The responsibility lies with the architect to be able to communicate continuously, repetitively, and clearly what the value is of the CA process. Hello,
and welcome back architect Nation. I'm Enoch Sears. And today I'm joined by business and architecture co founder Ryan Willard Ryan, welcome.
Thank you very much. Hey, Nick, it was a pleasure. All right. So
today we're going to be having a conversation about handling, Contract Administration. Some people call it construction observation. But we're going to talk about some of the challenges that you may be facing as an architectural practice owner or an architectural professional when dealing with clients who number one, they maybe they don't want to pay for contract admin, maybe it comes as a surprise to them, maybe it starts, they start to see it as a burden. And we're going to talk through some different strategies for helping you as an architect, ensure that you have the best product outcome by being able to persuade or as we said in the title of this podcast convinced are your clients about the value of Contract Administration. This episode is sponsored by Smart practice, the world's leading step by step business training program that's helped more than 103 architecture firm owners structure that are existing practice. So the complexity of business doesn't get in the way of their architecture, because you see, it's not your architecture, design skills that's holding you back. It's the complexity of running a business, managing projects and people dealing with clients, contractors, and money. So if you're ready to simplify the running of your practice, go to business of architecture.com, forward slash smart to discover the proven simple and easy to implement smart practice method for running a practice that doesn't get in the way of doing exceptional architecture. Now, we use the word convincing and persuade, but these are probably not the right words. Because convincing generally describes like we're trying to sell someone something we're trying to like, convince them to something that they're not already on board with, we're going to make a slight distinction around that. But first of all, let's just jump into some of the problems that architects face when it comes to contract administration. First, what it is just quickly, for those who aren't architects, Contract Administration, your documents are a set of legal documents, architects provide the service of being able to ensure that the buildings that are built off of those documents match up with the drawings. Because this is a problem with construction, let's say that you hire some architects to have these, they have these beautiful drawings done, they're very, very well detailed, they're very good drawings. And then the contractor just swaps everything out, doesn't follow the instructions, it's going to lead to poor building quality, it's going to lead to perhaps materials and things that don't last as long. It can even cause structural problems and issues with waterproofing or structural damage to the building. So it can be a major, huge problem. So architects serve as a partner with the contractor to oversee the building project to help make sure that these things that it is that is actually built the way that it was designed.
Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the things as well with the CA process and some of the problems that we see architects facing is ultimately clients don't understand or see the value. In CA, Nora, the clients understand what the drawing set is. So they don't necessarily understand that the drawing set is like a set of instructions that's been given to a builder. And that there is also a bit of wriggle room in these instructions. Now, the architect does their utmost best to ensure that every base is covered. But there is also an element of interpreting those drawings. And there may be pieces that have been flagged up or things that need to be resolved on site, certainly, when you're working on buildings that are of a historic nature. You know, it's not uncommon for a set of contract documents to have an approach which is outlined, which can only be determined once certain things have been done on site. And that kind of just adds another level of, of, of complexity to to the process. But ultimately, the client is not always aware of, well, that these are a set of instructions and they need they need some guidance or somebody to help the builder really make sure that they are doing the right thing because we all know that you can have the best set of drawings in the world. Builders still has to look at them and notice
them and I'm sure many of many of the people listen to episode you've probably had the experience of going to a job site and you're asking the plumber will hit shows this on the drawing where's the drawing and the plumbers like oh, the drawing I'm not quite sure. And then he goes to the main job trailer and there it is crumbled underneath the sitting there underneath the desk didn't even look at it. You know, they're not they're not using the drawing. So that's that's pretty It's not uncommon that trades people as excellent as they are, because let's face it, the world runs on the trades. We don't want to knock their expertise or anything, but oftentimes, they may or may not, especially if they're not supervisors, they may not have the ability to look at a plan and really read it. Typically, what they might do is they just know how they've done in the past, they're gonna go in there, and they're going to do it. And it might not line up with the design intent. And the reason why that actually matters for clients is because architects take very great care to make sure that things are designed in an adequate way that considers both aesthetics that consider safety that considers the budget of the project. And when something as simple as like a toilet gets installed a little bit over a little bit wrong, or maybe a different fixture, it can impact a lot of other things in a project. So for instance, we just this topic came up because Ryan and I in the smart practice program, we were talking with one of our clients who is bemoaning the the frustration that oftentimes you can have with clients when in this case, they went with a low bid contractor and typically low bid contractors not all the time, but typically, you're you're going to