks
Phil, great thoughts as always. I think I’m going to be coming back to this topic a lot in the coming months. Or as much as I write these days…so let’s say year(s). I am really interested in the education of the general public as to the value of what we do. And I tend to spend just as much time selling the concept of thoughtful design as I do myself at prospect meetings. Somewhat related…
I’ve been working on my own house recently. I’m gearing up for a big remodel. I spent the morning working on the design and then right before lunch went for a 45 minute walk around my neighborhood. There’s a ton of recent construction, most of it is lackluster. It was really interesting to look at the other new homes in the neighborhood in relation to what I am hoping to add. So many of my neighbors decry the ugly modern (as in new, not Modern) boxes going up in the neighborhood and claim to not like that style. But it’s pretty obvious that they hate bad design, not a particular style. As I walked around looking for details to steal, I mostly found example after example of garbage. Simple stuff that’s not even about cost, just poor choices. And actually things that must have been more expensive to do. A billion material changes on one facade. An excessive amount of elevation planes to make it feel “designed.” As architects we agonize over the littlest details and forget that even are baseline of facade design, building layout, sustainable choices, etc. are so far above average.
I’ll hopefully combat this dearth of good design with my own work, but I also know I’ll have a greater impact through talking with people and writing about it.
That all said…time to make my daughters dinner.
Steve Nickel
Hi Jared and Phil…
Admittedly, we can’t argue too much with your above comments. But, in our residential practice, we have been hired by a number of enlightened clients (who are expecting to pay). There are winners and there are losers. Jared just happened to run into a loser. Personally, we would recommend your checking into the Architects Marketing Institute service (Eric Borrow, Enoch Sears, and Richard Petrie). They do not claim to have any magic bullets for dealing with Jared’s situation above, but mucho advice on how to do better…Steve Nickel
Paul Setti
Jared,
A nice try indeed. The right thing to do too. I know this exercise all too well. Maybe not a fire but the simplest answer derived by low affordables. There is something for everyone out there. Nice solution.
Jared Banks
Thanks Paul.
Robert Swinburne
That process looks so familiar. I ran into it so often in my early years. People will go to great expense to avoid hiring an architect. So often the redesigned rebuild can be less expensive than replacing what was there exactly.
Jared Banks
While I’d love to land more projects that I go after, I learn so much from these types of encounters. I won’t miss them when my firm evolves past them, but prospects like these will definitely help me land the more substantial ones that come later. It’s comforting to know others have been through this wringer too.
Phil Allsopp
Robert:
Dead right! If costs are the driving factor, too many people assume that getting a builder to replicate what was there is the least cost path to take and then get bilked for all kinds of add ons….We had to rebuild our house after a massive toilet flood (in Phoenix of all places) in ’09. Now the thing remaining of the original are the roof trusses, the slab and the exterior walls – everything else was replaced. The interior was changed and opened up to meet our way of life and needs but the bottom line is that two builders gave us estimates of $200/sf and wanted to put crown molding everywhere (because, they said, that’s the trend these days…). I never told them I was an architect. In the end we hired a young craftsman who worked with me as a design-build team and we got the whole thing done for $95/sf. And nothing was done “on the cheap” or caulked to mask poor workmanship. We have no crown molding an no baseboards either – everything was cut and sized to exact tolerances. Works just fine.
Jared Banks
$95/sf. Wow. If people here in Seattle knew that was possible, they’d all leave for Phoenix!
Phil Allsopp
Yes…a good price….but today it would be a different story. However, taking the time to create efficiencies and precision by being very careful and totally fixated on construction/assembly details during the design phase can make a big difference.
Skip
Great post Jared.
I remember early in my career getting upset when I would visit potential clients and pitch them ideas of how I could help them only to have them reject my “expensive” proposal and go for the cheapest option. Which I was sure would include some of my design ideas.
I don’t let that bother me as much any more but I also don’t pitch out all of my initial ideas at the first meeting. Instead I focus on convincing the clients that the best use of their budget is to hire someone who has lots of experience with single family home designs, additions and remodels. Just hiring the cheapest drafter with your own quick sketches is a short sighted plan. Having a good designer provide feedback and alternative solutions will give clients the best options and probably save them money on construction in the long run.
I honestly believe the best value I give to my clients is the quality of the design solutions we create together for their unique family style and home.
Jared Banks
Well said. I’ll have to keep note on how many initial ideas I let fly in prospect meetings. I wonder if that affects the conversion percentage. Also I know we’ve all won a few projects by being the cheapest (intentionally or not) and those are never fun. Thanks for your comments. Your last sentence is pretty spot on for my goals as well.
