Steve, well said.
In our case, we had a great project, contract, etc. But I trusted the client and we got burned at the end. We no longer invoice any farther apart than monthly. And without pay, we stop our work. As I said, "through "God's grace, we are still functioning." And "we learned some really good lessons through this."
I wonder how many others have had to close their doors from similar circumstances.
Perhaps schools should be drilling students with "Business Savvy 101, 102 and 103" classes; bill and collect often; get paid for what you do; don't tolerate shoddy work; watch out for the fat cat client; the bigger they are, the harder you could fall; be suspicious of suspicious looking activity, etc.
This reminds me of a recent summer intern. I said how I wouldn't be surprised if some shifty crooked thing might be about to transpire; and this intern looked at me in shock, as if nobody ever cheated and asked, "you really can't believe that can you?" Oh I can and I do. If nobody else drills it into you while learning is "only the cost of tuition", experience will teach you.
Robin Miller, NCARB, AIA
Chief Executive Officer
MSH Architects
Ph: (605) 332-7850
www.msharch.com 
MSH Architects retains rights to any attached drawings or data.
------Original Message------
With all due respect Robin, your situation is all too common in our profession. The number one focus is always on "get the job" (it's a project, not a job) and be grateful if you are awarded the project, regardless of the fee, just so you have something for your staff to work on that's chargeable time..
In my opinion, based on more than 40+ years of experience, that's a formula for failure and bankruptcy. Most architects do not have any means (that's worth the price they may have paid for the resource - QB, Deltek, etc.) of determining their true overhead, break-even cost or how to properly calculate (it's not addition) the profit margin for a project fee.
The notion that one must accept what one can get is a flawed notion. I would liken it to the same experience so many people have when they buy a new car. These days, the technology has made that process a whole lot less painful and gives the customer a chance to determine the fair price to pay and still leave room for the dealer to make a reasonable profit. And yet, with a similar level of available technology, most architects are unable to report an annual net profit of 10%, when it is my position that every project is capable of earning a 20% minimum profit, if available resources were put into play on their behalf.
We, architects and other design professionals, are NOT victims of bad clients. We are victims of ill-advised decisions, poor choices and ignorant of proper project fee budgeting processes. The AIA provides a wealth of available information on anything that is needed to operate a firm successfully, much of it at little or no cost. So there's no excuse for being uninformed, or as i prefer to state: "We don't know what we don't know, the knowing of which would alter our lives forever", for the better.
I offer my candid comments respectfully and welcome all responses.
Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus
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Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus
Founder-Principal
Management Consulting Services
The Woodlands, TX 77380-1414
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