What stars need to align, and how important is each star, to start a successful practice?
I’d imagine requirements are a license and some seed money,
But what about these?
1. How much work experience
2. Being able to get work from previous employers... is this where all of your work is going to come from in the beginning?
3. Having worked at a name brand firm
4. Having gone to a name brand school
OddArchitect
Dec 18, 19 2:15 pm
1. As much as you can and you still won't know enough.
2. Having projects is probably the biggest challenge of starting your own firm. Where those projects come from is open to debate.
3. Doesn't matter.
4. Doesn't matter UNLESS all your competition are from name brand schools and that school is local and your clients care.
atelier nobody
Dec 18, 19 2:17 pm
5. Having a spouse who makes enough to support you (or a trust fund).
OneLostArchitect
Dec 18, 19 2:32 pm
I have all said requirements to start my own firm, but the one fear that stops me from starting my own practice is getting the jobs. A constant flow of work is that biggest fear. I don’t know where to start and where to obtain jobs and bringing in a steady flow of work is honestly the biggest hurdle.
chigurh
Dec 18, 19 2:34 pm
jump and the net will appear - helps to have connections too
monosierra
Dec 18, 19 2:54 pm
1) External funding
2) Access to clients
3) Value-add - be it technical proficiency (for aspiring executive architects), appealing design (for the design-minded), or cost advantage (for those who simply want to offer cheaper, faster service)
What exactly can you offer that your market of choice doesn't already have?
thisisnotmyname
Dec 18, 19 8:13 pm
^This^ Especially #1. I really think you should have enough cash saved up to go 6 months with no money coming in.
bowling_ball
Dec 20, 19 1:52 pm
Definitely helps to have cash on hand to get you through the first 6 months or year. Even if you pull in a big job (or several smaller ones), you might not be able to cash a cheque for several months
Wood Guy
Dec 18, 19 3:11 pm
I’d imagine requirements are a license and some seed money,
>Maybe, maybe not. I'm not licensed and started my design business about five years ago with very little money. I only work on single family homes, which is legal in my state.
But what about these?
1. How much work experience
>Chad nailed it--as much as you can get, and it will never be enough.
2. Being able to get work from previous employers... is this where all of your work is going to come from in the beginning?
>None of my work has come from previous employers.
3. Having worked at a name brand firm
> Not important
4. Having gone to a name brand school
>Doesn't matter. I went to a good college but not for architecture. Single family clients don't care at all, in my experience, as long as they have some other way they can trust you, such as having worked for their friends, being published, having a good reference list, etc..
Non Sequitur
Dec 18, 19 4:34 pm
redacted
BulgarBlogger
Dec 18, 19 4:53 pm
Hilarious questions. ANYONE can start a firm once licensed. The trouble is... where do you get the clients? If you can answer THAT question - you're golden.
whistler
Dec 18, 19 5:06 pm
1. Try and get or had enough experience on a few different building types, SF residential / MF Residential / Commercial / Mixed Use / Larger Complex project. If you have had exposure to a few different project types you will be more suited to taking on any type of project you can reel in to start. Only having SF Res. will be limiting unless that is all you want to do but then you are competing with Architects / "House Designers" / Contractors Wives who think they are designers and pretty much anybody that can push around a CAD program they picked up on Amazon. Ultimately you will learn on the fly, and trial and error are part of the gig and it won't be a 9-5 gig either.
2. Multiple streams of income is important. Old employers are great but having a few other network connections is more important to break into different sectors. ie I focused on Contractors and Real Estate Agents early on as they both like to make money too and having a "Design Professional" in their contact list helped them sell homes that needed a reno or remodel or whole new design. Contractors need work on a yearly basis too and so several became repeat clients as many of them would be the first point of contact for home owners and allowed me to be introduced to several new clients. Still haven't built a web site, facebook page, instagram profile after having been in business for 30 years, way too busy and likely will retire without having to do so!
3. No one has ever asked me who I worked for in 30 years, never. Only other architects who weren't hiring me anyway!
4. No one has ever asked me where I went to school in 30 years, only other architects who weren't hiring me anyway!
Wilma Buttfit
Dec 18, 19 6:16 pm
Being a jerk helps. I got all the rest of them covered. Working on that last part...
thisisnotmyname
Dec 18, 19 8:18 pm
For better or worse, there is some credence to the name brand thing. Former BIG and AvroKo people with not a lot of experience have opened up firms in one of our market locations and clients are falling all over themselves to hire them.
won and done williams
Dec 19, 19 10:58 am
Seed money? Not much - you need money to buy a laptop, if you don't already have one. I rented a desk at a co-working space for $150/month. $1,000-$2,000 for business licenses and insurance. Set-up website and social media - minimal.
