A big benefit of being a small business is that you can change policy ‘on a sixpence’ and the ‘Initial Consultation’ Policy has changed (again).

The problems are still the same:

• Economically it’s impossible to travel to sites free of charge when I work across 6,868 sq miles (just taking into account the area of Connaught alone).

• If there is an “Exchange of Value” ie me giving architectural advice then this should be paid for. @leecalisti explains this excellently in his blog post. And I also thank Lee for bending me in the right direction for this new policy.

• By me charging a low amount for an initial consultation; I was effectively giving away one of my major skills (ie good design) at too low a rate.

• When you’re charging for something then the client expects something in return and invariably the client when I charged a low amount for the initial consultation would frequently ask for more and more. Again giving too much away for ‘free’

Therefore we’re back to the old policy of the ‘Free meeting’ which is held at my office to see ‘if we can work together’. There’s no design or architectural advice in this meeting only “me showing why you may need my services and instil a sense of confidence on how I can help you”. At the end we’ll have a much better idea on whether we can work together and I can give a full cost on the services that I could provide.

If you would like to book in a meeting on this basis or for more information on this ‘Initial Meeting’ then please CLICK HERE…

The above link is also included in the side-bar widget on the right…