Steve Nickel
Interesting marketing discussion here! After having been through the “wringer” many times, we would offer two Cardinal rules for initial client meetings…
1) DO NOT offer any design input…this is what we get paid for. Our standard answer goes something
like: “Your situation is far too complicated for us to offer any design input off the top of our heads…we just don’t work that way. We need time to think about it.”
2) DO NOT quote a fee up front…either in an initial phone call, email, or meeting. Same reason: “we need time to consider your situation, the effort we will be investing, etc…but, after we have had a chance to think about it, we would love to send you a design proposal”.
There is nothing better than a face-to-face meeting…we have found that after about 10-15 minutes, we can pretty much gauge whether we have a good design fit, rapport, and client interest…that is, a winner. As for the losers, we MUST be willing to politely dump them. BTW, this will make you feel
good 🙂 Steve Nickel
Phil Allsopp
Excellent advice!
BUZZ BRYAN
Well stated and agreed Steve. Nothing for free.
1) Many potential clients expect to be dazzled and charmed by your initial free flowing idea discussion onsite….much like it’s a free community service. If it isn’t buying bricks and blocks, they don’t value design, code knowledge, plan bundling, City counter work.. So, leave no paper trail without remuneration. Your ideas will just move on to the next scheduled architect interview as their own. Unknowingly, we were recently in a co-interview with a potential Client….. & their architect we later discovered already had the job. You owe more to your family and you will help the profession.
2) Some potential clients demand a fee quote (bid) …. or at least the anticipated burn rate. We say
” you need to authorize 4 – 6 hours to explore some early schematic schemes and to exploit options in this design “……”authorize perhaps $500 – $800 ” ” money well spent, I always expend more time anyway” There’s something in all of us that always only remembers the low, low number. So part with these clients early on….let them go on and have a bad experience with their “low bid “contractor elsewhere. Agree with SN…..just walk away.
Steve Nickel
Thanks Buzz, the below comments are strictly for residential work…
You also reminded me of perhaps another Cardinal Rule for the initial design proposal: DO take it in small $$ steps, and promise them a way out (they don’t have to pay) if things aren’t working. That is, a few hundred for early schematic work as you have suggested above. Then, as things are working out, a few thousand $$ more upon acceptance of concept floor plans. Then, a few thousand $$ more for acceptance of concept elevations, and so on. After that, an allowance for time spent on the “grunt work” CDs. We typically do a fixed fee (about 50%+) for concept (as much time as it takes) and the rest (with a time allowance) for CDs. Our 2 more cents worth. Steve Nickel
Jared Banks
I’m a big fan of breaking up work into small chunks. One of the projects I mention below will be done that way (the other is too small to do that).
Jared Banks
I love all these comments. And I think there’ll definitely be follow-up blog posts expanding on this conversation. Here’s some anecdotes to chew on in the meantime:
I’ve had five prospect meetings in the past two weeks. I need to send out contracts for two of them this coming week. Neither are giant projects; that’s okay, they’ll both be fun, and fit with what I want to do right now. One of these projects I spent two hours at during the initial meeting (which by any measure was too long). I gave away tons of free advice and information. I’m sure that meeting would make many people on this thread cringe. The other project’s prospect meeting happened after all this great discussion. I tried to be quick and avoided giving away answers to things that should be paid for. Interesting that both techniques worked.
I know I’ll also be moving ahead with SD for another one of those five prospects later this winter as well. But I’ll be doing that work in exchange for services from the client. More on that once it’s underway. I’m sure I’m breaking the rules of what’s the right way to do things, but I think it’ll end up being a very good move. One way or another these three projects will make for a good blog post later this year.
Daniel L. Pelzl
There is no good way a client can judge the value of superior design. There is only the hope that you will treat their project as your folio indicates your capacity to give great satisfaction.
Sometimes the insurance payment is a fraction of the rebuild cost. Like $14k for a $47k loss.
It is too embarrassing for the client to disclose this violent abuse by the insurer. Premium charges and claims payout are all dictated by those who have the gold–the capitalist “golden rule”.
Exceed the passive house standards and all your clients will be well served.
Jared Banks
well said.
Daniel
First of all set a minimum fee for your first consultation. I charge 150 Euros plus VAT plus travel expenses if over 30 miles from my office, this fee is refundable if followed up with instructions to prepare a design. That separates the chancers from the prospects. Believe it or not, you will have a much higher success rate and less annoying and useless visits to make. Secondly during the visit I give a number of general ideas but never the solutions. But do point out what you want to achieve, paint in words what they will be gaining and explain what they are missing. Plus of course, listen more that you speak,, make notes.. 🙂 Thirdly…. I offer a fairly cheap fee to prepare a design, often half of what it should cost. If they like it, maybe with some adjustments, then they pay the full fee… Up to approval of design I do not supply drawings,,,, that’s key! I supply them only with a BIMx with only 3D information. Much harder to take off with my ideas… for somebody else to make sense of my design is not going to be cheaper than paying me the other 50%… Thanks Graphisoft! Since I follow the above steps I have no time wasters and get paid without too much fuzz….