In terms of experience, you need enough to feel confident taking on a project from start to finish, from the time you first say hello to a client to the time you collect your final invoice and everything in between. If you lack that confidence, don't go down that road.
Other than that, all you really need are clients. It doesn't matter where they come from (previous employer or other), you need to find people who are willing to pay you for your services. Also, asking yourself, why would someone choose to hire you over all the other architects that they could hire? Taking a real and honest assessment of that is very important when you are just starting out.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 11:22 am
I'd think part of seed money would also include computer programs and money to live off of until you get paid and build up a bankroll to pay expenses. You may not be making much if any profit during your first year in operation.
monosierra
Dec 19, 19 11:35 am
That's really where either family support or school salary helps. Teaching also gives you access to fabrication facilities and student labor.
won and done williams
Dec 19, 19 12:30 pm
Yes, I forgot to mention software. As I remember, I had about $20,000 in the bank when I started. I didn't need it all for start up, but it helped from a cash flow standpoint. I also had a $100,000 contract signed. That helped a lot! And yes, having a working spouse to keep a steady income stream (with benefits!) also helps.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 12:37 pm
monosierra, using student labor and school facilities to do for profit architectural work wile functioning as a teacher and architect sounds illegal and a great way to get fired from both jobs.
monosierra
Dec 19, 19 12:42 pm
Chad, it is absolutely an abhorrent practice if unpaid. Young faculty who could otherwise not afford any employees tend to get around it (with the school's tacit approval) with work-study programs. Still, the lines are blurry when it comes to so-called "research" projects where students effectively work for faculty under the guise of studio work. The economics (or lack of) alone would condemn these offices to bankruptcy. They only survive due to this "atelier" model.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 12:53 pm
It's an abhorrent practice even if the students are paid. The for profit 'firm' would be using the schools resources ( programs, computers, fabrication facilities, printers, internet) for free while the students tuition is being used to fund said 'firm'. Basically the students are being taken advantage of even if they are being paid.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 1:27 pm
Sorry if that came off as harsh, it wasn't my intent. My response is colored by a professor that used to do what you described. Hell, the professor used to assign studio projects that where based on real world RFP's he was trying to land just to get design ideas from his students.
threeohdoor
Dec 19, 19 4:45 pm
A too common occurrence in school. I'm sure many people on this board have a similar experience. Anytime someone mentions 'atelier' to describe their work, I run the other way.
monosierra
Dec 19, 19 5:04 pm
No problem man. I totally agree with the position that faculty frequently take advantage of their students' availability and schools are in on it. Heck, whenever a famous Dutch firm offers a semester abroad option studio at my alma mater, students clamor for the opportunity to effectively work for the firm. The same happened with developer "sponsors" who get some great preliminary design work done for them by students. In both cases, students are complicit too - every ambitious student seems to jump at the opportunity to work for famous faculty who cannot afford market wages.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 5:12 pm
There is difference between hiring student interns (unpaid, paid, or for class credit) for conceptual design ideas and using a schools resources to run a firm. One can be unethical, the other is illegal.
monosierra
Dec 19, 19 5:17 pm
That is true. I suppose someone who specializes in concept work can get away with using school resources for installations and pavilions.
BulgarBlogger
Dec 19, 19 2:56 pm
Rick,
Again you speak with authority about a profession you are only peripherally involved in. What makes you an expert? How many people have you managed or hired? How many clients have you gotten this past year in your pretend architecture office?
