Be the Informed Sherpa, Not the Fearful Professional – How & Why

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With volatile price increases, many design practitioners have become reluctant – even fearful –advising clients. See how to provide informed, low risk advice to clients that builds relationships.

In recent years, the environment for architects and designers has presented various challenges including client project finance, volatile construction costs, securing good builders and regulatory changes, plus more.

Unsurprisingly, some practitioners have responded by curtailing their advice to clients – and the value they provide to clients in the process.

However, clients, when selecting an architect or designer, often begin the process with a low level of knowledge, requiring constructive advice and a guiding hand to progress through the design process.

This mismatch often slows client decisions and inhibits design professionals winning projects who are no longer showcasing their expertise.

The Opportunity

This ‘gap’ between client information needs and design professionals’ advice creates an opportunity for practitioners.

Done in the right way, you can build client relationships, showcase your expertise (and value), build trust, inform (and hasten) client decisions.

Over time, this translates into enhanced reputation, more work, greater client engagement, enhanced project decisions and a more empowered work environment.

How to Provide Informed, Low Risk Advice

Clients often need to understand broad trends and expect you to have an understanding of marketplace changes.

You can inform this ‘non-specific’ advice requirements from a variety of free resources that are highly credible and regularly published. They include:

  • HIA data – the HIA regularly releases housing construction trend information
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics – reliable government funded data
  • Your Colleagues and Consultants –
  • Builders – your network

To make your life easier, ProCalc Construction Trend Update compiles information from all of the sources each month.

It incorporates feedback from thousands of industry professionals with ABS, HIA, Architect/Designer Surveys to provide a broad snapshot of what’s happening in the marketplace.

The free report is published as a handful of bullet points so you can arrive to client meeting fully informed about the latest industry changes.

Obtain Your Monthly ProCalc Construction Trend Update Here

For project specific reports, you can also access a free trial of ProCalc, the builders price guide.

Each report is unique, based on the latest real builders pricing and presented as an opinion of probable cost. It can inform your concepts as they develop, then inform and support client decisions before a quantity surveyor becomes involved.

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