potentially run into greater problems in the build phase of the project, because they're trying to save money, maybe they underbid it, etc. In this case, this was a typical scenario where the contractor was a family friend who had done residential architecture in the past. So of course, the client thinks oh, it's an interior build out, they're using metal studs, no big deal, it's just metal studs is so he brings in a residential contractor to build out this, this, this commercial space against the better judgment recommendation of the architect, they want to head this anyway. So now when the architects team is going out there to the site, and looking at the at the interior finish out that's going up, things are not to coat. So for instance, architectural is up and he noticed that, well, he gets a call, because the inspector, the inspector actually catches this as Hey, the the light fixtures aren't installed correctly. So you're gonna have to remove these. So architect gets down there and finds out not only with the lights not installed correctly, they're actually not even the lights that were specified. So now, the contractor is in charge of having to remove these out. But now he's arguing with his owner who's related to saying, oh, yeah, it's much easier, let's just do these lights, it's going to be better and this thing blows up. And, of course, the architect is super frustrated, because now he's getting pulled into a he's getting blamed, you know, the contractor saying, Oh, well, you know, there's, it wasn't clear on the drawings, or this is a better way to do it, etc. And this is not a pretty situation. So these are the kind of from the architect side, these are the kind of frustrations that happen when you show up to the job site. And now people are arguing with you, they're arguing for a lesser solution. Instead of just implementing what the contractor already bid out, what was in the contract documents, what was already agreed upon. It's sort of like you go to a restaurant, and you order this nice meal, and they come out. And it's it's a different, it's just a different dish. And you're like, that's not what I ordered. And the waiters like, Well, sir, this is this is very, very good. I mean, actually, it's even worse, some people would argue it's better quality than the one that you ordered. I mean, this isn't plus, it's half the price. Don't you want this meal, sir, if you'd like bloody hell, I don't want that. Give me what I ordered. So the architect in a contract administration situation, is the one who makes sure that the meal you ordered is the meal you're going to get. And there's a million reasons for that. But a part of the problem, again, as Ryan was mentioning, that that can happen on job sites, is that it becomes a contentious issue because the contractors are deviating from the plans. And then now the contractors are trying to convince the owners that these deviations are necessary because it's going to cost the contractor more money to go back and fix what they did. Or maybe the if they did it according to plan that's going to cost them money because they underbid the job or they're trying to save some money. And now the architect gets put in a bad position gets gets kind of in the bad seat was like, Hey, I'm the architect, am I the only person here who's like advocating to put in high quality materials to keep this thing at a very high level, like we designed it and like it was priced out as
I think it's so interesting, this part of the, of the architectural process of how these deviations can happen, and how unaware clients are of the problems that can that can occur. And also the kind of politics that kind of construction politics that can happen where the GC can, you know, end up teaming up with the client and make the architect look bad, or the architect becomes the one who's the point of blame. It's easy to kind of lean into these sorts of myths about the architect that there will they've ever designed this they've made it overly complicated and you don't need to be doing this and and before you know it, you've got a situation where the owner is now resenting the architect, and the architect is every time they put in an hourly bill for the CIA work the client looks at and goes, well, why did you spend an hour doing this? And why did you spend three hours doing that? I'm not paying for that. That's ridiculous. Why are there why are there these mistakes in your drawings in the first place? This This shouldn't happen, this is all this is all of your fault. And it can be very, really unpleasant and and, and stressful when majority of stress that we hear from architects comes in two places. One is over planning approvals, and the other is on site. When they're when they're doing contract administration, and with all of this stress that comes with it, you know, worst case scenario is that the CA now becomes hugely unprofitable for the architect, as a as a business, and it just becomes a time suck. And it's highly complicated. And, you know, architects are being taken out of the office being pulled onto site, there's the kind of continued stress that's happening with it. And this can be asymmetric, and it's disruption. And what I mean by that is that you can have a problem on on site, and where you haven't been, you haven't been involved in CAA, for example, then you get pulled in when it's too late. And then for you to try and deal with it is now going to cause so much disruption to your current workflow. And, you know, other projects that you've got commitments on. And then you've got to wrestle for the for the fees to, for it as well, that the disruption that it causes is asymmetric to the input that is required to resolve it in many cases. So it's a very problematic stage of work, if not handled with care and skill. I don't mean architectural care and skill, I mean, communication and salesmanship skill, but it's a, it's a, you know, we see this a lot in our clients, how problematic ca and how much frustration that can cause people. Now on
