LIVE Q&A SESSION 7:
August 6th, 2020: 9am (Pacific Time – US & Canada)
Chat Transcript:
Where are you joining from?
graham sproul
London
David Ogunmuyiwa
London, UK
Kamal Ladwa
Nottngham
Andy Guiry
Victoria BC
Peter Tsang
London
Graeme Nicholls
Glasgow here
david brockhurst
Padstow uk
Courtney Moore
Victoria, BC
Andrew Mcmullan
London, UK
Matthew Jarvis
Yorkshire
Junaid Qurashi
California
Andrew Ip
London
T David Bell
Washington, DC
Juliana Nikolova
Isle of Skye
Olena Struk
Vancouver
Denise Santini
Toronto
h.arentsen
London
Stephen Hines
Denton, Texas
michael marshall
Oxford UK
Adam Barnett
Hastings, east sussex
Pablo Apolinar
London
Ruth Niven
London
Amber Yorke
North Wales, UK
Robert Northcott
Toronto
David Fridlund
Los Angeles
Susan Kromer
North Carolina USA
Luisa Dolce
London
Nils Feldmann
Kiel, Germany
Susan Smith
Ottawa, Ontario
Alsu Galimova
London
BLASE WEIMER
Newark, NJ
Richard Le Sueur
Jersey, Channel Islands
Richard Silver
brighton
Nadia Tobia
Canada Toronto
Luke Kruszelnicki
London
Ross Davison
Bath, UK
Joshua
Atlanta, GA
From Junaid Qurashi
Palo Alto, CA
From Monica Walter
Victoria, Canada
From Roger Haigh
Lake District, England
From PENNY CHIN
California, san francisco
From Miguel Esparza
Fort Worth, Texas
Anna Kosicka
Chalfont St. Giles UK
Peter Fearon Brown
East Sussex, UK
David Fridlund
Thanks for addressing my question – but I was focusing it on Construction Admin services, when things come out of the blue that we cannot anticipate.
Robert Toy Somerset
Jacqueline Rhee
always receive a retainer unless it’s a repeat client!!
Tom Man
Good point. We’ve never asked for payment up front but come unstuck often.
How robust is the agreement if we don’t have upfront payment?
Junaid Qurashi
We used to send out two document in the past 1. proposal with information about the project. Once the proposal is accepted 2. we would send out the full contract. However, this process took very long. Now the proposal and contract is one and sent via docusign. Our wins are less but the contract we win are of high quality. Thoughts?
Graeme Nicholls
I have started doing this since reading Ian’s advice in one of the PDF guides
Particularly with new clients, or ones who can be a bit ‘risky’
Junaid Qurashi
We collect before each stage and clients are ok with it.
Joshua
yes exactly!
Stephen Hines
I have not found the percentage fee of any real benefit. The architect’s work is defined by the Owner’s project scope. Regardless how the project bids, the required level of work is what it is. So if the skill of the architect’s work bids lower than anticipated the architect looses fee.
Jacqueline Rhee
we need to not be embarrassed to say “oh that’ll be extra”
PENNY CHIN
got it, thanks
Mary Adetayo
that’s was very insightful thank you
that*
Jacqueline Rhee
thank you so much!
Jules Chenowith
Thank you!
Kamal Ladwa
thank you
Susan Smith
thank you
graham sproul
London
David Ogunmuyiwa
London, UK
Kamal Ladwa
Nottngham
Andy Guiry
Victoria BC
Peter Tsang
London
Graeme Nicholls
Glasgow here
david brockhurst
Padstow uk
Courtney Moore
Victoria, BC
Andrew Mcmullan
London, UK
Matthew Jarvis
Yorkshire
Junaid Qurashi
California
Andrew Ip
London
T David Bell
Washington, DC
Juliana Nikolova
Isle of Skye
Olena Struk
Vancouver
Denise Santini
Toronto
h.arentsen
London
Stephen Hines
Denton, Texas
michael marshall
Oxford UK
Adam Barnett
Hastings, east sussex
Pablo Apolinar
London
Ruth Niven
London
Amber Yorke
North Wales, UK
Robert Northcott
Toronto
David Fridlund
Los Angeles
Susan Kromer
North Carolina USA
Luisa Dolce
London
Nils Feldmann
Kiel, Germany
Susan Smith
Ottawa, Ontario
Alsu Galimova
London
BLASE WEIMER
Newark, NJ
Richard Le Sueur
Jersey, Channel Islands
Richard Silver
brighton
Nadia Tobia
Canada Toronto
Luke Kruszelnicki
London
Ross Davison
Bath, UK
Joshua
Atlanta, GA
From Junaid Qurashi
Palo Alto, CA
From Monica Walter
Victoria, Canada
From Roger Haigh
Lake District, England
From PENNY CHIN
California, san francisco
From Miguel Esparza
Fort Worth, Texas
Anna Kosicka
Chalfont St. Giles UK
Peter Fearon Brown
East Sussex, UK
David Fridlund
Thanks for addressing my question – but I was focusing it on Construction Admin services, when things come out of the blue that we cannot anticipate.
Robert Toy Somerset
Jacqueline Rhee
always receive a retainer unless it’s a repeat client!!
Tom Man
Good point. We’ve never asked for payment up front but come unstuck often.
How robust is the agreement if we don’t have upfront payment?
Junaid Qurashi
We used to send out two document in the past 1. proposal with information about the project. Once the proposal is accepted 2. we would send out the full contract. However, this process took very long. Now the proposal and contract is one and sent via docusign. Our wins are less but the contract we win are of high quality. Thoughts?
