So who's giving it up for free? And has it worked out for you? This seems like the worst idea I can think of. Especially if you have employees that you are paying to do this work. That's basically running your business on a credit card.
^ Isn't this basically what competitions are doing now? The last competition I worked on required more or less a DD submission, complete with structural calculations and cost estimates in addition to floor plans, sections, 3D model, etc.
I (or firms I've worked for) have been screwed this way so many times. Tons of free work for a developer, only to have them take the design to their cheaper architect.
It's maddening, and it keeps architect's salaries and profits artificially low relative to other professions.
We have a client now who is refusing to pay for time that I spent on the phone with him, explaining aspects of the design. He doesn't see why he should be billed for a hour of chat on the phone—much less the frequent afternoon calls that probably took 15 hours of my time in a month. (Meanwhile, a lawyer would charge a client for the 5 minutes in took him to leave a voice mail.)
Louis Kahn famously did tons of work for free...often continuing to work on design work for projects that were canceled for months and months. It also left him broke and even some of the partners that took over the work when he passed away were left with huge debts.
Competitions are a questionable process financially but they do allow the better firms to get some great projects. If properly carried out (blind open competitions) they also allow young up and coming designers to partake in great projects that they would never be commissioned to work on.
In general, don't work for free. If there is a client who wants design work and doesn't want to pay they aren't worth working for...even with a chance at getting paid work down the road. They are just being sleazy and greedy which what drove the entire world into this dire economic state to begin with.
Copyright everything. If you do something for free, make sure it is copyrighted before handing to anyone. That's a little insurance, should you get totally screwed. You can submit designs, drawings, renderings, etc., etc.
Obviously, not the easiest thing to prove, but it is still something should the dev, co, or whomever decide to take your design to some hack firm without paying you.
"We have a client now who is refusing to pay for time that I spent on the phone with him, explaining aspects of the design."
People who pay for the services we provide are "clients" -- everybody else is a "deadbeat". Yet, having said that, the concept of providing "free" work in the early stages of a project simply isn't a "black or white" issue for most design firms.
Our firm routinely provides low cost, or free, services during the feasibililty stage of a project as an accommodation to certain valued clients. These are people we know well and trust -- they have proven, over the years, to appreciate this assistance and they've always come through with the contract when (if) the project moves forward. They know they can rely on us -- and we know we can rely on them. Because of this sort of accommodation, we also are able to negotiate slightly higher fees because these clients understand that we have helped them by absorbing some of their risk during the feasibility stage.
With establishing a new relationship with a new developer, we are routinely asked to do this same thing -- we are much more cautious with these folks. We might invest a little "free" time with a new relationship of this sort, but when we start to encounter the sort of behavior described in the quote at the start of this post, we shut it down -- such behavior tells us all we need to know.
i've heard a lot of architects from 'emerging' firms say pro bono work is a great way to lead to paying clients. but it definitely comes back to the 'why by the cow...' expression. We already devalue ourselves in so many ways by accepting lower salaries/fees than most other professions.
Jun 9, 09 8:08 pm ·
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market squeezes free designs from architects
So who's giving it up for free? And has it worked out for you? This seems like the worst idea I can think of. Especially if you have employees that you are paying to do this work. That's basically running your business on a credit card.
The Vendor Client relationship - in real world situations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY
^ Isn't this basically what competitions are doing now? The last competition I worked on required more or less a DD submission, complete with structural calculations and cost estimates in addition to floor plans, sections, 3D model, etc.
I (or firms I've worked for) have been screwed this way so many times. Tons of free work for a developer, only to have them take the design to their cheaper architect.
It's maddening, and it keeps architect's salaries and profits artificially low relative to other professions.
We have a client now who is refusing to pay for time that I spent on the phone with him, explaining aspects of the design. He doesn't see why he should be billed for a hour of chat on the phone—much less the frequent afternoon calls that probably took 15 hours of my time in a month. (Meanwhile, a lawyer would charge a client for the 5 minutes in took him to leave a voice mail.)
Louis Kahn famously did tons of work for free...often continuing to work on design work for projects that were canceled for months and months. It also left him broke and even some of the partners that took over the work when he passed away were left with huge debts.
Competitions are a questionable process financially but they do allow the better firms to get some great projects. If properly carried out (blind open competitions) they also allow young up and coming designers to partake in great projects that they would never be commissioned to work on.
In general, don't work for free. If there is a client who wants design work and doesn't want to pay they aren't worth working for...even with a chance at getting paid work down the road. They are just being sleazy and greedy which what drove the entire world into this dire economic state to begin with.
Copyright everything. If you do something for free, make sure it is copyrighted before handing to anyone. That's a little insurance, should you get totally screwed. You can submit designs, drawings, renderings, etc., etc.
Obviously, not the easiest thing to prove, but it is still something should the dev, co, or whomever decide to take your design to some hack firm without paying you.
People who pay for the services we provide are "clients" -- everybody else is a "deadbeat". Yet, having said that, the concept of providing "free" work in the early stages of a project simply isn't a "black or white" issue for most design firms.
Our firm routinely provides low cost, or free, services during the feasibililty stage of a project as an accommodation to certain valued clients. These are people we know well and trust -- they have proven, over the years, to appreciate this assistance and they've always come through with the contract when (if) the project moves forward. They know they can rely on us -- and we know we can rely on them. Because of this sort of accommodation, we also are able to negotiate slightly higher fees because these clients understand that we have helped them by absorbing some of their risk during the feasibility stage.
With establishing a new relationship with a new developer, we are routinely asked to do this same thing -- we are much more cautious with these folks. We might invest a little "free" time with a new relationship of this sort, but when we start to encounter the sort of behavior described in the quote at the start of this post, we shut it down -- such behavior tells us all we need to know.
And everyone wonders why architects make so little money.
Trace is correct...copyright. Otherwise, they're totally screwed...and doing everything for love.
i've heard a lot of architects from 'emerging' firms say pro bono work is a great way to lead to paying clients. but it definitely comes back to the 'why by the cow...' expression. We already devalue ourselves in so many ways by accepting lower salaries/fees than most other professions.
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