the flip side here, let's talk about what the possibility could be. So let's imagine that the possibility could be that great project outcomes are ensured that you and your firm, you have a process to avoid the problems that we just talked about. looking bad in front of the owner, because the contractor is not pointing fingers, having the owner CEU suddenly, as a huge expense at the end, when you're just there to ensure a great project outcomes. Imagine that instead, it was possible to have clients who were ecstatic that you were their advocate that they see the value of sticking to the original design, or modifying were appropriate with the original design intent in mind. Imagine that instead of having the trust diminish between the architectural and building team, imagine the trust is actually built, and that you as an architectural team become even more even more trusted as consultants and advisors. And even instead of taking a less loss on the project, that it actually becomes a bit of a profit center. So imagine that were possible. Now quickly going to break in here. Just a quick note about smart practice. For those of you who run small architectural practices, solving these problems that we're talking about today, in terms of contract admin, is something that we covered that is covered in the smart practice method. So if you're looking for a way to help run your practice, in a way such that the business doesn't get in the way the architecture in a way that you can bring your calling and your design ethos to the world in a powerful way. So that money doesn't hold you back. That's what smart practice method is all about. And we'd like to invite you to head over to smart practice method.com for a free 60 minute firm owner masterclass about the systems and processes that you need in your practice to be able to have your freedom and fulfillment as an architect. Welcome back. We're going to continue our conversation about contract administration. We talked about the problems, the possibility, Brian, let's talk about some of the principles that are at play here to make this shift in the clients mind from seeing architects as burdens from seeing architects as as, as cost centers to actually seeing them as valuable team members who are an investment meaning that they're actually making you money.
I think that the first principle here is that it's your role, as the architect is your role and responsibility to have the client see the value of the CA process. Okay, because otherwise, they it doesn't make sense, okay, even even for a sophisticated client, in our own experience client, and we hope that experience has sophisticated clients will, you know, their better judgment will will inform them that having the architect on site is really, really valuable, but even for those types of clients, because the role of CA is very much preventative. You know, clients can become complacent, because they're not aware and you as the architect hasn't made them aware of all of the bullshit that they've just avoided. They don't know. They're just like, Okay, fine, great, and they can forget. Okay, so that might not be, you know, they actually the fact that you've done your job really well in CA with the same client for a long period of time. They can become complacent or forget why it is that you're doing that role in the first place. And if they start having some kind of or shift their finances, or they're trying to cut corners or something like that, because of some financial target that they've suddenly become, that they're pursuing. They might end up thinking, well, we're Hunterdon. But we don't need this, we don't need this service anymore from the architects, you know, not realizing or forgetting how key to keeping the project's moves smoothly. It is. So ultimately, the responsibility lies with the architect to be able to communicate continuously, repetitively. And clearly, what the value is of the CA process, when we dig in to speaking with architects with about their complaints around the CA process will often ask okay, so what did it look like when, when you explained the value of the CA process to the client? How did that conversation go? We didn't have that conversation. Okay, so there hasn't been any, there hasn't been any explanation of what it is. So how are they expected to, to know what the value is? And it's complex as well, it's, it is a complex part of the of the process. And from a client's perspective, they might just assume, well, Surely you've done your job. Now you've you've drawn everything out, and all the builders got to do is follow the instructions. And, and you know, you shouldn't have made any mistakes. But we know that that's not how it works, no
client is going to, no client is going to well, very, very, here's the thing, clients typically, we can't expect them to always take the long term view of value in a project. In other words, that's why they hire the architect because they may approach the project with some, some mindsets about how they think things work, what you're the professional. And so this is where so one of the principles here is that you as an architect, should adopt the mindset of a consultant, not just an architect. So you know, even engineers, the comp Consulting Engineers, you know, you could be consulting architect, what that means is that you're not just an order taker, you actually put input into the design solution. So for example, I was talking with a residential architect this past week. And he was saying that he's frustrated doing the kind of products he's doing, because oftentimes people come to Him, they want to set up plans, they kind of already know what they want, quote, unquote, they bring to the floorplan, they say we want something like this, or maybe they've done some sketches. Can you modify like this, and so he does them. But then he feels resentful, because he's like, oh, man, I could do this better if I just did it from scratch and took into account the customized, you know, the, the customizations that I could do with the space based upon the client based upon how they live, etc, right. But instead of actually, powerfully leading his clients, he just kind of does does it their way. Right. So there's this fine balance. And then we have on the far other side, we have architects who are known as, you know, these egotistical bastards, that everyone resents because they show up and it has to be their way. And it's just this way, just because it's my way, and it costs a lot of money. And I'm gonna go with cut down everyone on the job site. So there's this happy medium, between these two, right, being an order taker. And then over here being this, you know, having your ego on