Should architects work for free?

Recently a numbers of architects (Mark Stephens and Paul McNally) have written about the need for architects to avoid doing work for free. The confusing part for me was how is an architect/designer supposed to get new projects and clients if they are going to charge for their initial consultations. The RIAI process of selecting your architect first and then creating your architectural brief only compounded the matter.

This got me thinking about how this would work in the context of helping a potential client to develop their architectural brief which I wrote about in my last post.

I was away on holidays last week in West Cork (glorious) and as I’m not one for reading fiction, I brought my copy of The Startup Owner’s Manual along to reread. As I reread the section on Customer Discovery it suddenly struck me that the two processes are very similar.

An Architectural Brief is a Problem Definition

First off, put yourself in the shoes of the client. They have an idea for a project (new house, extension, whatever) but they don’t know how to go about getting the project up and running. What will they do next?

The creation of the Architectural Brief is the obvious first step as the clients needs to have the project requirements documented before they start talking to architects. The Architectural Brief can be viewed as the problem definition for their project. It’s nothing more.

Once the initial brief has been defined by the client it then needs to be validated and checked. A brief is not worth the paper it’s written on unless the client takes it and discusses it with other project stakeholders such as their families, friends and professionals such as interested architects and/or engineers and to get their feedback. At this stage the client should not be looking for “solutions” to their brief but rather valuation that what is outlined in the brief is reasonable and buildable for the specified budget.

So for example if the client wants to build a 300 m² Passive House for €200,000 then an architect  may say that in their experience this is unrealistic and that the client will need to reduce the size of the house to match the budget or else increase the budget. There is no point in the client going any further if there are glaring contradictions in the brief. Issues like this can be addressed by following an iterative process as I proposed previously.

Architects should think of their involvement in the review of the Architectural Brief as their interview for the Role of Project Architect for the project. And yes it should be done for free.

Select your architect

With the architectural brief defined and agreed, the client can then select their architect. This step should be straight forward as discussions will have previously taken place with all of the interested architects and details such as fees and services included will have been discussed and agreed.

With the architect selected and contracts signed then the project can progress to the next stage.

Project Design is the Solution

The project design is the critical piece as it’s where the architects skill and experience comes to the fore. The architect takes the brief and converts it into a design which meets the client requirements and can be built within the specified budget. This should be an iterative process where the architect starts with simple massing exercises which then evolve into a complete design. The reason for doing this is that it minimises waste and avoids delays due to poor design decisions and rework.

In my own house I think there were 7-8 designs and redesigns before we agreed the final one. The final design was then documented and submitted for planning.

Should architects work for free?

In summary I don’t think Architects should charge for the initial consultations when all they are doing is reviewing the initial Architectural Brief for the client, validating the details and interviewing for the Role of Project Architect. The client should not be looking for solutions at this stage but rather for validation on what they would like to have designed and built. It is up to the architect to ensure that they do not get involved in project design when they are reviewing the architectural brief.

If the architectural brief can be separated from the project design as described and the client can be educated that this is the process to follow, then I think this question of ‘Should architects work for free?’ will resolve itself.

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback.

The first two stages are;

1. Appointing an architect
2. Developing the Brief

What actually happens?

In reality the first two stages do not happen sequentially as most architects will tell you. The problem is that the architect can’t be selected until there is an initial brief or vision of what is to be built. However most clients don’t know what’s required in a brief and so a lot of this initial effort will be wasted and will have to be redone when the architect is finally selected.

Most clients when they start off do not understand the details and the process of building a house or what they want to build. And so they will first contact some architects. The first architect will ask, ‘what do you want to build?’ to which the client will discuss in a general way their vision for the project. As they discuss the project with more architects, the brief will become clearer and more concrete. The act of sharing and discussing their brief with other people forces them to think more clearly about what they want to build and also helps to validate it. An architect may highlight a specific issue which the client may not have thought about which leads to an incremental improvement to the brief or even to a change in direction.

Developing an Architectural Brief using a Lean Startup Build-Measure-Learn Loop

The big issue with this approach is that there is a lot of wasted effort in terms of time and duplication of effort. For example each architect will probably ask similar questions. There will be lots of phone calls, emails and documents going back and forward. In my own case it took a couple of months and 7-8 interviews  to complete this process which is excessive. What we really need is a standard process which could be completed for a typical house in a week or two.

