Welcome to
MKB Architects

This is the million-dollar question in your industry, but it deserves a good, solid answer. Don’t be condescending about it, either. People genuinely want to understand why they would need to hire your firm, and this is your chance to sell them on every single reason that you can help them. Explain what your firm does, what an architect does in general, different specialties that are available, and so forth. 

If you were someone looking up what an architect was, what would you want to learn? Create a response to that end. Make sure that you include general information and facts, as well as insight about your firm specifically to encourage them to reach out. 

Remember, this is uncertain territory for a lot of people. Often, the best way to win their business and their continued loyalty is simply by being transparent and helping them understand the process every step of the way. After all, you’re the expert and you can walk them through it all so that there is never any confusion or anxiety about what’s coming next. 

Take this answer as your opportunity to explain exactly what happens when you talk to someone for the first time, whether it’s in person or on the phone, and how much actually happens at the initial meeting. Then, explain what the next steps are, but only briefly, because that’s a whole different topic.

People like timelines and predictability. They don’t realize that the world of architecture and design is full of unpredictable events and circumstances, from job hurdles to creative blocks, and more. They don’t really want you to rush to deliver their design faster or skip any important details to get done sooner. They just want to understand what the timeline is like so that they know what to expect. 

If you’re not great at predicting timelines or you don’t use a linear process, give your best guesstimate and then explain that in the answer, too. Tell people about your process. Explain why the drawings and/or design take so long because that’s far more valuable than promising to deliver something quickly that may be subpar in terms of quality. 

This is an important question because it allows you to explain how the processes are interwoven and work together to create a complete project. Explain any involvement you have with builders and the construction process, as well as what the client can expect from it as they go along. You can also use this space to explain the construction part of the process to increase the knowledge base of your FAQ. 

This may also be a good place to discuss the entire design process, reiterate what aspects your firm will and won’t handle, and remind people that this journey takes time and several different resources, but you’ll help them every step of the way. 

Again, people like time. They want results. Thanks to the Internet, people live in a “faster is better” world and rarely want to wait for something that takes longer. However, if it is a big-ticket item like a building or home design, they might be more willing to allow the time needed to get the ideal result. Still, you want to answer this question in the best way that you can. If you want to explain how variable it can be, provide timelines from a few of the projects you have done in the past. Show them that because each design and job is so different, the timelines will be different, as well. 

Reassure them that it won’t take any longer than necessary, but that your focus is on getting the best results, not just getting the design and/or construction completed. That way, you’re not being dismissive, but you aren’t pinning yourself down to finite timelines that probably never work the same way twice.