supercharge, there's this middle path of being able to, you know, understand and look at what the client wants, and then being able to lead and guide them as a consultant would and help them understand like, hey, that's actually there's actually a better solution here. And may may explain to you why, let's look at it this way. Oh, and so this is part of the conversation process of, and this is where at the beginning of the episode, I talked about the word convinced, what we're not doing here is we're not trying to convince the client that this is the right way, we prefer the word enroll, which means that we're presenting a possibility of an idea we're kind of showing them, there's greener pastures over here doesn't look really nice over here, come with me. It's sort of that that kind of advisor, that mentor mentality, it's like, well, I like your idea. That's a good idea. I'm glad you spent some time on that. There's a couple of things. So you might want to consider come over here and take a look at this right. And so if you're when we approach it with the attitude of a consultant, this is where a lot of the added value comes. Because let's face it, actually, most clients when they go to the architect, that's what they want the architect do. They don't want the architect just to say yes to everything, like any anyone that are hired to come to my house to fix something or to do my yard. I don't I don't just want to be, Hey, do it this way. You know, I may have ideas about the end result that I want, but I want them to tell me the best way to do it. I want them to tell me, oh, you know what? If you want your yard to look like that, then it's better that we cut these off right here right now. It'll look bad for a season, but next year, they're going to look fantastic. Wow, I'm glad you told me that let's do it that way. It's different than what I was thinking. But I trust you the you're the expert, and you're the professional. So as Ryan said, it's our responsibility. It's our role to be able to take the mindset of what our clients are actually thinking about their project or their assumptions. In the case of the the the example we gave earlier, where this client was saying, Yeah, I'm gonna bring in this residential contract to do commercial work. Like this is what As an architect, you need to be able to make give, make a stand, to take a stand, and then be powerful in your communication, to help clients understand what's in their best interest without feeling, being egotistical or just being that architect who's always exploding. And this is why Ryan says that it's a sales process. Right. It's a process of persuasion. It's a process of education. It's a process of enrollment. And one of the things that you'll need to educate your clients on. See, as Ryan said, clients, you know, generally unless they're experienced in in orchid AEC, typically, even experienced professionals don't really understand the idea about when I say like other professionals, maybe construction workers, contractors, things like that. Definitely a lot of owners don't really understand that architectural drawings can only get so detailed, the more detail we add, the more it costs to produce the drawings, right, because the more coordination there is, the more time your staff has spent doing them. And so there's amount of diminishing returns. So as architects, professionals, we know that that that contract document showed the design intent, if you went to a court of law, they would just say, hey, does this match up with the design intent. So there's this and this is where it gets subjective. This is where it gets, as Ryan said, there's an element of looseness that's intentional, because if we tried to make everything exact, like a NASA spaceship, then the cost would skyrocket even more than it already does. So clients need to understand that this this idea behind design documents is that there's actually this, this wiggle room that's left in the design documents is actually a good thing. It's saving the money so that architects don't have to detail everything to the nth degree, and make the contract documents really expensive. And then also make you know, really limit the contractors hands on what they can use, what's this fine balance, and use the professional know the best way to walk that fine balance, but your client doesn't. So this is another example of a point where you need to help educate your clients and help them understand like when they come back during see and they say, Well, how can you? How come your drawing shows this mistake? And you're like, well, it's not really a mistake. What it is, is it's the design intent is here. And the reason why but now see, if it's already a problem in the contract administration, you're on your back foot, now you're explaining why it was done a certain way, instead of being proactive in the conversation, prepping them ahead of time educating them a let me tell you exactly how contract documents work, right. First of all, these are legal documents or set of instructions, there's something called design intent. And not everything is drilled out detailed out to the enth degree. For instance, electrical drawings are highly schematic, right, we know we connect the switches to the lights, but electrician, they don't wire it like that, right? They go and they figured out the best way to wire it. If they're if this is a more complex and sophisticated project, they'll do shop drawings will they'll show where the conduits gonna be run, etc. If it's a smaller project, where they're not going to do that the subcontractors out there figuring that out themselves, right. So obviously, if the architect took the time to specify where all the wire runs are going to go where all the conduits are going to go, that would take a lot of time. And it might be wrong by the time it got to the job site. Ryan's having already like flashbacks, like, can you imagine we're already losing of architects as it is, can you imagine like how many interns we'd need to like to like actually do all the shop level drawings for architects. So clients need to understand this. And to bring this point to a closed, you know, it's our job. As architects, it's our opportunity as architects to enroll clients in this conversation. So that's why it's important that you have a system in your practice for enrolling clients in not only the way that you do your drawings, but also the problems and challenges they're going to have along the way, prep them, prepare them, these are some of the typical challenges that will happen. And then also enroll them and have an educational, you know, part of your system that teaches them, for instance, in about contract administration, it's gonna say, so this is