Jared Banks
Daniel, this is great advice. Since this lost prospect, I’ve changed my ways for sure. I am much more forthcoming with costs and do my best to weed out people via e-mail and phone. If the lost client described above came to me now, they probably would have run away after a slightly customized introduction e-mail. In fact I have another good story I should turn into a blog post about scaring away a prospect via tough questions in an e-mail. My process is for sure a work in process; but at least it’s in process! 🙂
I do like the idea of a consultant fee for that first meeting. That way everyone takes the meeting seriously. I need to think that one over and see how it fits with my current methods. I also think the no drawings until phase II is really clever. I rarely show clients drawings after the first pass of schematic pochéd plans, but I never thought about it for the reasons you do. That’s smart.
Steve Nickel
Thanks Daniel, for the input on how you separate “the chancers from the prospects”. This is fundamental sales advice. However, as the British say “horses for courses”. That is, we all have our way of getting a job without giving away our time and years of experience which is paramount. We’re glad to learn your way of working works for you!
As for us, we have no problem with a 20-30 minute (no charge) meeting with a potential prospect in our conference room. After all, we feel they have some basis to expect to see at least what we look like. And of course, after about 5-10 minutes, we have a pretty good feel if there is a good fit or not. But, NO DESIGN INFORMATION. As architects we should be reminded that we shouldn’t be designing anything off the top of our heads anyway, and for sure, without getting paid.
If during this initial meeting there is a fit and obvious good rapport, we suggest a design proposal. As Daniel suggests above, we take it in small steps…a small initial (refundable) deposit, another small payment for the next step, etc.
Our biggest question for Daniel is: You must be very facile with ArchiCAD to produce a BIMx
quickly enough to justify your “fairly cheap time” here. We also are ArchiCAD users…would you mind sending us an example of such a quick BIMx?
Steve Nickel in Colorado
Daniel
Hi Steve, of course if the client comes to my office then my time is free but will concentrate more on the fees I will charge and explain the way I work. The fee I mentioned only applies if I go out to them, see the house to be extended or the site they want to build on.
You don’t have to produce a quick BIMx, that can be counter productive. Give them a good deal of detail, impress your clients! I normally allow three days for such a proposal. Don’t forget that I still charge 50% of the total design fee for this stage if they walk away. Up to design approval ± 4% of the built costs, so if this project comes to nothing then still 2% is due. At that stage, most of this 2% I have already received as a retainer.
Don’t forget that it is very easy to become a busy fool in our business. A mistake often made is that we are busy to please clients that do not bring in the money and then we loose the client who will pay because he has to wait for us to be finished serving the none or poorly paying clients.
I can share this initial design: (link will disappear in 48hours) Design of the refurbishment was about a week’s work as it also included initial landscaping plus DWG survey input of existing. This original design of a typical Irish farmhouse was boring, split level not opened up, had no windows at all to rear which is South. Was very dark inside and the loft not utilised. There was no rear garden as there was a big concrete garage. We created a roof garden and link to house as well. Initial landscaping done as well. The surprise comes on entering, coming up the stairs and looking up… (rear bedroom [level2] layout we did not change) but changed the first, third and fourth level, the loft. Have fun exploring.
Daniel
Above link become corrupted .link should no be there. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49398651/Proposed%20Refurbishment%20v20-8-3.bimx
Steve Nickel
Thanks Daniel…I just got your BIMx. There are four things we are passionate about…
1) Effective Marketing.
2) ArchiCAD and BIMx.
3) Getting Paid.
4) Making Easy Money.
Daniel, if you can get 2% of final construction costs for a week’s worth of producing a
BIMx, you have successfully accomplished all of the above. Congratulations! And thanks for sharing this with all of us.
(Would love to learn how you did your ArchiCAD ground cover and other landscaping)… snickel@portfoliogroup.us.
Buzz Bryan
Dan. Where to get the good lookin ground cover tool?……Nice job !
Daniel
Hi Buzz, The ground cover you refer to is a GDL hedge object with random leaves that I abuse a lot. By using good textures you can create lots of different effects and colours. Added some rotation for the slopes. But I use also meshes with leaves textures, mixed with some object plants… You will be surprised if you start abusing the objects that you have…. they can start living a second life…! 🙂
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