Lean Startup – Build Measure Learn

I’m a big fan of the Lean Startup approach to building businesses and products. A key principle of Lean Startup is the Build-Measure-Learn (BML) loop. The idea of the loop is that you do a small piece of work on your idea or product, share it with other members of the team or customers and based on the feedback received you learn what works and doesn’t work. The original idea is then modified and the loop is repeated. This cycling through the loop continues until you are happy with the outcome. The aim is to minimise the total time through the loop.

Apapting to the ‘Developing an Architectural Brief’ process

Adapting the Lean Startup BML loop to the ‘Developing an Architectural Brief’  process, there are three main stages;

1. Ideas – the first stage is the ideas stage where you collect your initial thoughts on what you would like to build. The ideas may come from answers to the standard architect questionnaire, things you like in a previous house you lived in, buildings you have visited, architects you like, etc…
2. Brief – the second stage uses a standard architectural brief template to create an initial version of the brief based on these ideas.
3. Data – in the third stage this initial version of the brief is then reviewed by the client and may be shared with family members or friends.
4. Ideas – the client then takes all feedback from their family and friends and what they like or works in the initial version of the brief and uses this information to create the second version of the brief.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 1 as often as required

The brief can also be shared with a selected list of architects and based on their feedback (either through email and/or interview) the brief is updated until the client is happy.

After interviewing the selected architects the client should have a complete architectural brief which they can move forward with. The next stage is ask each of the architects for a project proposal based on this final brief. After selecting an architect and agreeing terms the project can then move forward to the Design and Planning Stages.

So my question to you is; would this new process work for you and is it an improvement over what you currently do? I’d love to hear your comments and feedback.

When you decide to build your own house or even to extend an existing property most people employ either an Architect or an Engineer (hopefully qualified in building construction) to do the design, produce drawings and navigate the planning system. Architects have their own process which the RIAI in Ireland or RIBA in the UK mandate. The RIAI process has 5 main stages;

1. Appointing an architect
2. Developing Your Brief
3. Designing Your Project
4. Detailed Design
5. Construction

As you can imaging, the actual design/build process is a lot more complicated than this.

Architect Zeno Winkens (Disclosure: Zeno was the architect on my own house) has recently complied a great overview of the design build process  including the recent  Building Control (Amendment) Act 2014 here in Ireland. The process if anything is getting even more complicated and onerous. Architect Mark Stephens has also provided a shorten version. Getting back to my own build, lets walk through the various stages based my own experience.

Appointing an architect/engineer

Once you’ve decided to build your own house you then need to find yourself an architect or engineer to help realise the dream. Most people don’t know too many Architects or Engineers. So the first issue is finding an architect who you can work with, whose work you admire and who will suit your budget.

As I don’t come from an Architectural or Construction background, l asked friends and family and searched the web before coming up with a list of about 10 architects. I then set-up meetings with all of them over the course of a month. I didn’t really have a fixed idea in my own head of what I wanted to build except that it had to be two-storey and have five bedrooms (big family). I had an existing site which helped.

As the meetings progressed, my ideas for the house crystallised and I learned what I liked and didn’t like. My criteria for choosing an architect included personality, flexibility, design, their use of materials, cost,  portfolio, green building. I know that I would be working with this person(s) for the next year or two and so we needed to get on and work well together. In the end, I selected Zeno which was a wise choice.

Developing Your Brief

So you have selected your architect and the first question they will ask is, what do you want to build? This is one of these sweeping questions that has a million and one answers.

In my case, I took out a sheet of paper with Laura and we proceeded to write down our wish list of what we needed/wanted. We listed the various rooms based on room sizes from our last house and added in the things that we wanted included. At this time, I setup a pre-planning meeting with Longford County Council. Zeno can up for a site visit and then the two of us met one of the planners at their offices. Zeno explained what we were planning on building and to gauge whether this would be acceptable.

As part of my research I became aware of Passive House and decided that I would like the house to be as energy efficient as possible, to use ‘Green’ building materials and to incorporate technologies such as Solar Thermal and Heat Recovery. I came across Hemcrete as a building system after one of the architects I talked to (thanks Joe) mentioned it and showed me a Hemcrete block.

Designing Your Project (including planning)

Sketchup model of house

With the pre-planning meeting out of the way, Zeno then started working on a series of proposals. These would be emailed to me as a set of PDF’s drawings which I would review. Around this time and to try an speed up the process, I decided to build a sketchup model to help me figure out how the house would work. Based on this model, a final proposal was agreed on and Zeno started work on the planning application.

