17 Feb 2022 Thurs Meeting JT and Sendy

this photo is not related to this blog except that it was taken by Sam the night before. Jellybean and I had a early night, we held hands and went to sleep

I had put my hand up to help JT with his profession exams and this morning we continued our conversation with him. He was in town with his wife, Sendy - Freddie had been the glue between the both of us. 

This morning, I put up my hand to help Sendy who was the business end of their young practice - with things that I now take for granted; how to start the conversation with the client at the beginning of a project and guide it towards appointment of our services and the formulation of the brief.

1. Ask for a land title (this provides details about the land category, possible usage, locality and most importantly OWNERSHIP).

2. Buy an extract of the title, and a cadastral plan (which is gives an indicative size of land, etc) Professional surveys cost money and usually at the feasibility stage, the cadastral plan would suffice.

3. Prepare a layout to start the conversation about relationship of spaces and levels, and to capture floor areas. Floor areas are important to work out indicative costs and money is a great decider (whether to have a lift and skip the Italian marble tiles, or to combine mother-in-law's room with the study).

4. Tabulate the floor areas and project cost estimate so that you can decide on the fee scale for your appointment. Use the PAM-LAM Scale of Minimum Fees. Recommend that the engineers are appointed early to assist in the design development at an early stage, and with experience, you can recommend certain folks for certain jobs.

5. Have a simple work programme so that clients know when you will provide project design updates, and when you would expect decisions and confirmation from them.

This is how we typically start our conversations with the client - we typically take two weeks to do this. Most times it leads to an actual project. Sometimes, it dies a natural death due to budget, differing design approaches and expectations, but we feel that it is necessary to draw a few lines, put a few thoughts on paper to engage with a client (especially a new one). This generosity is rewarded either with a project or if not, a design idea for the portfolio.