Help! I need an Architect, but I’m not based locally!
With our great weather, laid-back lifestyle, relatively-affordable property prices (compared to Melbourne and Sydney anyway), developing cafe and cultural scene, plus the buzz of the upcoming Olympics, it’s no surprise that many are looking to migrate or come home to our river city. This year we’ve seen an increase in enquiries from both overseas and interstate, and we thought we would take this chance to explain how we make use of technology so that we can better serve our non-local clients.
Online chats are just the start
No doubt we’ve all become Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams experts in the past couple of years, but an online chat is just the starting point for our relationships with non-local clients. The advantage of being relatively young is that we can keep pace with developments in computer technology. As the boss it’s exciting and a little terrifying to know that the “young uns” have unique skills and competencies that render my “old-timey” ways obsolete. But hey, that’s the joys of office life, and we very much value the input of every single person here.
Getting back on track, the main software platforms that we use in our office are:
ArchiCAD for documentation work
Twinmotion for computer rendering
Monday.com for our project management.
Regardless of the tech, these are ultimately tools only. Tools do shape the outcome, and each needs to be used appropriately based on its functionalities and strengths. As an architectural practice we still do the “oldschool” pursuits of sketching and model-making (where time permits). In fact, that’s something that we are looking to expand on as we progress together as a firm.
So, how do we keep non-local clients in the loop?
With a full 3D workflow, we are able to create immersive walk-through environments in ArchiCAD and Twinmotion. It’s as simple as uploading the file, and providing the link to our clients, who can then log in and explore the model at any point using their web browser. This is important as the 3D model can be continuously updated along the way, as the project increasingly takes shape and become more detailed.
Twinmotion can also generate dynamic weather, which is cool in its own way.
Some clients do tell us, however, that they find the experience hard to control or it even makes them feel queasy! For that reason we are happy to generate video flythroughs. We also do screen recordings and video updates, just to allow us to explain the latest developments and to keep our clients involved and active in the process.
Click here to try walking through a Twinmotion model. Note the project is currently a work-in-progress, and will develop and evolve further over time.
Transparency and Accountability - Why we link our clients onto our Monday.com platform
Transparency and accountability is important to us. For so long, Architects have billed with “flat fee” quotes that are usually derived from a percentage of the Cost of Works. Clients don’t see the work involved, and it’s hard to gauge whether the Architect’s charges are fair.
We do things a little different here at EVER. We do work out a percentage-based “Hourly Rate Cap” for the project, but we track our time accurately and bill by time if it’s in our client’s favour. This gives us a lot of flexibility to adjust our level of service as the project progresses. For example, if our clients specify particular tiles, colours or appliances, we won’t be billing for the time to work on those items.
To us, this seems the fairest way to charge our clients.
We manage our projects using the Monday.com online platform, and our clients are linked into their Project Boards as guests. This means that at any time they can login to see our time progress on the project.
The data allows you to gauge:
who's working on the job
what they are up to
likely fees for the next Invoice.
As we track our time accurately through this platform, we typically average 6 to 6.25 billable hours per day for each staff member. This means clients will not be paying for our coffee-making downtime, or when we are answering small queries for other projects.
Trust matters.
We know it’s a big commitment to sign on an Architect, and rely on them to be your local hands-and-feet from far away. We hope that this short article shows you how we try to serve our clients better, regardless of whether they are locally based or not.
If you’re looking to prepare for your big move to Brisbane by designing a new home or renovation, please reach out and speak to us. We would love to assist you with your project.