Brenda,
I had a couple of family members do the same thing when I was a student and an intern. Now that I have a huge portfolio of built work with very happy clients and I've had time to work on my persuasion tactics, it's easier to convince many folks of the benefits of a true "custom" design. Part of this attitude amongst the average person is simply because we're viewed as a huge extra expense, but the reality is reality. The builder offers an actual built home while we're offering them an instruction manual which puts them back in the same position of finding the builder. One stop shopping is very desirable to average Americans and we won't change that, so why fight it?
I'm sure everyone is getting tired of seeing these numbers, but this should put it into perspective as to why people rarely think of us when it comes to a home.
2006 Census
1.6 million total houses
1.3 million were speculative houses (built to sell)
320,000 were custom built for home owners
50,000 were likely to have been designed by Architects (3% of the total)
170,000 commercial buildings
220,000 total buildings designed by Architects
1,550,000 total buildings designed by amateurs...think about that.
This is why I team up with builders. About 90% of my work comes to me through builders I've worked with before. Many of these builders get their leads from real estate agents. We should be much friendlier to agents, since many people come to them first. I know the fee thing stings, but we're not going to fix that whining about it all the time. If we want people to value us more than agents, then we need to get out there and make ourselves available to regular people. Since we design so few houses, few clients think of the Architect, they think of the builder. This year about 60% of my houses are unique, one of a kind, speculative houses designed for a builder. 30% or so are houses custom designed for homeowners that hired a builder first. Only 10% of the projects come from homeowners that seek me out directly. Most of my new houses have construction costs between $200K and $500K. Many of my projects (including spec houses) are renovations and some can cost as little as $50K while I have some over $1 million.
I highly recommend taking those small renovation jobs from your neighbors and getting involved in the neighborhood where you live. Small jobs always lead to bigger ones. My full time business was built by taking on the jobs other Architects normally reject. There is no job too small, even now that I'm established. If you stand behind your work, you should be proud of sharing it with your immediate community, even if it's just a screen room, a deck, or a Kitchen expansion. I volunteer to design wheelchair ramps for the annual Martin Luther King Community Service Day, where we design/ build ramps for the elderly residents of modest means. The paycheck is one part Karma and one part the marketing in the local paper. It's hard to hate on the Architect that designs wheel chair ramps for free for poor elderly people.
I think too many Architects have drawn a line in the sand as to how low they will go when it comes to a project and this is part of our problem. I make my best money per hour on the smallest projects. Based on my experience working for other Architects, I often see us trying way too hard to be excellent and not designing very efficiently. When you put in 90% effort for 10% better results, there's a problem $$$. The design concept should speak for itself and when working for regular people, why spend 20 hours designing a $10K handrail for a deck project that will never get built properly and the homeowner can't afford? You have to understand WHO you're working for. Give the homeowner a design that solves their problem in an elegant way that's affordable and more likely to get built properly without your supervision. You can get good results from average builders without overcomplicating the design. If the homeowner never has to see you again after you give them the final drawings, this makes it look like you did your job properly. This leaves clients very happy! Trust me, clients don't think you're an amazing, misunderstood artist when you're constantly at the job site explaining the design only to find out adjustments need to be made that may create change orders (regardless of who is at fault). The stereotype isn't that we create the most wonderful affordable houses, it's that we overcomplicate things and ultimately cost the owner lots of money.
When we try too hard it reminds me of the nerd who can't understand why he's not popular. My little brother, bless his heart, is absolutely brilliant! He's never been popular, socially, because he's always telling everybody everything he knows at every chance he gets. He's a know it all. He leaves nothing to mystery, he's always showing all his cards. No one likes a know it all. In a fit of insecurity about our position in this society, we often act like the know it all and it repels people. We need to simply show them why they need us instead of always telling them why we're better while refusing to work on the "undesirable" projects. 1.3 million of the houses built each year are speculative houses and they're the most God awful buildings being constructed, yet they are the houses most people are buying. We sound like "know it alls" when we talk poorly of track houses without doing anything about it. It's a delivery model that works for regular people and we're not going to eliminate it, especially by badmouthing or ignoring it. That's why 60% of my projects are unique, one of a kind speculative houses and they happen to sell quicker and for more money. Builders see value in design when their houses consistently sell for more. More of us need to be doing this if we want regular people to think we're cool, rather than know it all nerds.
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Eric Rawlings AIA
Owner
Rawlings Design, Inc.
Decatur GA
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