The planning application process was relatively straight forward and we got planning on the first attempt. The only contentious issue was an attached condition to the permission which required us to change the front porch from a flat roof to a pitched roof.

Detailed Design

After the planning application was lodged, I asked a QS to do a rough costing  to make sure we were within budget. I then booked myself onto a Passive House PHPP course which proved invaluable. After finishing the course I entered the house into PHPP and started to get an idea of how efficient the house would be. This greatly helped with deciding on critical details such as the foundation, wall and roof build-ups, windows and external doors and the various mechanical systems (hot water, heating, ventilation).

After deciding on using the Hemcrete building system, I got quotes from a number of timber frame companies before deciding on A-Frame. A-Frame looked after the structural aspects of the building itself while I employed my own engineer to help with the foundations. The window supplier was also picked at this stage.

Construction

With planning permission obtained, the commencement notice was lodged and we started to clear the site. There was an existing house on the site with an electrical supply and in order to be able to transfer the supply the garage had to be built first. Starting the garage first was great as it allowed me and the rest of the team to get invaluable experience using Hemcrete. We also developed a number of work techniques and processes to try and make the process as lean as possible.

Once the garage was complete , I got the power transferred over and demolished the old house. We then started work on the house. The house took 16 months to build from foundations to moving in.

Lessons Learned

Looking back now at the design build process that I followed, I can safely say;

1. Building a house is a complicated process and can be overwhelming especially if you haven’t built before
2. Building is a learning process and you have to accept that no matter how much time or money you spend on it, there will be things that will bug you after it’s finished and which you would like to change
3. Unless you are willing to delegate the important decisions to your architect or contractor, you will spend a lot of time researching building system, technologies, products, suppliers, consultants and trades people
4. Take ownership of the project and employ professionals and trades who you can work with and trust. Delegate as much of the project as you feel comfortable with but never give up control. After all you have to live in the finished house.
5. Build the best you can afford in terms of design, comfort and efficiency and try and sure that it’s adaptable to your future needs

Have you built your own house or extension or are you in the process of building one?  What kind of experiences have you had and how did it turn out? I’d love to hear from you.

Getting started with blogging on inny RED

After a long time of saying that I should start a blog, I’ve taken the ‘leap of faith’ and am getting started with my first blog.

So why should you take time out of your busy schedule to read this blog and what is it’s purpose. Good questions but first some background.

Background

I started out a good few years ago as a mechanical engineer but quickly moved into software (Fortran on Vax’s) before moving to C/C++, Java and now PHP. Software has been a large part of my professional life and it’s been good to me.

In recent years I relocated home and decided to build a ‘Near Passive House‘ and to make it as Green as possible. I ended up building a Hempcrete House which won a national Green Award in 2012. I ran the project myself and sub’d out the main work. It was a great experience but it was also very stressful because;

1. I had never build a house before
2. I had no experience of the various building technologies involved
3. I didn’t know many skilled professionals people who could help me

And so I spent a lot of time researching what I wanted to build, how to build it and getting the materials and skilled labour to build it. I made a lot of mistakes along the way but it turned out pretty good at the end. We moved in at the end of 2011 but I still have a list of jobs to finish including painting, light fittings, flooring, utility room.

So back to the questions;

Why?

During the design and construction of my own house I realised that there were very few good resources and tools to help guide  me building my own home. Sure there are various self-build blogs, tradesmen sites and even some UK sites which have lots of good information on the latest technologies, products and fads. However most of this seemed to be an amorphous mess which would take a lot of time to sift through. There is minimal structure to how you should go about designing and building your own house and that’s where the problems start.

The idea then struck me that there must be an easier and better way to do this where everyone can learn from each other and where best practice will come to the fore.

What?

My goal with this blog is to discuss some of the issues I see with the current design/construction process and then attempt to extract out possible solutions. While I’m a Certified Passive House Consultant I currently don’t work in the industry and so will rely on you the reader to fill in the gaps for me.

I don’t see the issues we have as specific to Ireland. A read of any of the UK self-build websites will confirm this fact.  Discussing the problems without proposing solutions would be a waste of everyone’s time including my own.

Next

We’ll kick off next week by focussing on the current design/build process as I see it. Comments are welcome.