This forum’s insight has been fantastic on the professional issues we face that are never addressed in school and often “self taught” in the small firm residential world.
Here’s another one for you:
- How do you manage client driven design changes? In residential we tend to have less formal approvals process as the design progresses. Plans can be tweaked endlessly and we end up losing our shirt. Last few years we have tried to be more strict about getting formal approval at each phase and we do CA straight hourly for this reason. Often there is work from the CD phase bleeding into the CA phase so we don’t charge hourly for that.
Also do you limit the number of revisions you give the client or set milestones like no changes after 50% DD without an add serv?
Would love to hear how folks manage change in general in your firms.
i think you make a judgement call on how much the scope creeps and how much the project can handle every time a change is asked for. if you need to, say when the change is proposed 'i can do that as an add service.'
the way you communicate with your client depends on the relationship you've built with that client, and it's different for every client.
Making whatever arrangements crystal clear, up front, and in writing is paramount. And if there's going to be any freebie given, it should not be the first change, since that can set an expectation for subsequent ones.
I tend to try to humanize the design process. Sharing with them my own experiences of designing something for myself and how a project is never really 'done'--there is always room for improvement. It helps the client to realize that their own paralysis is normal and that change is inevitable. Once you have that common logic, you can then explain that unless they wish to keep you on retainer, you're going to have to move on to getting something built. A brief anecdote about how every architect would love to just design all day helps to keep the mood light.
As Citizen points out, a firm position on the first few changes is probably best. A couple freebies during construction just makes you look flexible and a team player.
Don't do residential work for that reason......too time consuming for what you can realistically can charge.... unless it's completely by the hour, which is what we have gone to for all single family work.
Apr 1, 19 2:55 pm ·
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Managing Design Changes
Hello,
This forum’s insight has been fantastic on the professional issues we face that are never addressed in school and often “self taught” in the small firm residential world.
Here’s another one for you:
- How do you manage client driven design changes? In residential we tend to have less formal approvals process as the design progresses. Plans can be tweaked endlessly and we end up losing our shirt. Last few years we have tried to be more strict about getting formal approval at each phase and we do CA straight hourly for this reason. Often there is work from the CD phase bleeding into the CA phase so we don’t charge hourly for that.
Also do you limit the number of revisions you give the client or set milestones like no changes after 50% DD without an add serv?
Would love to hear how folks manage change in general in your firms.
Thank you!
i think you make a judgement call on how much the scope creeps and how much the project can handle every time a change is asked for. if you need to, say when the change is proposed 'i can do that as an add service.'
the way you communicate with your client depends on the relationship you've built with that client, and it's different for every client.
Making whatever arrangements crystal clear, up front, and in writing is paramount. And if there's going to be any freebie given, it should not be the first change, since that can set an expectation for subsequent ones.
I tend to try to humanize the design process. Sharing with them my own experiences of designing something for myself and how a project is never really 'done'--there is always room for improvement. It helps the client to realize that their own paralysis is normal and that change is inevitable. Once you have that common logic, you can then explain that unless they wish to keep you on retainer, you're going to have to move on to getting something built. A brief anecdote about how every architect would love to just design all day helps to keep the mood light.
As Citizen points out, a firm position on the first few changes is probably best. A couple freebies during construction just makes you look flexible and a team player.
The time to start managing client expectations is your first interview with a potential client.
Don't do residential work for that reason......too time consuming for what you can realistically can charge.... unless it's completely by the hour, which is what we have gone to for all single family work.
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