When commercial clients ask how long a project is likely to take, from appointment of the architect, to design, planning permission etc, to start on site, completion and occupation by the client of the new premises, they are often shocked at the length of time it may take. We are usually talking in terms of years, not months! This means that temporary premises may be required to allow for scale-up in the short term.

What can be done to condense this period? One of the services we offer is to take a retaining fee at the start of a project, instead of billing in arrears. Billing in arrears means the professional completes a stage of work, issues an invoice, and then waits to be paid before starting on the next stage. The typical architectural project has 8 stages (I would add a 9th – Post Occupancy Evaluation – click for an explanation) and each of these can be subdivided further. For each invoice the client has 28 days to pay typically, and this can be longer depending on how your accounts are paid. But if you add this up throughout a project, its very inefficient with your time. The solution is to pay a retaining fee at the start, which means the architect can proceed with the work, complete a stage and issue a invoice, but proceed immediately with the next stage whilst awaiting payment, because the retainer covers the workstage in advance.

This is a great way to speed up your project, and get the most out of the service.

Call TPAC on 021 2450146 to arrange a consultation.