On the first hour of a project

We do not charge for the first conversation with a potential client. We have been asked, more than once, why we do not. The answer is that the first hour is the most valuable hour of any project, and we do not want anything in the way of it being honest.

What the hour is for

The first hour is not a sales meeting. It is not a presentation. It is not even, really, a meeting about the project — not in any technical sense.

If the project does not feel like it can be built well, we will tell you so in the first hour. We will tell you kindly, but we will tell you.

It is a conversation about whether the project should happen at all. About whether the brief makes sense. About whether the budget and the timeline and the ambitions are in proportion to each other. About whether the client and the studio are likely to enjoy working together.

We have learned that most of what determines the success of a commission is decided in this hour. Not the decisions themselves — those come later. But the conditions under which the decisions will be made. The honesty of the conversation. The fit of the people. The shared assumptions about what a good outcome looks like.

What we listen for

A few things we have learned to listen for, in roughly the order they tend to appear:

How specific is the brief? A brief that is too vague is fine — we can help shape it. A brief that is too rigid is harder. We have learned to ask, gently, whether the client is open to being surprised.

How does the client talk about budget? Clients who treat budget as a fixed constraint are easier to work with than clients who treat it as flexible. The flexibility usually does not survive the first quote.

How do they talk about other architects? If they speak respectfully of professionals they have worked with before, we relax. If they speak dismissively, we do not.

How do they describe the result they want? In images? In rooms? In feelings? In numbers? Each tells us something different about how they think.

After the hour

If we both decide to continue, we send a fee proposal within a week. If we do not — and this happens about a third of the time — we say so with respect, and we usually recommend other studios who would suit the project better.

A studio that takes on the wrong project pays for that decision for years. We have made the mistake before. We try not to make it again.