Strong Client Architect Relationships: The Cornerstone To A Great Project

It’s easy to have a great vision for your home building project. The tricky part is turning that vision into a reality. So how do you ensure that your building project meets your expectations?

The relationship with your architect is a crucial one to get right and should not be rushed, you will want to shop around and find the right match.

While there are plenty of key contributing factors, the most influential element is the relationship between the client and the architect. And that’s for a straightforward reason: great teams produce great results.

First, let’s think about why the client-architect relationship should exist in the first place. Many homeowners have their own ideas about how they want to improve their properties, but don’t for obvious reasons, have the experience to fully realise their ambitions.

A reputable architectural company can help to fill in the knowledge gaps and improve the client’s initial idea. Your goal is to ensure your project develops into the best possible addition and that’s what architects are there for.

A good client-architect relationship works both ways. An architectural company must be willing to listen to the client’s ideas, thoughts, and concerns. It is their project, after all.

And equally, the client must also be open to input from the architectural firm. You won’t be getting your money’s worth from the architects if you think that you already know the answers.

Below, we’ll run through a few key traits of what we think a good working relationship between architects and clients looks like.

How well you and an architect communicate affects how closely the final design meets your needs and how much “you” ends up in the final project. You don’t need a master’s degree in architecture to have meaningful conversations with your architect.

If you are afraid that the architect is using terms and jargon that you may not be familiar with, call this out – often they may assume that you would understand and this will not always be the case and can lead to anxiety if you are not clear about the process and what needs to happen and when.

Problems, misunderstandings, and other pain points can become too familiar without effective communication. Effective communication doesn’t necessarily mean, or indeed, shouldn’t mean, that the client and architect are in constant contact.

It means that both parties can communicate their ideas, concerns, hopes, and problems honestly and directly in a clear and concise way. It’s what makes everything possible.

Finding the right architect can sometimes take time and effort. How do you know when to trust an architect when making significant changes to your home? It’s vital to find a professional, highly recommended and reliable architect or designer who has experience on similar projects as yours.

We need to take a leap of faith and trust that the party is making the right decision regarding a successful project.

By engaging an architectural firm with a solid reputation and plenty of experience you can be assured they’ll know the ins and outs of putting together the drawings, getting planning permission and other vital elements of the building process.

It’s good to have ideas. It’s bad to be married to them. When a client hires an architect, they’re hiring experience and expertise, and, as a result, they should be open to hearing their ideas.

They’ll be sharing those ideas for a reason. They would know what will and won’t work with the local authority planning department, for instance. Albeit the architect should not be imposing a standard solution that they have adopted elsewhere on your home, what works for one person may not work for you or your needs. Equally this is your home, if you get the sense the architect is driven by their own portfolio or not listening to you this should ring alarm bells.

However, don’t be shy about letting your architect know other details about you. For example, your tastes in art, music, fashion, and books give great insight into the sort of home you would like to live in.

On a similar note, architects should also be aware that, in the end, it’s the clients’ project, not theirs. The architect might have a great vision of what they’d do if it was their home, but it’s not.

A strong client-architect relationship is just one factor to guarantee fantastic results. After all, there are other influential aspects beyond what the architect brings to the table. However, it’s fair to say that outstanding results would be impossible if the client and architect were not a cohesive team.

Here at Formed Architects, we believe in teamwork. It’s how we ended up starting our company in the first place. We practise what we preach and would be thrilled to work with you on your next residential or commercial design project.

To get started, call us at 020 3601 3480, or use the live chat feature on our website.