Starting a business helping Self-Builders, advice?

[LDNRennovation]

Firstly this isn’t an advert and I’m not doing anything just yet.
 

I’d like to become a self employed architect, one that deals exclusively with people building their self build homes. It’s something I’ve previously done with larger companies and architects, but it’s a big leap to work on my own. I’ve got a good portfolio including a grand designs episode or two, been in magazines front cover of AJ so I have some experience. 
 

I just don’t know where to start, and if there is money in this. I would like to take on 2-3 clients at a time and help them through their journey. How do I find people who would want this? 

[nod]

I don’t feel we on here are your typical market But I work on quite a few multi million pound homes that have an Architect liaison on site most days 

Nearly always turnkey with a main contractor doing all the work 

[LDNRennovation]

I mean help with the design and planning. This would be my market lol, (some people on here I have done designs for, I’ve not spoken to them on here of course).

Edited Tuesday at 12:34 by LDNRennovation

[MikeSharp01]

We used an architect for our design upto building control (BC). We were very happy with the work they did and we had told them we would not be going past BC. This said they were not that aware of self building of our sort, as @nod has described, so some aspects got a bit lost. The main one being describing the details as they assumed a competent builder would just do it so leaving gaps which took us a long time to work out and still appear on occasions. So I get the impression there is a gap there. Also in our case the architects had not done a passive house (PH) beforehand so although they got the contract I did the PH courses so I could feed in the expertise so they did not design a house that could not be built to PH standards. So that is another gap worth looking at.

[LDNRennovation]

Thanks Mike. Did you go for a specialist self build architect? Would people be interested in that. I should say designer really, my training is designing self build houses and I’d like to give people that 1-1 personal service you don’t really get with an architectural firm.

[ETC]

Can you post some of your work that you have already completed for Forum members? - as an architect I would be very interested to see your work.

 

Thanks.

 

ETC.

[LDNRennovation]

I’d rather keep it anonymous for the customers! Since they don’t post here anymore I can PM you I think though. 

[nod]

1 hour ago, LDNRennovation said:

I mean help with the design and planning. This would be my market lol, (some people on here I have done designs for, I’ve not spoken to them on here of course).

Yes on both our builds we’ve spent around 3k rack time on Architects fees Most on here are are TF Do you really need an Architect for a TF 

[LDNRennovation]

Yes of course you do, Timber Frame right? I’d suggest you need someone to design your house to your brief and get you planning. 
 

[IanR]

56 minutes ago, LDNRennovation said:

I’d like to become a self employed architect, one that deals exclusively with...

59 minutes ago, LDNRennovation said:

I just don’t know where to start, ~~~~~~~~. How do I find people who would want this? 

 

I'm not sure if restricting your potential clients down to a niche area is a good plan for a new business. You should consider casting your net as wide as possible, until you're able to generate enough work within the niche you wish to specialiase.

[LDNRennovation]

Ha, no thanks I would like to be a self build architect specifically - extensions would be included. 

[nod]

35 minutes ago, LDNRennovation said:

Ha, no thanks I would like to be a self build architect specifically - extensions would be included. 

The trouble with specializing in self builds There arnt a lot of us doing self builds and most would prefer you to be local to them 

[MikeSharp01]

5 hours ago, LDNRennovation said:

Did you go for a specialist self build architect? Would people be interested in that. I should say designer really, my training is designing self build houses and I’d like to give people that 1-1 personal service you don’t really get with an architectural firm.

No they didn't - just good jobbing architects who had done three houses on our hill and we liked one of them very much so we included them in the list to be 'interviewed' as I mention there were places where they did not get the self build ideal but Buildhub has worked its magic on most of those questions already.

[LDNRennovation]

22 minutes ago, nod said:

The trouble with specializing in self builds There arnt a lot of us doing self builds and most would prefer you to be local to them 

To be honest I did everything by Skype during the pandemic, it was fine. I was looking for some supportive ideas.

[Russell griffiths]

Get a stand at the self build shows, there’s a fair bit of competition though. 

[Russell griffiths]

You would need to state that you are geared towards planning applications and have a proven track record. 
i would not particularly use an architect for planning, but lean towards a planning consultant. 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, LDNRennovation said:

I would like to be a self build architect specifically

I get the impression that you're not a registered architect? If not you'd need to style yourself as an 'architectural designer' or similar to avoid potential prosecution.

[nod]

10 hours ago, LDNRennovation said:

To be honest I did everything by Skype during the pandemic, it was fine. I was looking for some supportive ideas.

Then you would have to be much cheaper than a local Architect 

and you would have to sell yourself much better 

Qualifications 

Recent projects 

COST 

You won’t get your foot in the door without all three 

UPFRONT 

 

Theres so many online design companies out there 

We used a local Architectural firm Not just for design But for there relationship with local planners 

 

Or is it a FREE service to help self builders 

 

Edited Wednesday at 05:35 by nod

[LDNRennovation]

8 hours ago, Mike said:

I get the impression that you're not a registered architect? If not you'd need to style yourself as an 'architectural designer' or similar to avoid potential prosecution.

No worries, I’m a fully qualified architect. ARB and RIBA. 

[nod]

1 minute ago, LDNRennovation said:

No worries, I’m a fully qualified architect. ARB and RIBA. 

Cost ?

 

[LDNRennovation]

8 minutes ago, nod said:

Cost ?

 

Well no it won’t be free. I have about 10 years of helping self builders around the country. I was thinking around 3k for the concept and design stage. 1k for extra planning items.

[Temp]

We used an architect for our self build project. We asked three to quote but he went above and beyond by visiting the site and included ink and water colour sketches of a house he thought would look good on the plot. Later did a street scene the same way. The artistic licence available made his proposal blend in more with surroundings than say Photoshop or CAD would have done.

 

He was great on design but less good on estimating how much it would actually cost. He was also hopeless at doing battle with the planners. Didn't chase them enough for response to drawings. Didn't need him for the build as builder was excellent. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:42 by Temp

[Alan Ambrose]

Take a small stand at a self build show with some posters of some of your designs and see what turns up? Listen carefully and see where the anxiety points are for potential customers and therefore what would be your ‘offer’ or ‘positioning’. Maybe some pricing ‘packages’ to put some transparency into architectural / planning pricing. Principal designer? CDM? You just need to figure out why customers would hire you rather than someone else and what for - so you can establish yourself in your own market niche. Pick up an undergraduate primer on marketing, Kotler maybe. Figure out what kind of self build customer is yours.

[G and J]

What's your unique offering to self builders?

 

I ask because I had a small garden design business whereby my planned "usp" was to provide a design that the house owners could then implement over a number or months/years. I say planned as being a gardener myself this was a service that I would have been interested in when I was starting out, rather than the "we'll do you a design and implement it in the next 4 weeks" that seemed to be the norm.

 

However it turned out that there was a limited audience for that and I increasingly became a project manager of others, or worked closely with a trusted landscaper that I could hand off too. Either way not what I imagined.

 

So is your main "sell" cost based i.e. your service, or that you design for cost effective build or......

 

For info we are 2nd timers, had a basic floor plan for site but used a local architect for planning/building regs. Did this partly to bring us up to date on build methods (last time round early 90's) but the clincher was his knowledge and relationship with the local planners, that for us was the initial "sell". We then went on to meet him and the thought we could work together.

[LDNRennovation]

Hmm, I don’t know what my sell would be. I usually just come up with a nice design people usually like, and I do a 3d for them. Main sell isn’t cost base no. My sell is a personal design service.