Stop sounding like such an authority. Everyone sees right through that. You sound like a little kid parroting what adults talk about without knowing the hell they are talking about so you can sound important in front of your friends.
proto
Dec 19, 19 5:00 pm
1) 1 year of living expenses saved
2) license
3) contacts for work - go meet local GC's who are doing the work you want to do while you have nothing to do
re: insurance...depends -- consider project based insurance for the early ones where a client insists on it, otherwise work on your contract language regarding extent of liability (& assume a suing attorney will shred it)
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 5:08 pm
Ignore that last line about only having insurance if the client requires it. That is foolish advice, always have liability and errors / omissions insurance. Also create an LLC to protect your personal assets. A good contract will not keep you out of court regardless if you are at fault. A good contract will just keep you from having to pay out a in a court case where the error or omission wasn't your fault. Besides, you're not going to be good a writing contracts, use AIA contracts and / or hire a contract lawyer to create them for you.
proto
Dec 19, 19 5:17 pm
insurance is exorbitantly expensive for new architects relative to income
it is also based on the volume & type of work you do (how does this work right out of the gate)
if the work is complicated, get insurance because the risk might ruin you
if it's simple residential, the exposure isn't that great, but ymmv...while it isn't ideal, know that there are plenty of home designers out there doing exactly that
Miles Jaffe
Dec 19, 19 5:20 pm
A good contract will not keep you out of court regardless if you arenot at fault. See Jaffe's Second Law.
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 6:09 pm
proto, what makes you assume that the OP is talking about only doing simple residential work?
OddArchitect
Dec 19, 19 6:15 pm
"insurance is exorbitantly expensive for new architects relative to income"
You'll have no money after getting sued.
OddArchitect
Dec 20, 19 1:32 pm
I used the term 'simple residential' because proto said that insurance wasn't required for 'simple residential' work. It was dig at proto who has no idea what he/she is talking about.
Everything else you posted was already said by ohters up thread. Please stop trying to sound like you know what you're talking about. You're not an architect and have no experience the the field.
proto
Dec 20, 19 2:27 pm
@Chad Miller, I have a solid academic & professional education & am a licensed architect, and have been for a good long while now, thank you, and have gone through exactly this process. I've also stamped both res/com & have E/O. I'm not saying it isn't sensible to have insurance, but, for someone starting out, it can be crushing esp if projects do not materialize or fizzle out due to any number of possibilities. (& yes, I did make an assumption that OP would start with residential.) Risk for SF residential construction, esp the majority that is exempt, rests mostly with the GC. Maybe I'm giving a trained architect too much credit for not fucking up simple stuff...? It certainly takes all kinds...
whistler
Dec 20, 19 5:34 pm
Insurance is necessary, regardless of whether you are at fault or not. Insurance companies will often go in and repair problems in projects directly and go after everyone after the fact it's called a Subrogated Claim and you should understand that accordingly to them you are guilty until proven innocent! Fucked I know but it's frustrating and time consuming so keep you filing organized and site reviews documented.
Archlandia
Dec 19, 19 6:32 pm
I don't know if you'll take anything from this, but gaining perspective from how this guy did it may help? I don't know what his safety net was like, (parents, net worth, etc..) but he makes it sound like he just figured it out through a daily grind. Some of these other interviews from this vlog(?) are definitely not as relevant, but I liked listening to this guy.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My father and mother have always been great role models. My father retired and lasted all of two months before he decided to go back to work. He now spends even more time researching and raising money for research that is aimed at preventing childhood diseases. It speaks to my point about loving what you do — if you love what you do, you won’t want to stop doing it.
He also invests equity in M-Rad projects. That probably took some initial funding on his part.
What stars need to align, and how important is each star, to start a successful practice?
I’d imagine requirements are a license and some seed money,
But what about these?
1. How much work experience
2. Being able to get work from previous employers... is this where all of your work is going to come from in the beginning?
3. Having worked at a name brand firm
4. Having gone to a name brand school
1. As much as you can and you still won't know enough.
2. Having projects is probably the biggest challenge of starting your own firm. Where those projects come from is open to debate.
3. Doesn't matter.
4. Doesn't matter UNLESS all your competition are from name brand schools and that school is local and your clients care.
5. Having a spouse who makes enough to support you (or a trust fund).
I have all said requirements to start my own firm, but the one fear that stops me from starting my own practice is getting the jobs. A constant flow of work is that biggest fear. I don’t know where to start and where to obtain jobs and bringing in a steady flow of work is honestly the biggest hurdle.
jump and the net will appear - helps to have connections too
1) External funding
2) Access to clients
3) Value-add - be it technical proficiency (for aspiring executive architects), appealing design (for the design-minded), or cost advantage (for those who simply want to offer cheaper, faster service)
What exactly can you offer that your market of choice doesn't already have?
^This^ Especially #1. I really think you should have enough cash saved up to go 6 months with no money coming in.
