A pandemic might not be the ideal time to set up a new practice. However, it is no coincidence that many of today’s thriving practices had their origins in the last UK recession of 2008 to 2009 and its aftermath. Architects who were made redundant and struggled to find work registered as self-employed or started a practice: decisions born of necessity.
At the start of 2020, architect Phil Ward and technologist Chris Palmar had been working together for 15 years at a leading 40-strong multi-disciplinary practice in Kent. However, the impact of the pandemic left both of them in the same position and, with the support of family, friends, and former colleagues, they took the leap of forming a practice of their own: Ingrain Architecture.
Having worked exclusively on large projects for years, they both liked the idea of broader involvement in smaller scale work and the prospect of dealing with clients at a one to one level.
The business plan
Ward’s background is predominately in educational projects while Palmar’s is more residential, with some environmental consultancy. The pair therefore have a broad range of sector experience to draw upon. They have drawn up a business plan which targets home extensions, improvements, and annexes: an eminently practical response to a pandemic affected market in which domestic clients are hungry for space.
“Even in all this madness, there is a feeling that people want to get on with things,” Ward has found.
They also wish to work with schools who need design expertise to reorganise spaces and add capacity. Happily, some pro bono work came their way: for a charity trying to put a leisure project together. This has the potential to lead to fee paying work, but either way it adds a valuable third strand to their sector base at a very early stage of their practice.
Setting up
There are many practical aspects to consider. Ward’s advice for any start-up is to find an accountant. Their accountant, Adam Clegg of Swift Accountancy, helped to set up and register the company, and advised on:
- how the two directors should pay themselves
- what their tax expectations would be
- and how they should approach bookkeeping
There was some synchronicity, in that Clegg had recently gone through a parallel experience to their own and was himself just setting up. Ingrain was Clegg’s first client. “It felt like there was an alliance forming among COVID start-ups,” Ward notes.
Setting up a business bank account proved a little more problematic: they could not even get an appointment with a high street bank to set up a business account. The impression Ward received was that banks are so inundated at the moment that they have effectively shut up shop for new businesses. One banker, however, discreetly advised that several new businesses had had success with online Starling Bank; Palmar set Ingrain up with Starling within 24 hours.
Overheads and fees
Despite the premiums and exclusions that practices are currently facing, obtaining Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) cover was relatively painless for Ingrain. They used a PI insurance broker, who was a good source of advice and was able to secure Ingrain PII and some additional liability cover in a reasonable package. This situation would be very different were the practice to rapidly take on ambitious, larger scale projects in which key questions over cladding and working on buildings over 18 metres would apply.
While lockdown and/or regional restrictions are likely to mean working from home for the time being, Ingrain have taken on a small, self contained space in an artists’ gallery complex in rural Kent.
Software cost is an important overhead to consider: the practice will be using Office Business 365, which gives the practice emails, domain names and storage space in the cloud and eliminates the need for a server. Practices interested in discovering other architects’ recommendations of software to make work run more smoothly can read five easy system boosts for smart project management.
The practice’s attitude to fees is, for the moment, to charge either as percentage based or time charging. Palmar states they are working out both on every project to ensure the best value is being offered to the client while also fairly reflecting their own work.
Initial marketing
It is still early days and, so far, raising their profile has been largely confined to LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. The RIBA recently published seven tips to drum up new work and advice on telling the right story when reaching out to new clients.
As a former RIBA Branch Chairman for Canterbury and CPD organiser, Ward feels that he and Palmar are well plugged into a Kent architectural network where small practices can feed off one another, possibly collaborate and perhaps pick up the odd recommendation.
One of the hardest decisions to date has been agreeing on the practice logo: a sensitive process between two partners that Ward likens to naming a baby. But with the logo sorted, Ingrain Architecture is now a RIBA Chartered Practice as of last week and its website is now up and running.
The RIBA has published a Marketing Toolkit for practices. Aimed at small to medium sized practices who do not have in house marketing expertise or are just starting up, it is free to download and provides useful tips and templates.
Chartered practices can also make use of the RIBA’s Find an Architect service, which matches clients with practices.
Detailed information and advice about starting a practice can be found in several books published by RIBA, including:
- Starting a Practice, A Plan of Work
- Sole Practice and Sole Practitioner
- Small Projects Handbook
- The RIBA Job Book
Thanks to Phil Ward and Chris Palmar, Directors, Ingrain Architecture.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
RIBA Core Curriculum: Business, clients and services.
As part of the flexible RIBA CPD programme, Professional Features count as microlearning. See further information on the updated RIBA CPD Core Curriculum and on fulfilling your CPD requirements as an RIBA Chartered Member.
Posted on 12 November 2020.