really interesting happening. And one of the questions that kind of arises is then well, when, when do I educate the client. And I'd actually say that you start educating the client before they're even your client. And that you've got the ability to be able to produce marketing collateral, where you're, you know, you're kind of explaining case study documents, you're explaining parts of the, the building process, you can record these as videos on YouTube channels, or social media content, you can repeat the same thing you can document little videos of what you're doing in your office or turn, you know, create micro content, if you like when you're going on site and just explain a little bit, you know, behind the scenes of what it is that you're actually doing, so that clients or prospects who actually come across your content, oh, that's really interesting. I never need that. That's what an architect does. There's a responsibility that you have just in your marketing, okay, it's the education process of the client starts before they've even become your client. It's going to be so much easier If you've got someone who's been watching your marketing collateral or using your resources, then they become your client. And then you start, like a more formalized education process with them. Okay? So you might be, you know, during the sales process, you're gonna be highlighting what the CEA process is about, we have a thing of Business of Architecture that as soon as you've closed the sale, you have an expectations meeting, which is where you outline to the client, you know what, Mr. Client, you've got a series of responsibilities and roles, being the owner of a project, some of them, you know, they're legal, and they're very important for you to understand them, some of them are to do with your own decision making process and how it's going to impact everything, everything else, some of them are, you need to understand the process for what happens when you're on site and had to be preparing for your own funds and developing contingencies. So there's a point of education at the very outset in an expectations meeting, and then you can very easily structure in these points of education for a client throughout the process. Okay. And, you know, if you're supplementing this with video education, you've got your marketing collateral, you can point people direct back to them, it doesn't take much to get somebody on to a 15 minute call for you to outline, here's what's here's what's going to happen, I need to explain to you some of the the pitfalls and the dangers here of these of, of what can happen without having the right processes in place. It's really, you know, it's for you, it's for you as the architect to design, how you're going to communicate, and then what the frequency is going to be like throughout the project. And the more communication of this kind of stuff, you know, you're going to have to be repetitive with it. Because for some people, they haven't understood it, they don't understand it. This is the first time they're not architects. So that really, really is a priority to design to design, our communication process in a network of education with the client and
other professionals do this too. So as an example, what came to mind is, my wife had reconstructive surgery last year. And she had reconstructive surgery because the woman has had six children. So I mean, if you can imagine what that does to a woman's body, she was like, she was like, I want to get this body fixed up. So she had this surgery, right. And as we were looking at the different plastic surgeons, of course, when you go in for a concert with the plastic surgeon, it's just as important for you, as an architect to tell your clients, the reason behind why you're doing what you're doing, as well as how you're going to do what you're doing is actually doing what you're doing. So for instance, she came home from that console with all sorts of pamphlets and instructions about how the process is what tools they use, why it's like it, you know, typically how long she can expect for recovery. What are some of the potential complications, like there's a lot of education that happens, and just consider that that educational process is just as much a part of the job as actually doing the job. Now, there's a lot of there's a lot of professionals, in my experience that don't do a great job at this, for instance, I've had difficulty personally with accountants who don't do this. So you give them your taxes, and you get it back and you have no clue why the heck you're paying that amount of money, you have no clue did they get all the exemptions? I have no idea. It's just completely blind. On the other hand, I find that doctors and dentists are usually better. So for instance, when you go on for dentists console, even when you're sitting in the chair, a lot of times they'll be like, Okay, I'm going to use if it's the first time they're gonna say, if it's a good dentist, so so I'm gonna use this tool, it's going to feel like this, it's not going to hurt that much, it's gonna be sharp prick, you're going to be here for 15 minutes, we'll get you out, you'll be able to drive right afterwards, not a big deal, right there walking you through, so you can expect. So it's the same thing that that we need to understand that we can do for our clients. And once you do it, what ends up happening, is you end up circumventing all that frustration that happens during the contract administration, where you're now having to defend your position where you're now being seen as a burden instead of a valuable asset to the project. So the path here is to add an enrollment conversation to your system, and your architectural practice. And as Ryan mentioned, that should start all the way before you've it's in the marketing materials, all the way down to your your, your conversion process as you're closing the project, and even all the way through the different different parts of the project as well. Absolutely.