Definitely helps to have cash on hand to get you through the first 6 months or year. Even if you pull in a big job (or several smaller ones), you might not be able to cash a cheque for several months
I’d imagine requirements are a license and some seed money,
>Maybe, maybe not. I'm not licensed and started my design business about five years ago with very little money. I only work on single family homes, which is legal in my state.
But what about these?
1. How much work experience
>Chad nailed it--as much as you can get, and it will never be enough.
2. Being able to get work from previous employers... is this where all of your work is going to come from in the beginning?
>None of my work has come from previous employers.
3. Having worked at a name brand firm
> Not important
4. Having gone to a name brand school
>Doesn't matter. I went to a good college but not for architecture. Single family clients don't care at all, in my experience, as long as they have some other way they can trust you, such as having worked for their friends, being published, having a good reference list, etc..
redacted
Hilarious questions. ANYONE can start a firm once licensed. The trouble is... where do you get the clients? If you can answer THAT question - you're golden.
1. Try and get or had enough experience on a few different building types, SF residential / MF Residential / Commercial / Mixed Use / Larger Complex project. If you have had exposure to a few different project types you will be more suited to taking on any type of project you can reel in to start. Only having SF Res. will be limiting unless that is all you want to do but then you are competing with Architects / "House Designers" / Contractors Wives who think they are designers and pretty much anybody that can push around a CAD program they picked up on Amazon. Ultimately you will learn on the fly, and trial and error are part of the gig and it won't be a 9-5 gig either.
2. Multiple streams of income is important. Old employers are great but having a few other network connections is more important to break into different sectors. ie I focused on Contractors and Real Estate Agents early on as they both like to make money too and having a "Design Professional" in their contact list helped them sell homes that needed a reno or remodel or whole new design. Contractors need work on a yearly basis too and so several became repeat clients as many of them would be the first point of contact for home owners and allowed me to be introduced to several new clients. Still haven't built a web site, facebook page, instagram profile after having been in business for 30 years, way too busy and likely will retire without having to do so!
3. No one has ever asked me who I worked for in 30 years, never. Only other architects who weren't hiring me anyway!
4. No one has ever asked me where I went to school in 30 years, only other architects who weren't hiring me anyway!
Being a jerk helps. I got all the rest of them covered. Working on that last part...
For better or worse, there is some credence to the name brand thing. Former BIG and AvroKo people with not a lot of experience have opened up firms in one of our market locations and clients are falling all over themselves to hire them.
Seed money? Not much - you need money to buy a laptop, if you don't already have one. I rented a desk at a co-working space for $150/month. $1,000-$2,000 for business licenses and insurance. Set-up website and social media - minimal.
In terms of experience, you need enough to feel confident taking on a project from start to finish, from the time you first say hello to a client to the time you collect your final invoice and everything in between. If you lack that confidence, don't go down that road.
Other than that, all you really need are clients. It doesn't matter where they come from (previous employer or other), you need to find people who are willing to pay you for your services. Also, asking yourself, why would someone choose to hire you over all the other architects that they could hire? Taking a real and honest assessment of that is very important when you are just starting out.
I'd think part of seed money would also include computer programs and money to live off of until you get paid and build up a bankroll to pay expenses. You may not be making much if any profit during your first year in operation.
That's really where either family support or school salary helps. Teaching also gives you access to fabrication facilities and student labor.
Yes, I forgot to mention software. As I remember, I had about $20,000 in the bank when I started. I didn't need it all for start up, but it helped from a cash flow standpoint. I also had a $100,000 contract signed. That helped a lot! And yes, having a working spouse to keep a steady income stream (with benefits!) also helps.
monosierra, using student labor and school facilities to do for profit architectural work wile functioning as a teacher and architect sounds illegal and a great way to get fired from both jobs.
Chad, it is absolutely an abhorrent practice if unpaid. Young faculty who could otherwise not afford any employees tend to get around it (with the school's tacit approval) with work-study programs. Still, the lines are blurry when it comes to so-called "research" projects where students effectively work for faculty under the guise of studio work. The economics (or lack of) alone would condemn these offices to bankruptcy. They only survive due to this "atelier" model.
It's an abhorrent practice even if the students are paid. The for profit 'firm' would be using the schools resources ( programs, computers, fabrication facilities, printers, internet) for free while the students tuition is being used to fund said 'firm'. Basically the students are being taken advantage of even if they are being paid.
