It is true that the barrier of entry for architectural design services are rather high. A two weeks mini design project, an appropriate size for an average small consumer. It would require a team consist of an architect and an intern at a cost of $16,000 in hourly fee (80 hours). That cost would purchase about a week of actual production time; a few sketches, code review and a few drawings as deliverables. Hardly justify the cost of what amounts to that of a new car. Most of the firms simply avoid smaller clients all together or dealt with them via prepackaged drawings. But neither approach really addressed what amounts to a structure problem.
What isn’t clear in the above example is that a large portion of the project time is spent on scope definition, coordination, presentation and most of all communication. If a client is familiar or understood the components and sequences of the construction process it can significantly reduce this cost. But this is rarely the case for smaller clients. By making the relevant project information available and accessible to the public, it not only benefits our client but also make the prospect of a design driven smaller project viable. Most importantly, it creates value in what we do by letting them know what it is that we do. But this isn’t an issue that is only relevant to smaller projects.
How often do you perceive an expensive quote from an auto mechanic as outrageous when you have no underlying understanding of exactly what it is that he’s going to fix? The number seems to have been conjured out of thin air since you cannot understand the technical jargon involved nor the actual process involved for the repair. Now try watching him as he work, and all of the sudden, the table’s turn and you understood the value proposition when you are able to see the actual effort and sweat involved?
When was the last time your client’s saw you turn the wrench on a project? Do they really understand the efforts required for that nice presentation you worked all night on?
I felt that this is an important problem that’s faced (or not) by most architects. The onus is on us to create and reinforce this connection with the public as an architect that is not only an artist or a philosopher but also a pragmatic problem solver with creative solutions. And for the very first time in history, the tools to facilitate this social connection are easily available and mostly free to boot.
Yes, the tools are free but the time to use them are not, and how best to apply your time? Problem is that people, especially the tradition minded architects often fail to realize the implication behind the social network revolution. The promises behind Facebook or linkin is not just a simple means of distributing your corporate messages. But they bring about a complete overhaul of the traditional organization structure itself. There are no hierarchy in a social network, the only distinguish feature is the number of connections. In addition, in the realm of social network, it makes complete sense to have a direct connection with every single individual that is of relevance to you.
Is the direct output of your intern connected to every single board member of the steering committee on your client side? Does he or she not contribute to your value proposition to the client? Why is the most important public facing resource the company website often consist of a single anonymous person making statements devoid of personality? Who are you as a firm?
An architectural firm is a collection of dedicated and passionate individuals who love what they do, we have been consistently rated as one of the happiest profession by magazines and news papers. If we can bottle job satisfaction and give it out as free samples we’ll all never have to worry about finding clients.
We can, and we should.
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