And it's it really, I think, as an exercise to actually just sit down and mark out here are the points where we're going to have these kinds of conversations, and have that as a framework that you kind of lean back into and make sure that the you're you're adhering to will just create so much more efficiency in a project. And again, as well with something like CAA. I mean, there's no reason why you as an architect can completely turn down a project If the client is not willing to do ca at the end of it, and we've got plenty of clients who do that they just will like, they're like, Well, if you're not going to, if you don't want to do CA is a non negotiable with us, then we're not a fit for you. See you later. That's part of our that's part of our quality assurance, we don't feel safe, engaging on a project where the client doesn't want to do the CA process. So I think that's, you know, it's an enrollment process. It's a sales process. And it's massively important, and all of this pre education is what's going to turn ca into a much more efficient process, much, much more efficient process. Again, one of the things that's difficult about CA is that without any education, I'll often liken ca to being like receiving a parking fine, because it's unexpected, and the client didn't know it was going to happen. Or perhaps they'd agreed to a base level. And then anything above that level just feels like they're being fined for something. And usually, if they're being, if they're receiving like, a larger than expected amount for the CA, it's because other stressful things are happening on that project at the moment. And so now you as the architect are kind of, you know, one of 100 other things that are stressful happening to the client. And they, in many cases, it's much easier just to sort of blame the architect, or at least not pay the architect because, you know, forget you, I've got something bigger to deal with right now. And this should never have happened. And, you know, you're now you're asking for, for money. You know, and they've if they've got no understanding of what the process is, we're much more likely to have that. It also consider the way that we're billing for CAE. So most architects or a lot of architects will bill for an hourly billing method. And just the whole idea of giving somebody an A list of hours to check is problematic. Because you're giving you know, the list in itself has this implicit command of check me find mistakes. And so a client will look through something a list, they don't understand. Why did you spend an hour over here? Why did you spend two hours doing this? I'm not paying for this, this was your mistake on this. So work, the way that we're actually billing is creating conflict, because it's a document that someone can pick apart and refute. So we often see clients do very well when they bill, maybe a monthly charge. So they'll have like a fixed rate of say, $5,000 a month for CA services. And some months, they do way less than $5,000 worth of work. Other months, they might do more than $5,000 Worth, but over the period of time of construction, it evens itself out. And it also it kind of means there that you know if construction is three months longer than this three months more of CA paid for at that $5,000 rate. And that's a that's often a lot more palatable for a client, particularly if they've been well enrolled for the process. And you've kind of frightened them, if you like in a way of the dangers that could happen if they don't use the CA process. So one of the kind of mechanics of actually selling the CA process that we always advise is using case studies. So actually walking the client through third party anecdotes or stories of you know, here's what happened to this client, when they didn't use ca. And here's what it costs them. And here's the mistakes that happened. And also, here's an example of where their client did you see a and here's how much they actually here's how we resolved some issues that they had on site. And here's how much money they actually saved, and the problems were averted. So super, super important. Use Case study material to educate your clients start the education before you've even met them.
Absent and look, it may seem like an overwhelming all the things you have to do to be able to get to the free architect stage. That's why we develop smart practice. We'd love to have a conversation with you to see if smart practices are fit for you. So we can actually help you implement these things in your practice. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Thanks, Ryan.
Thanks so much, Nick. And that's
a wrap. Oh, yeah, one more thing. If you haven't already, head on over to iTunes and leave a review. We'd love to read your name out here on the show. This episode is sponsored by Smart practice. The world's leading step by step business training program that's helped more than 103 architecture firm owners structure their existing practice. So the complexity of business doesn't get in the way of their architecture because you see, it's not your architecture design skills that's holding you back. It's the complexity of running a business, managing projects and people dealing with clients, contractors and money. So if you're ready to simplify the running of your practice, go to business of architecture.com forward slash smart to discover the proven simple and easy to implement smart practice method for running a practice that doesn't get in the way of doing exceptional architecture. The views expressed on the show by my guests do not represent those of the hosts and I make no representation, promise guarantee, pledge, warranty, contract, bond or commitment, except to help you conquer the world QRP DM
