Strategies to Reduce Architecture Design Revisions
- Have a Signed Design Agreement and a Verbal Discussion about your Revision Policy
Few actually read documents and contracts and few remember what was in the document. It is one thing to have a signed design agreement, but having a discussion about it avoids surprises. If you do not have a verbal discussion about revisions, the client will develop amnesia about your design agreement.
An example of a design agreement might be a flat rate for up to 3 revisions, after which point, an hourly rate kicks in.
2. Understand Your Client’s Vision Thoroughly
Make sure you receive as much information as possible about your client’s vision before you start drafting. Helpful items include mood boards of design inspiration, color palettes, and materials. Have your client provide examples of architectural works they admire. While it’s tempting to get to the drafting board immediately, asking those extra questions or picking up the phone a second time will save an extra revision.
3. Have a Clear Understanding on What Constitutes a Revision
I think we can all agree that reconfiguring an entire floor plan constitutes a revision, but what about changing the swing of a door, adding an outlet, or moving a wall 3 inches? Maybe you let the client move a wall 3 inches for free because it takes your draftsperson 20 seconds, but then the client wants to move other walls around. Before you know it, you are changing the house around for free.
4. Talk About Budget From Day One
Imagine drawing a $500,000 house and not knowing your client has a $300,000 budget? It happens way more often than you think. My design build employer would get clients from architects who had no concept of budget. Setting expectations on cost from the beginning will prevent a disappointment later on. While most designers will not be able to eyeball price, knowing simple cost saving measures is helpful.
5. Do Not Turn Around the Work Too Quickly
This goes against common business sense. It is intuitive to think that turning around revisions within 24 hours will keep your client happy and sending you future work. This makes sense in other industries, but not design.
One time I had a client that sent an email with revisions at lunchtime. I fixed the floor plans and sent them back to the client at 3 PM. By 6 PM, the client had more changes. Once I noticed this happening, I started completing the revisions while they are fresh in my head, but held onto them for a few days. You might think this is a deceptive practice, but remember that if the client sits with their floor plan for a few days, they get time to talk ideas over with their family and think things through. Turning around revisions slower allows all parties to clearly think things over.
6. Remind a Client That This is the Last Revision
If the client knows that they have only one more revision before an hourly rate kicks in, they will sit with the plan for longer and make sure they get everything right. Hourly rates are expensive, and no one voluntarily goes from a lump sum fee to an hourly rate.
Always say something like “this is the first revision, you have two more revisions left.”
7. Understand Why the Client Picked You
Congratulations, you landed a new client. Now you have to figure out if they chose you because of your design expertise or because of budget. It is likely a little of both. If the client sees you as just a budget drafter, they will question every design decision you make, resulting in more revisions. It is true that a lot of good draftspersons are bad at designing.
If you get a string of clients who do not trust your design expertise, consider representing yourself better. Get a better UpWork profile, a nicer website, and more engaged social media following.
8. Push Back Against Bad Design Suggestions
I work with a client who always sketches exactly what he wants. If I can come up with a better version, I will do my version instead and explain why it is better. Remember that you are a designer before you are a draftsperson. If you agree to every single thing the client suggests, they will start to lose trust in your design expertise.
9. Only Show Interior Renderings When Absolutely Necessary
BIM software is amazing; it allows designers to automatically draw in 3D while they are floor planning. It seems “free” to show some room perspectives if the software is automatically going to draw them anyway.
But technology is a double edge sword. It solves problems, but creates new ones. The problem with interior renderings is it draws attention away from space planning and into color palates and materials, which is typically the last phase of design. Showing interior renderings to your client is the equivalent of picking out the perfect font before you start writing an essay. If your client asks for renderings, make sure you lock down the floor plan first.
10. Consider Black and White or Sketchy Perspectives Instead of Renderings
Some clients cannot read floor plans. It takes spatial reasoning skills to imagine what a room actually looks like. Lower grade perspectives allow your client to see the space in 3D without too much emphasis on color and materials.
11. Cherry Pick Clients Who Are Serial Builders
Building or buying a home is one of three important decisions many will make in their life next to getting married or starting a family. It is understandable that if this is a once in a lifetime build, the client is going to be emotionally invested in the outcome. Being emotionally invested results in indecisiveness. To say yes to something, you have to say no to something else. But if your client is a real estate developer and this is their 20th house, they are not going to lose sleep over what color siding to put on the house.
I have worked for commercial clients, residential clients, and real estate developers. First time home builders are usually the most difficult.
12. Give Your Client 2–3 Options, but Never More
If you are obsessed with design, you might come up with 20 options yourself, and maybe another 20 options exist in your head. But always narrow it down to the best 2–3 options to show the client. If you show a client seven options, it shows that you are not confident in your own design expertise.
Revisions are lost time for everyone, and it is imperative to get it right the first time. Despite all the information collecting and having your design vision aligned with your client, there will always be someone who exceeds 10+ revisions and is willing to pay for it. From my experience, jobs with too many revisions do not move forward, because at a certain point, the client has either lost trust in the designer or themselves.
