When doing a building project, momentum is key to a successful project. Clients show up at the first few meetings with bright eyes and lofty dreams, but who drives the project after the newness has worn off and you are bogged down by the details of the project? This is a discussion that I have had with fellow architects, clients, and marketing professionals in the last month and I thought it merited discussion.
When a project first starts, the architect needs to lead the momentum. One of the biggest reasons that projects fail is poor project management. After the first meeting, the architect should propose a time and an outcome for the next meeting prior to leaving the first meeting. Give the client a schedule of events. Unless the client has built a home or designed a project before, they have no idea what to expect.
The architect should ask for a project budget and a timeframe. Then they should backtrack from the end date to create a preliminary schedule. Before leaving the first meeting let the client know "I'm going to provide you with (XYZ), does it work for your schedule to call you or meet with you on (X) day at (X) time to discuss". This establishes a next meeting and requires that the client sets aside time to continue the discussion of their project. It starts the momentum from the very first meeting, lets the client know that the architect is organized and reliable, keeps the client on track, and lets them know what the next expectation is.
Now that you have made it through the first five meetings, because I've been told that five is the number of contacts necessary to get a client to "buy in", you are underway on the project. It is at that point that the client and architect are now both responsible for maintaining the momentum. The second reason that projects fail is due to the client or the architect having lost track of what the problem was that needs to be solved. When an architect gives the client homework, and they don't do it, it backlogs the project. It pushes back the timeframe and increases the budget because now the architect has to have more meetings to maintain the process. I also feel that it is important to give the client no more then three decisions at a time.
