Practice Management

12th March

(including: How To Calculate Hourly rates & Overheads... Art or Science)

Benchmarking Survey (RIBA)

- revenue

- profit & expenditure

- salaries

- issues

- international

Practice Size & Profit/Revenue

Long term projects in the background are popular for large practices (even essential)

- balance & profitability

ARB Definition of Practice Management

“Standard 4 of the Architects Code applies whenever you carry out architectural work. Whether you run a practice employing hundreds of staff or you’re a sole trader, Standard 4 will help you ensure your business is run competently and effectively for clients.”

https://arb.org.uk/architect-information/architects-code-standards-of-conduct-and-practice/advisory-notes/management-of-your-business/

Marketing

- clients

- targeted

- senior partners spend a lot of time bidding, attending conferences to get work, networking etc.

Retention

Retaining clients and staff

BIM, yay or nay

On average, the total cost for a practice is a £20 000 investment to fully train someone in BIM. BIM as a conscious business decision is interesting to look at, why is it like this? Is it necessary? Is it a requirement by clients? Has it been proved to improve efficiency internally? Can we produce a better architectural product, i.e. quality with this technology?

Industry

Poor political impact as all architecture practices in the UK are SMEs

Profit

abstract notion of collection of billed income and billed expenditure (nothing to do with cash flow)

Professional Services

- Basil Sawczuk

Audience/Clients

- targeted

A variety of needed roles in a practice

- Designer

- Project Manager

- Business people / Job Getter (outgoing, good in a recession, results/marketing)

Fine-tune offer so it is attractive

- price it tightly (don't include all specialist's fees but suggest it, so the fee proposal won't look huge)

Client relationships & respect (do extra work & help out)

- not a lawyer's advice...

Investigate their drives and previous problems

- Arup/Foster's

- Cardiff Stadium

Feature & benefits

- So what?

- Specialists save time = save money

Contacts/Networking

- build business

- own phone number

- address book