Sorry if that came off as harsh, it wasn't my intent. My response is colored by a professor that used to do what you described. Hell, the professor used to assign studio projects that where based on real world RFP's he was trying to land just to get design ideas from his students.
A too common occurrence in school. I'm sure many people on this board have a similar experience. Anytime someone mentions 'atelier' to describe their work, I run the other way.
No problem man. I totally agree with the position that faculty frequently take advantage of their students' availability and schools are in on it. Heck, whenever a famous Dutch firm offers a semester abroad option studio at my alma mater, students clamor for the opportunity to effectively work for the firm. The same happened with developer "sponsors" who get some great preliminary design work done for them by students. In both cases, students are complicit too - every ambitious student seems to jump at the opportunity to work for famous faculty who cannot afford market wages.
There is difference between hiring student interns (unpaid, paid, or for class credit) for conceptual design ideas and using a schools resources to run a firm. One can be unethical, the other is illegal.
That is true. I suppose someone who specializes in concept work can get away with using school resources for installations and pavilions.
Rick,
Again you speak with authority about a profession you are only peripherally involved in. What makes you an expert? How many people have you managed or hired? How many clients have you gotten this past year in your pretend architecture office?
Stop sounding like such an authority. Everyone sees right through that. You sound like a little kid parroting what adults talk about without knowing the hell they are talking about so you can sound important in front of your friends.
1) 1 year of living expenses saved
2) license
3) contacts for work - go meet local GC's who are doing the work you want to do while you have nothing to do
re: insurance...depends -- consider project based insurance for the early ones where a client insists on it, otherwise work on your contract language regarding extent of liability (& assume a suing attorney will shred it)
Ignore that last line about only having insurance if the client requires it. That is foolish advice, always have liability and errors / omissions insurance. Also create an LLC to protect your personal assets. A good contract will not keep you out of court regardless if you are at fault. A good contract will just keep you from having to pay out a in a court case where the error or omission wasn't your fault. Besides, you're not going to be good a writing contracts, use AIA contracts and / or hire a contract lawyer to create them for you.
insurance is exorbitantly expensive for new architects relative to income
it is also based on the volume & type of work you do (how does this work right out of the gate)
if the work is complicated, get insurance because the risk might ruin you
if it's simple residential, the exposure isn't that great, but ymmv...while it isn't ideal, know that there are plenty of home designers out there doing exactly that
A good contract will not keep you out of court regardless if you arenot at fault. See Jaffe's Second Law.
proto, what makes you assume that the OP is talking about only doing simple residential work?
"insurance is exorbitantly expensive for new architects relative to income"
You'll have no money after getting sued.
I used the term 'simple residential' because proto said that insurance wasn't required for 'simple residential' work. It was dig at proto who has no idea what he/she is talking about.
Everything else you posted was already said by ohters up thread. Please stop trying to sound like you know what you're talking about. You're not an architect and have no experience the the field.
@Chad Miller, I have a solid academic & professional education & am a licensed architect, and have been for a good long while now, thank you, and have gone through exactly this process. I've also stamped both res/com & have E/O. I'm not saying it isn't sensible to have insurance, but, for someone starting out, it can be crushing esp if projects do not materialize or fizzle out due to any number of possibilities. (& yes, I did make an assumption that OP would start with residential.) Risk for SF residential construction, esp the majority that is exempt, rests mostly with the GC. Maybe I'm giving a trained architect too much credit for not fucking up simple stuff...? It certainly takes all kinds...
Insurance is necessary, regardless of whether you are at fault or not. Insurance companies will often go in and repair problems in projects directly and go after everyone after the fact it's called a Subrogated Claim and you should understand that accordingly to them you are guilty until proven innocent! Fucked I know but it's frustrating and time consuming so keep you filing organized and site reviews documented.
I don't know if you'll take anything from this, but gaining perspective from how this guy did it may help? I don't know what his safety net was like, (parents, net worth, etc..) but he makes it sound like he just figured it out through a daily grind. Some of these other interviews from this vlog(?) are definitely not as relevant, but I liked listening to this guy.
Matthew Rosenberg's experience starting a firm.
From an interview:
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My father and mother have always been great role models. My father retired and lasted all of two months before he decided to go back to work. He now spends even more time researching and raising money for research that is aimed at preventing childhood diseases. It speaks to my point about loving what you do — if you love what you do, you won’t want to stop doing it.
He also invests equity in M-Rad projects. That probably took some initial funding on his part.