Graeme Nicholls
I have started doing this since reading Ian’s advice in one of the PDF guides
Particularly with new clients, or ones who can be a bit ‘risky’
Junaid Qurashi
We collect before each stage and clients are ok with it.
Joshua
yes exactly!
Stephen Hines
I have not found the percentage fee of any real benefit. The architect’s work is defined by the Owner’s project scope. Regardless how the project bids, the required level of work is what it is. So if the skill of the architect’s work bids lower than anticipated the architect looses fee.
Jacqueline Rhee
we need to not be embarrassed to say “oh that’ll be extra”
PENNY CHIN
got it, thanks
Mary Adetayo
that’s was very insightful thank you
that*
Jacqueline Rhee
thank you so much!
Jules Chenowith
Thank you!
Kamal Ladwa
thank you
Susan Smith
thank you
Questions answered:
David: (2:53)
When a client will not accept an open-ended hourly agreement, we tend to estimate a weekly rate based on X number of hours. How do we succinctly define the myriad of tasks, to provide a basis for add services when we exceed the estimated hours.
Fatai: (8:08)
Is there any particular reason why clients request fee proposals from consultants who are not of similar calibre? I.e. say you have a pool of 5no bidders – 1 or 2 might be in the AJ100 list whilst the others are unheard of Architects (outside the top 500). This approach does not enable like-for-like comparisons hence there is a major disparity in fee proposals.
Ann: (11:00)
Any advice of how to be cost competitive when Responding to an RFP?
Susan: (13:38)
How to use the fee proposal as a contract for smaller projects?
Andrew: (17:46)
Is it normal to require upfront stage fees from the clients? i.e. advance stage payments before works for each stage is commenced.
Nicos: (23:23)
How do the different pricing options work when we are asked to give our freelancing fee rate rather than a quote for specific services / deliverables?
Brian: (25:29)
How do you walk a client through a fee proposal to increase their comfort level?
Aart: (29:13)
how relevant is it to consider a fee quotation as a percentage of the construction costs
Jacqueline: (36:34)
How do you protect yourself from a client who is grossly indecisive- so you’re not able get design sign off after even multiple design proposals?
Penny: (41:06)
With the scope of work on a current project, I settled for a discounted fixed fee. Which I usual never do, but the situation is special. The scope of work has grown and was wondering how to handle asking for more fees for design, admin, and additional coordination.
Matt: (44:09)
Is it a good idea to provide a detailed task/resource/time/fee breakdown with your fee letter or just provide lump sum price for stages?
Mary: (47:03)
If you have already sent the fee proposal and contract in one document to your client and they have developed cold feet, how do you back track and unscare them?
When a client will not accept an open-ended hourly agreement, we tend to estimate a weekly rate based on X number of hours. How do we succinctly define the myriad of tasks, to provide a basis for add services when we exceed the estimated hours.
Fatai: (8:08)
Is there any particular reason why clients request fee proposals from consultants who are not of similar calibre? I.e. say you have a pool of 5no bidders – 1 or 2 might be in the AJ100 list whilst the others are unheard of Architects (outside the top 500). This approach does not enable like-for-like comparisons hence there is a major disparity in fee proposals.
Ann: (11:00)
Any advice of how to be cost competitive when Responding to an RFP?
Susan: (13:38)
How to use the fee proposal as a contract for smaller projects?
Andrew: (17:46)
Is it normal to require upfront stage fees from the clients? i.e. advance stage payments before works for each stage is commenced.
Nicos: (23:23)
How do the different pricing options work when we are asked to give our freelancing fee rate rather than a quote for specific services / deliverables?
Brian: (25:29)
How do you walk a client through a fee proposal to increase their comfort level?
Aart: (29:13)
how relevant is it to consider a fee quotation as a percentage of the construction costs
Jacqueline: (36:34)
How do you protect yourself from a client who is grossly indecisive- so you’re not able get design sign off after even multiple design proposals?
Penny: (41:06)
With the scope of work on a current project, I settled for a discounted fixed fee. Which I usual never do, but the situation is special. The scope of work has grown and was wondering how to handle asking for more fees for design, admin, and additional coordination.
Matt: (44:09)
Is it a good idea to provide a detailed task/resource/time/fee breakdown with your fee letter or just provide lump sum price for stages?
Mary: (47:03)
If you have already sent the fee proposal and contract in one document to your client and they have developed cold feet, how do you back track and unscare them?
References:
1. Fee Proposal Workshop:
https://blueturtlemc.com/feeproposalworkshop/
2. Fee Proposal Fundamentals:
https://blueturtlemc.com/fee-proposal-fundamentals/
3. 5 Ways Small Design Firms Can Earn More Profit:
www.blueturtlemc.com/blog/5-ways-small-design-firms-can-earn-more-profit/
4. Small Works Fee Proposal Agreement:
https://blueturtlemc.com/product/small-works-fee-proposal-template/
https://blueturtlemc.com/feeproposalworkshop/
2. Fee Proposal Fundamentals:
https://blueturtlemc.com/fee-proposal-fundamentals/
3. 5 Ways Small Design Firms Can Earn More Profit:
www.blueturtlemc.com/blog/5-ways-small-design-firms-can-earn-more-profit/
4. Small Works Fee Proposal Agreement:
https://blueturtlemc.com/product/small-works-fee-proposal-template/
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