A short conversation to work out what the project might be, whether it's viable, and whether we'd work well together. Nothing at all is committed on it.
Almost everyone apologises in the first thirty seconds of the first meeting with an architect — for not knowing what they want, for ringing too early, for taking up my time. You really don't need to. It usually means the call is being understood as a sales call, and it isn't one.
A short call is where both of us find out whether this should go any further, and it's the cheapest place either of us will ever find that out. I'm listening for whether the project is viable, whether the budget and the ambition are in the same postcode, and whether I'm the right person for it. You should be listening for whether you'd enjoy talking to me about your money and your house.
Nothing is committed on that call. That's the entire point of it.
Three things I'm listening for: your story, your situation, and what you're picturing.
A short call sorts out which projects should go ahead and which shouldn't, before either of us has spent anything. It also establishes scope, site and rough budget, which is most of what's needed to price the work.
Chemistry, which is the one thing no brochure can show you. You're about to spend a long stretch in close conversation with this person about your money and your home.
The first contact is a request for a quote. Price becomes the only thing compared, because it's the only thing made legible. Fit, which actually determines how the project feels to live through, never gets tested.
Three things I'm listening for: your story, your practical situation, and what you're picturing architecturally. I'll ask about your Saturday mornings — how the house is actually used, rather than how it was meant to be. I'll ask what scale of project you have in mind, because the answer changes what I'd advise. Those questions tend to be the part people remember, because nobody had asked them before.
Practice varies, and it's a fair thing to ask when you ring. A short introductory phone call is very commonly free, and mine is. What's increasingly charged for is the first visit to your house, because that's where the real thinking happens: walking the rooms, reading the site, telling you what's possible. Mine is a fixed fee, credited against the first invoice if a project follows.
Questions rather than a pitch. Mine covers three areas. The human side — who lives there, what a Saturday morning actually looks like. The practical side — the address, the age of the house, whether you own it. And the architectural picture — what you think you want, and what's driving it. You should come off that call knowing whether the project is viable.
These are worth asking anyone, me included. Are you registered, and what's your number. Who does the work, you or someone else in the office. How do you charge, and what does each stage cost. What isn't included in that fee. Have you worked on a house like mine. What do you think this should cost to build. What would you do if the builder's price came back over budget. How involved are you once construction starts. And can I speak to someone whose project you finished.
There's no such thing as too early. The cheapest call is the one where you have a feeling and no plan. The expensive ones come after a builder has already priced something, or after a contract has been signed on a block that turns out not to allow what you had in mind. If you have nothing concrete to say, describe the problem rather than the solution: where the light stops, which room nobody uses.
Very little, and don't let preparing become a reason to delay. The address is the single most useful thing, because it lets me look at the zoning, the overlays and the flood mapping before we speak. Beyond that: roughly when the house was built, whether it's been worked on before, and a budget figure. Saying the budget out loud means the first design you're shown is one you can actually build.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.
